Abstract

There are many components to branding; however, a logo is known

to be the centrepiece of a brand. Logos represent a brand, and if that

appeals to consumers, there is a possibility that they will inevitably

be drawn to view the products or services the brand has to offer. In

order to achieve a good logo for a brand, a great deal of design, skills

and theories will need to be applied. Semiotics (the study of signs) and

Linguistics (the study of language) both affect the creation of logos, but it is essential to find out and why and how significant the influence is.

This dissertation will focus on analysing theories of semiotics

and linguistics, explore how they help compose meaning within

a design and how they apply to logo design to achieve effective

communication. To aid this, various logo layouts will be studied to

show their effectiveness. Furthermore, it will attempt to analyse

different components within logos and explore the design decisions

made in order to appeal to audiences with different cultural

backgrounds. Surveys were carried out to understand how people and

their purchasing decisions are affected by logos. In addition to this,

interviews were conducted with people in the industry to gain a better

understanding of the application of semiotics and linguistics in design.

Findings show both semiotic and linguistic theories have an influence in logo design and are beneficial within the design and business. However, they do not have a similar amount of influence as they both look at different areas of design. Where semiotics has an immense influence as it looks at design as a whole, linguistics only looks at the language within the design, yet both are beneficial to designers as laid out within the dissertation.