Social Semiotics is a form of non-verbal communication and the study of how people interpret the meanings of design. The basic methodology is that photos can be separated into 3 categories. These consist of representational, interactive, and compositional. (Harrison, 2003). Gunther Kress is known as the creator of the term and coined the idea of communicating through design. (Adami, 2022). Social semiotics are important because they can help us understand the world around us and dissect modes of communication that aren't as prevalent in our everyday lives.
The Rules of Social Semiotic Advertisements Can be Sorted into These Categories:
Representational: relates to the narrative of a piece of media, which can be transactional or non-transactional and cause a reaction. This can also be conceptual, which allows the viewer to analyze the piece of media and gather their own meaning from it.
Interactive: relates to the way media can relate to the viewer, and give them a glimpse into the world in which the media takes place. This can be done in three ways, contact, distance, and point-of-view.
Compositional: this relates to the statistical side of advertising and media, and having all the components of a successful marketing campaign. This may be less creative but it has the information, framing, salience, and modality to render it successful.
Advertisement 1: Renee Rapp for Sweetgreen 2024This advertisement is very recent, and has most, if not all of the components of social semiotics. It's
representational in the sense that the concept is unique and requires more thought than your average advertisement. This ad is also
interactive due to the portrait and detail that is within the photo. Lastly, this media also has the
compositional elements of a successful marketing campaign as it contains the brand, connection to the public, and an overall clear message.
This advertisement is unique in the way that it feels natural. The representation and interactivity make the feeling of this particular piece of media stand out in a unique way that caters to the brand and pop culture.
Advertisement 2: Share a Coke (2011)
The Share a Coke Campaign in 2011 is an example of an older advertisement and one that has a strong lean into one category of visual semiotics. While this campaign lacks the
representational and
compositional aspects of the previous advertisement, it's much more interactive. Because people could find their names on a bottle, and the message of sharing, it was extremely successful and is a well-loved advertisement.
This also has a similar feel to the Sweetgreen campaign, because it also has a natural feeling, and it doesn't give off the normal aspects of an advertisement
Bibliography:
Adami, E., Diamantopoulou, S. and Lim, F.V. (2022) ‘Design in Gunther Kress’s social semiotics’.
London Review of Education, 20 (1), 41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/LRE.20.1.41.
HARRISON, CLAIRE. “Visual Social Semiotics: Understanding How Still Images Make Meaning.” Technical Communication, vol. 50, no. 1, 2003, pp. 46–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43090531. Accessed 11 Mar. 2024.
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