Semiotics, Gestalt, & Cognitive Processes (Slides 75-134) Flashcards
Sign
it’s anything thing that has meaning beyond itself; consequently, the meaning of any sign must be learned.
if you are not aware of the meaning behind a sign, then it cannot be a sign for you.
Augustine
believed signs were the link between nature and culture
What are Charles Peirce’s 3 types of signs?
The 3 types of signs include: icons (resemble), indexical (cause and effect), and symbols (arbitrary/need to be taught the most).
Icons
are the easiest to interpret as they’ll have a likeness to the object they mean to represent. Classical paintings and photographs are both icons.
Indexical signs
are understood to be connected directly to the object they represent. For example, smoke comes from fire. So, smoke is an indexical sign for fire as footprints would be a sign of something capable of walking nearby.
Symbols
are assigned to represent something else, completely random. Words are symbols. Social and cultural considerations influence symbols greatly…often allowing them to evoke a stronger emotional response than iconic or indexical signs.
Ferdinand Saussure’s definition of sign
the signifier and the signified
Stereotypes
rely on the ignorant or cynical use of symbolism
Codes
through a society’s history and customs a complex system of codes develops. CODES ARE A COLLECTION OF SIGNS. Signs are combined to communicate complicated ideas.
What are Asa Berger’s 4 types of codes?
The 4 types of codes include: metonymic (collects signs around an object in hopes to cause a viewer associate the object with qualities the signs mean to represent), analogic (cause viewers to make mental comparisons reminding them of something else), displaced (often used for ironic or humorous effect, they transfer meaning from one set of signs to another/redirects emotion intended for one person or object onto a meaningless or unrelated object) and condensed codes (combine several signs to form a new message).
metonymy- consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related
Colors in Semiotics
The most common colors will have a standard social perception, stand for a general mood or idea (combined) within a culture which has given a certain color or combination of colors perception/meaning.
Gestalt Theory
it allows communicators to predict how viewers will respond to design elements. Visual perception is the result of organizing sensual elements of forms into groups. Discrete elements within a scene are understood by grouping.
Cezanne’s Epiphany
“Thy eye is not enough, one needs to think as well,” i.e. what we see isn’t real, it’s only an illusion (a scene broken apart by the retina and recreated by the cortex…)
Gestalt Laws
Proximity (the brain more readily associates things that are closer together than those further apart), Common Fate (objects that move in the same direction will be seen as a unit more often than not), Similarity (elements with similar qualities are perceived as being part of the same form), Continuation/Closure (the brain does not prefer sudden or unusual changes in the movement of a line; therefore, we’ll very easily imagine one that isn’t there), and Figure-Ground (we tend to perceive some visual elements as the figure with a definite shape and border while other elements appear as the ground).
Top-down Processing
it’s the fact that theh mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istelf, but the wrod as a wlohe. It’s the use of contextual information in pattern recognition.
