Project Fondation
Would semiotics have to change in some areas? How should it change?
Has anything changed? Should some signs change and why?
The de nition of semiotics is “the study of signs, symbols, and signi cation. It is the study of how meaning is created, not what it is”. An example of semiotics that is used all over the world is the symbol for men and women restrooms. This is a symbol that every language understand because its is an icon rather than text. So basically semiotics can be used for an easy way to communicate and can be needed when there is a lack of communication.
The rst thing I thought about was the harm that plastic usage does to our planet. I thought about of cigarette packages is most countries has a picture that shows the harm smoking does. It shows how bad it can be for babies, how il you can get or how your looks can get a ected if you smoke a lot. The usage of plastic is dangerous for all of us, both humans and for the ocean, animals and so on. As we all know, we have to have that in mind and take care of our planet and environment.
So, a semiotic that could be invented would be a symbol for plastic damage that is more e cient than it is now. Because even tough there is information now that a package is recycled, or that it makes harm I do not think it informs the consumer in the way that they would actually make another choice in the moment of buying a product. I believe that this could be a good thing to a good way to minimise the consumption of plastic, all over the world. I am not sure how the symbol would look but maybe the same approach as the cigarette packages. A picture of the ocean littered with plastic, or the animals who get tangled and so on. Maybe this would actually make companies nd other solutions to their packaging because it is not “attractive” for the customer to buy a product with these pictures. In conclusion maybe it would make companies innovate and people pick products that are better than plastic.
The most recent change in semiotics must be in relation to the pandemic and covid-19. For example it has been a change in the supermarkets, in the line to the checkout there is indications how far you should stand from each other to reduce the spread of infection. The instruction paper with icons telling us that we should wear mask (mask icon), stay home if we feel symptoms (house icon) and washing hands (hand with water symbol) and so on. That information has been translated all over the world in to those icons that shows how we should act in the terms of the
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pandemic.