ROLE OF SEMIOTICS IN GRAPHIC DESIGN
The Oxford Dictionary defines the word symbol as “A mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process”. The origin of the word can be traced back to the Greek word sumbolon which means a mark or a token – a combination of two words names sun denoting “with” and ballein denoting “to throw”.
However, symbols did not begin with the Greeks. The history of symbols can be dated back to as early as man itself. The earliest human beings began to notice patterns, shapes, the nature and other things and worshipped it because they could not understand the mystery behind them. Once they began to think and reason, they began to represent them with
figures or illustrations or symbols. This led to the ultimate birth of symbols in the universe. As you can tell, this has been in existence from eternity but only discovered by man when he began to ponder.
Recently, one of the earliest attempt of man to paint – and which is discovered by us – was found in the caves of the Sulawesi island of Indonesia. The researchers claim that the earliest images, with a minimum age of 39,900 years, are the oldest known stenciled outlines of human hands in the world. Blowing or spraying pigment
around a hand pressed against rock surfaces in caves would become a common practice among cave artists down through the ages. There were however older cave paintings than the aforementioned ones created by the Aborigines of Australia, one of the earliest human beings which wandered the face of the earth more than 50000 years ago.
The oldest known cave painting until now is the red disk found in El Castillo, in northern Spain, dating back to approximately 48500 years (Wilford, 2014)
One of the several cave paintings found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, dating back approximately 40000 years.
Another interesting piece of sample can be found in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium, known as the Ishango Bone. This bone was used as a tool to use as a measure of sorts. Strokes were etched onto the bone to add up to numbers for the purpose of keeping a count of something (Rappengl端ck, 2011). This was believed
to be around 20000 years old. This makes it clear that symbols were used by man as a tool for communication well before the time when there was no spoken language. The use of fires, beacons, smoke signals, drums or horns were common in the prehistoric era.
Ishango Bone
Today, we have progressed a lot in terms of technology, and therefore, communication. Statistics show that there are more than 7000 living languages in the world today (Lewis, et al., 2014). Along with the ocean of languages, there are signs and symbols, too. There exist signs for danger or a traffic signal to convey a message and
there also exist signs and symbols in academics. The study of signs and symbols is known as Semiotics.
Semiotics is closely related to linguistics – the study of languages. Further proof that signs, symbols and languages are connected to each other. The word semiotics – like the word symbol – is derived from the Greek σημειωτικός sēmeiōtikos which means observant of signs (Liddel & Scott, N/A). Earliest use of the word semiotics can be traced to Henry Stubbes
in a very precise sense to denote the branch of medical science relating to the interpretation of signs in the year 1670 in his book “The Plus Ultra Reduced to a Non Plus”.
The Fibonacci Sequence
In 1202 AD, Leonardo Bonacci introduced in his book, Liber Abaci, a mathematical sequence of numbers which was later named after himself – the Fibonacci sequence. In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, and so on.
That’s not all. When we take any two successive (one after the other) Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden Ratio “φ” which is approximately 1.618034... As a matter of fact, the bigger the pair of Fibonacci numbers, the closer its ratio gets to 1.618034… Let me show that to you with an example.
A 2 3 5 8 ... 144 233 ...
B 3 5 8 13 ... 233 377 ...
B/A 1.5 1.666666... 1.6 1.625 ... 1.6180556... 1.6180258... ...
Any person who has read the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown will remember the occurrence of the Golden Ratio or the Divine Proportion in it. It is a well-known fact that Leonardo Da Vinci was a great follower of the Divine Proportion in his works. In the year 1497, Da Vinci was the illustrator for his friend, Luca Pacioli’s book, De
Divina Proportione. On the first page of De Divina Proportione, Pacioli states that his intent is to reveal to artists the secret of harmonic forms through the use of the Divine proportion, describing his writing as: “A work necessary for all the clear-sighted and inquiring human minds, in which everyone who loves to study philosophy, perspective, painting,
sculpture, architecture, music and other mathematical disciplines will find a very delicate, subtle and admirable teaching and will delight in diverse questions touching on a very secret science.”
Da Vinci’s use of the Divine proportion is evident in some of his own works, even before his collaboration with Pacioli. The paintings reviewed by Gary Meisner, an art historian, suggests that the use of the Divine proportion in paintings among Renaissance artists may have been more common in paintings of special religious significance.
Gary Meisner proceeds to say that: “It appears that Da Vinci applied Divine proportions in his rendition of “The Annunciation, painted in about 1472-1473. An exact determination is difficult with 100% certainty because various images available of this painting are cropped slightly differently. It appears to be the basis
for the dimensions of the walls and entry way of the courtyard, as well other elements of the composition, as shown in the photos below. Other golden ratios can be found, but to avoid any perception that this is arbitrary those shown are based on very distinct features of the painting.” (Meisner, 2014)
Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Annunciation circa 1472–1475
Composition ofThe Annunciation
Composition of the Mona Lisa
Leonardo Da Vinci’a The Last Supper
The Golden Ratio, in reality, can be applied to almost any form of design. Popular logos, architecture, products and several other articles have utilized the Golden Ratio over the years. Nature is filled with examples of the use of the Golden Ratio. Some of the examples are:
Some of the world’s most recognizable logos are created with the help of the Golden Ratio. Perhaps that is the reason why we are able to recognize these logos very quickly. Here are some examples:
Architecture, too, has a lot of utilization of the Golden Ratio – dating back to Greek architecture as well as modern day architecture. Here are some of the examples: Golden Ratio can also be used as a tool for drawing. This is possible because the human body in itself is the ultimate instance of the Golden Ratio. Thus, people
interested in drawing can learn to memorize the shapes of the human body by learning the Golden Ratio to begin with. Another occurrence of the Golden Ratio is on paper. An A0 paper is exactly 1 square meter in length. If you were to draw a perfect spiral diagram starting from one corner of the A0 sheet of paper, you would
get a paper size at every occurrence of a quarter of a circle. Such is the beauty of the Golden Ratio.
The Swiss Grid System
A grid, in graphic design is a two-dimensional structure which divides a page vertically as well as horizontally in margins and columns. These subdivisions help in making the design and layout process simpler and when used efficiently, it also increases the readability factor and induces a harmonious comfort level for the reader.
Grids were not in existence until the mid-twentieth century. During the 1920s and 1930s, typographer Jan Tschichold organized a set of typographic principles in two of his books named The New Typography (1928), and Asymmetric Typography (1935). This was the first attempt by anyone to try to bring about a set of rules for layout and
typography. In these books the sketches for grids first appeared along with guidelines to use typefaces, type size and weights. Several Swiss designers after World War II have produced work which show the best use of the grid system.
The Swiss grid system maintains a close relationship to the Golden Ratio mentioned above. The grid system was not only used in graphic design but also in photography and cinematography too. This was considered as a breakthrough in the field at the time of its invention. Some of the examples for effective grid system in use are shown here:
Although design is about breaking the rules and creating new ones – only to break them again, some of the guidelines and principles regarding design should be maintained in order to provide the enduser a sense of clarity and legibility. Today, in India, we find posters and advertisements in some of the most bizarre forms. These could be something to do with the choice of colors we like, the message we like to
convey and many other interrelated things. With the knowledge of signs and symbols, one can understand and efficiently use the proper method of creating posters, brochures or any other form of promotional material which has an aesthetic sense to it as well as a suitable design factor to support it. The knowledge can also be used for other field of design such as interior design, fashion design or product design. The
information provided on these subjects is limited and it can be overcome by keeping oneself updated not just about current trends but also by reading up on design trends and breakthroughs of the past. With the help of these elements, one can solve most of the problems in design in today’s world.
Bibliography Lewis, Paul, M., Simmons, G. F. & Fening, C. D., 2014. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. [Online] Available at: http://www.ethnologue.com/statistics [Accessed 21 November 2014]. Liddel, H. G. & Scott, R., N/A. A Greek-English Lexicon. [Online] Available at: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dshmeiwtiko%2Fs [Accessed 21 November 2014]. Meisner, G., 2014. Da Vinci and the Divine Proportion in Art Composition. [Online] Available at: http://www.goldennumber.net/leonardo-da-vinci-golden-ratio-art/ [Accessed 21 November 2014]. Rappengl端ck, M., 2011. Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy. [Online] Available at: http://www2.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/showentity?identity=4&idsubentity=1 [Accessed 21 November 2014]. Wilford, J. N., 2014. The New York Times. [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/science/ancient-indonesianfind-may-rival-oldest-known-cave-art.html?_r=0 [Accessed 21 November 2014]
A RESEARCH CONDUCTED ON THE ROLE OF SEMIOTICS IN DESIGN FOR THE MODULE “INDEPENDENT RESEARCH” AT RAFFLES MILLENNIUM INTERNATIONAL, BANGALORE BY ABILASH MIKHAIL LOBO.