Essay On Semiotics

In this continuous assessment assignment I will demonstrate the various approaches related to semiotics or what is sometimes described as the science of the meaning of signs. The case study involved is a given piece of printed media which is in the form of an advertisement. To do this I will relate to theorist such as De Saussure, Barthes and Pierce and their approaches to the process of signification.

The test media content used as the case study is a mail shot advertisement from Spec savers. The Spec Savers advertisement is made up of a number of elements namely the main image a man and a woman inside a building standing in front of a window, the room is dimly lit. Also on the page is the company logo, white text on the main image and black text in cased in a white circle. These are the semiotics that plays a key part when a person views this advertisement. The way people process semiotics is better understood when the above theorist approaches is used.

De Saussure uses a two stage approach of the process of signification of the sign, where the signifier the showing of the communicated in a state of the sound-image in our heads that makes sense to what we see-hear, the second part is the signified, this is what the

Barthes ideas focuses around the cultural myths behind the signification of the sign, Barthes saw De Saussure first stage as only the first action in signification of the sign. De Saussure did not take account of the conceptual impact this stage had depending on social cultural situations which in turn developed certain connotations and denotations to the signifier. Barthes saw this as a second level of a signifier, this level of process lead to Barthes added this stage to De Saussure theory. Barthes called this the mythological or ideological order conceptual framework which took into account culture social