Semiotics

Semiotics
The study of signs and communication

Semiotics is the understanding of signs and what they represent. Language is the way we understand representation. There is two mains types of signs, iconic and indexical. Iconic usually takes the form of images or sounds and tends to represent what is actually seen or heard, For example a picture of a beer. However indexical signs tend to take the form of written or spoken images. An indexical signs points at reality, rather than trying to mimic it exactly. For example if you see smoke immediately you think of fire because you know that fire causes smoke. Breaking down signs can also be done by noticing a sight such as thirty miles per hour limit sign along the road to some people from a different country this would be seen as just number in a red circle but to us in this country we see it as the speed limit in which we must follow (Signified)

All good advertiser’s use these techniques because they know photos of their products would get noticed more and people will react to them in their own way. For example when people see a photo of a beer, they automatically remember previous good times from this beer, making them want to buy it again.