181010 this means this, this means that Chapter 3

1. BOOKCLUB
THIS MEANS THIS
THIS MEANS THAT
A User’s Guide to Semiotics
By Sean Hall
Chapter 1 - 2
181007
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2. Sean Hall is Deputy Head of Department and
Leader in Contextual Studies in the Department of
Design at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
He was formerly a lecturer in Philosophy at Balliol
College, Oxford.
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“Whether they are conscious of it or not,
all graphic designers are SEMIOTICIANS.”
INTRODUCTION
SEMIOTICS
The Theory of Signs. An Interpreter of Signs.
Signs can mean something other than themselves.
Depends on the context in which they are read.
Semiotics is about the tools, processes, structures, and
contexts that human beings have for creating, interpreting,
and understanding meaning in a variety of different ways.

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INTRODUCTION
Signing is vital to human existence because it underlies all forms of
COMMUNICATION
Shaped by the sources and resources that are used to make them.
Formed by the cultural structures into which they are woven.
Communicated through a series of diverse channels.
Understood in terms of the nature of the societies that created them.

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INTRODUCTION
• Sources of Meaning – Where the Message comes from?
• Ways of Meaning – What kind of Message it is?
• Structures of Meaning – How the Message is Framed?
• Contexts of Meaning – Where the Message is Situated?
• Channels of Meaning – How the Message is Communicated?
• Types of Meaning – How the Message is Understood?

9. Concepts come in all shapes and sizes.
Concepts are the basic building in human thinking
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10. Is There A Pipe in This Painting?
(TL note: “This Is Not A Pipe”)
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11. TRUTH & FALSITY
It’s a painting called “The Betrayal
of Images (This is Not A Pipe)” by
René Magritte
The reason is simple. If it didn’t look
like a pipe it would be impossible to
teach others for example,
children— that it did look like a pipe.
Truth and falsity are sufficiently curious that they cannot always be determined
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12. Which Shape Is Different from the Rest?
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13. SAMENESS & DIFFERENCE
Spotting differences is both easy and difficult. Two basic sorts of difference: in
kind, or in degree. And sameness is not as absolute as one might think.
Only when x is the same as y in every respect, then we don't really have any
differences to speak of
There is actually no real reason for thinking one shape is different from the rest.
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14. Can YOU Read This?
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15. WHOLES & PARTS
What we see as a whole and what as
a part, then, may depend on what we
are trying to explain.
What is important, is that we engage
with the thing we are trying to explain
at the right level. But we should not
forget that the complexities of the
world result from the fact that we can
always divide a thing into component
parts or look for other things that link
to form a larger whole
Perhaps the look of the whole is more important than the exact arrangement of
its parts?
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16. Do You See the Color Red in the Same Way As
Others See It?
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17. SUBJECTIVITY & OBJECTIVITY
The qualities of our experience seem to
be indefinable in some ways. We can
only say what the experience is like by
having it.
Though there is the subjective side of
our experience of qualities, there is also
an objective side that can be tested by
various scientific methods. Those tests
can reveal something about physiology
& psychology of our perception.
However, those tests do not reveal what
these various colors (& other sensory
qualities) actually mean to us. This is
the important point for semiotics.
Some things appear to have a quality that is like nothing else.
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18. Does This Battle Look Real?
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19. APPEARANCE & REALITY
Battle of San Romano (c. 1435-60), by Paolo Uccello. A painting with verisimilitude
problems.
Perspective, while it gives impression of reality, is one pictorial contrivance that artists may
find more or less useful in making images of the world
It is often said that the quasi mathematical technique of linear perspective is the
best system for representing visual reality.
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20. • What Is the Difference Between
• These Two Timepieces?
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21. CONTINUITY & DISCONTINUITY
Analog signs create relationships that are graded on a continuum. e.g: visual images,
physical gestures.
Digital signs have an either/or quality that can seem discontinuous because the categories
used are unitized.
One answer is that the two timepieces give different representations of continuity
and discontinuity.
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22. What Do You Notice About the Man
Drinking Champagne?
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23. SENSE & REFERENCE
Reference is intriguing because you can refer to the same person or object in different ways.
Shifts in meaning or reference can serve to undermine or compromise our ability to
communicate clearly and unambiguously with one another about all manner of things.
In asking about “the man drinking champagne” it is easy to give the impression
that we are referring to someone in a straightforward way.
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24. Do These Traffic
Lights Make Sense?
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25. MEANINGFUL & MEANINGLESS
Drivers using this system the lights have the following
meanings:
Signifiers: Red Yellow Green
Signifieds: Stop Caution Go
Obvious, if you are familiar with them
The reason this alternative system could work equally
well (and be equally meaningful) is, first, that each color is
visually distinct and, secondly, that each color can be
assigned.
Say switching Red with Orange, this would result in
confusion about their meaning, even if it did not render them
meaningless.
In the traffic light system that is used in many parts of the world we assign a
meaning to each of three colored lights: red, yellow, and green
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26. Can you cross through all nine dots using only 4 straight lines
without lifting your pen from the paper?
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27. PROBLEM & SOLUTION
We have tendency to stop searching of alternatives when we found a way, when there
are still many others. We often search for long and hard for a solution. The underlying
assumption that we should search for the perfect medium of representation that can
mirror reality must be mistaken.
One overall philosophical difficulty we face is that while some problems have one
solution and others have many solutions, some problems have no solutions, and some
problems aren't even problems. The problem, then, is often in telling what sort of problem
we have.
The nine-dot problem is often used to illustrate how our thinking can get stuck
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31. THANK YOU
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