Studio Brief - Visual Semiotics

Symbols and images are a great example of visual remembrance and semiotics. The Nazis' used a lot of symbol and imagery which have become the most controversial and recognisable symbols in history like the yellow star of David and the Swastika Hopefully in my context of practice i would like to see if i can implement any symbol that communicate certain emotions that will essentially make my propaganda more impactful. 

Viewing certain symbol can trigger feelings, emotions and awareness, this is due to constant repetition and associations, which is one of Hitlers propaganda guidelines. 

The MacDonald's logo is an amazing example of a famous logo which needs no title or introduction. The logo doesn't have much meaning behind it. It's only because the restaurant is in millions of locations, so the logo is highly recognisable. I suppose that a different kind of visual semiotic has been used here. One side is being visual due to emotions, colours and composition behind a certain image/symbol and then the other side, where something is meaning full due to marketing and repetition being constantly chucked in your face.

Even though the origin of this symbol meaning is fortune, luck and well being but due to association with WW2 its now been stuck with a bias connotation. To most people looking upon this logo it will trigger hate and disgust with a little bit of fear. Something so small and simple can mean so much, which is what visual semiotics is all about.

The next 3 images will look into expressions as forms of visual semiotic. Happy, sad and angry are all produced by the human face but each expression has completely different meanings, which can trigger different feelings and emotion.

These illustrations sum up perfectly what I'm trying to show. As I said above each expression is perceived differently.  For example, by showing a sad expression, designers would also add designs features along side to emphasis the expression and to show the hurt and discomfort. Using blue suggest loneliness and coldness, while red would be linked to angry due to the association with red being hot, tempered and dangerous. The other obvious feature would just be the expression on the face. If we was analysing a real person, you can examine the eyes, frown lines, nose, eyebrows and lips, these are all emotion triggers.