Week 5: Semiotics in Product Design
Week 5 Reading notes:
Sara Ilstedt Hjelm, Semiotics in Product Design, 2002
Part one: Terminology
A sign must have both a signifier and a signified; you cannot have a meaningless form or a meaningless concept, the two always go together. For example,the word ”table” is the signifier and it represents the concept table. It doesn’t necessarily refer to a real table, but a general concept of a table. A sign on a shop door that reads OPEN signifies that the shop is open.
Product design can serve as a medium to reflect social reality. It gives the product its denotation and connotation. The two chairs in the picture (Figure 1). On the left, the chair designed by Bruno Mattson in 1934 is comfortable, modern, ergonomic, elegant and practical. It reflects the integrity concept of modernism in Sweden at that time, and the masses recognized the democratic political environment at that time. But the other chair by Jonas Bohlin from 1987, made by using steel and concrete, is obviously uncomfortable and does not conform to the human body. It reflects the Swedish democratic collapse during that period, conveying Sweden at that time, the phenomenon of the great disparity between the rich and the poor, that was poor get beaten and wealthy spend fortunes on the “designer chairs”.
(Figure 1)
Meanwhile, handwriting, printing, movies, TV and so on, can be used as the media of products, through different forms of media to the society to consumers to convey information.
The use of Metaphors in design is fundamental. Whether in products, graphics, film or media, metaphors are a key element. In semiotic terms, a metaphor is something that explains the unknown in well known terms. Use metaphor to learn something new. Modern products have changed a lot in appearance compared with the previous ones. When a product is less self-evident, the sign and icon that helps the product to improve the recognition is called a characteristic sign.
Today, many product designs cannot find the original version, and many products are made by copying the original version or extracting different elements. In today's world, Mass-produced objects that are copied many times can become tokens.
Product positioning is important to the product. Successful product positioning can help the product stand out from the same type of product. At the same time, products in a large category are composed of different forms of products, each of which has its value. For instance, When we furnish our home we pick items that belong to the syntagm of 'A home' Certain things belong there like A bed, A sofa, A kitchen table, When we have one TV in the living room, we are not likely to buy another one for the same room, but we consider putting a smaller one in the kitchen (Sara Ilstedt Hjelm).
In the "opposition and alignment" part, I don't know exactly what Hjelm wanted to express. In this part, the author mentions the opposition between male and female, production and consumption. When it comes to makeup, hairdryers, household machines, for example, it will be associated with women. In my understanding, the author wants to express different genders, different social identities, and influence the product design? For example, compared to men, women tend to take care of their families and do the cleaning at home. Therefore, in terms of household items, is it more appropriate to consider whether the operation of the product is suitable for women?
Part 2: Meaning
During early modernism, form (content/ concept) is superior to function, material and technology. The architecture and design from this era consists of simple geometric shapes and clean white surfaces. The idea is that with minimal signifiers the “true idea” (form) will show through. However, the modernists did not realise that humans interpret meaning into everything, thus any material, even a white surface, conveys meanings. Later, a new approach to materials which is a paradise of signifiers emerged in postmodernism.
At the same time during the 20th century, art also shifted away from style and beauty to achieve modernism, by focusing on internalised formalistic investigation, disintegrating signifiers and getting to the “true expression” by abstract expressionism.
Design is used to construct identity, to give meaning through differences. Examples are Finland's national romantic and contemporary style, American’s streamlined products and Sweden’s Folkhemmet City Centres.
In the 19th century, style had a symbolic meaning, used to express political values and morality rather than usability. Then in the 20th century with the burst of technology and science, rationality was triumphant and thus the ideas of “form follows function” emerged. Now, technology and science has become complex and strained like aesthetics used to be in the 19th century, suggesting it might be time for design to evolve to give meaning and guide technology (form follows function).
Week 5 Lecture notes:
To recap, what is a designer?
A designer’s goal is to facilitate chance in the world in which we live today. The designer does this by acting as a social mediator, organising social structures and systems a facilitator of social actions. However design can only exist if the context it is placed in aligns with the subject. This is all important as the environment around design has a varying effect on design outcomes and the way we view those outcomes.
A designer is a rhetorician: drawing on ethos pathos logos the designer is a social scientist that could be considered a crafts person but more importantly is a critical and reflective thinker.
Design Critic where am I and who are you?
Evaluating design with criticism is an essential part of the design process and should always be taken as valuable and appreciated rather than be seen as hurtful. Criticism if necessary and can be better understood when split into three categories. Criticism, Critique and Critical thinking.
Criticism could be considered also as social commentary with analysis examination. Or as an artefact that intends to engage in social commentary. In the context of design criticism needs to be taken as constructive and its sprit should be to improve on the design, or design process and outcome rather than stall or inhibit it. Criticism should be objective and useful offering direction for development in order to make work better. It is a productive and creative means to assess the value of design. It will also assess the value of designers by developing practitioners that are better equipped to produce design of greater meaning and importance. Few things will be more valuable to the process of design than critique.
So then what or who is a critic. A critic is someone who can contextualise and make sense of creative outputs, evaluating whether designed objects add value and what kind of value they add. Critique is necessary to design but its intention is not to provide answers, rather its role is to add discussion, to stimulate diverse opinions that should help with understanding the meaning of design and how it shapes the way we live. Everything is open to question and this process of questioning aims to produce useful development, so having your designs critiqued by as many people as you can greatly help your process and provides an avenue to address future problems
The other aspect of criticism in design is the critical object. Its main purpose is to challenge thought, redefine preconceptions and narrow assumptions. Critical design is more an attitude than anything else and takes the opposite point of view from affirmative design. A critical object uses design as a powerful medium to express ideas attitudes and beliefs as provocations in the outside world well beyond the objects functional purpose.
Week 5 Tutorial notes
Rhetoric is the visual communication of a message in products. It is more relevant in politics or advertisements to persuade with words but also a skill for designers to describe and critique our work. Rhetoric are also multilayered, often starting with visual then music or other mediums.
Semantics is about signs and symbols, metaphors and meanings. It is also about the user’s perception, which could be affected by the person’s background, life experience and biases. A few examples were discussed. The original Le Corbusier LC2 chair made in the 1930s reflects advances in technology of bending tubular steel, but also feels luxurious, has simple form with straight lines and a square cage look. This is compared to a concrete cushion version of the chair, which screams discomfort, coldness and weight.
Concrete chair by Stefan Zwicky
The next example is Lamborghini vs Classic Citroen that can have different user perception. Some may prefer the Lamborghini because it's made by Audi which is considered a more reliable manufacturer compared to the French produced car, but some may also think that the Citroen has good performances and is more reliable because the parts can last very long. The Amphicar vs the classic 3 wheel car is another example which shows that products deliver different value through their form.
Semantics is influenced by materials: plastic and porcelain cups with the exact same crumpled form could be valued differently. The porcelain cup has comedic value when put next to a water filling machine where you would expect a disposable cup, however when mass produced the provocation and good values are gone, and the item would become superficial. Semantics can also indicate function: dimples in cups suggest that you put your thumb there to hold it.
Semantics is metaphors, like the nature of the spout on a coffee maker reminds people of a bird beak. 3 different coffee makers from Alessi have different forms and appeal to different people: one is made to reflect the Brutalist period of architecture and have a more traditional look, the La Cupola which is inspired by the dome of churches in Italy looks clean, simple and elegant, while the Pulcina is more playful, quirky and energetic. Nevertheless they all look bird-like to people.
Group Reflection and Discussion:
Evaluating design with criticism is an essential part of the design process and should always be taken as valuable.
We learn that we should value the Critique of our work. It is not to deflate us as designers but more so stimulate discussion.
Rhetorics and semantics are related.
How? Rhetoric is the message and the visual look of products whereas semantics are the meanings perceived and understood.
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