Semiotics in Graphic Graphic Design (I)

introduction

In the racing field, the designer paints the walls of the corners with a pattern of black and yellow stripes to remind drivers to focus and alert them to accidents. This is because every time people see black and yellow stripes, they will inadvertently create fear and vigilance. This feeling may not only come from the visual characteristics of the color of the pattern itself, but may also be related to the association of black and yellow stripes to people who may pose dangers to animals such as "tiger" or "bee". The fear and vigilance of people with such figures is a continuation of the fear and vigilance of tigers or bees in people's common life experience. The same green color often makes people feel happy and relaxed, as if they are in dense jungles and fresh air. Among them, life can grow healthily in the natural environment. Therefore, green is used more in medicine, environmental protection, and other design topics related to the life field.

The above examples are numerous in life, and there are often similar applications in actual design. What is the reason for this? What rules govern these phenomena? In the original design of the plane, behind many of the techniques we are using extensively, the shadow of the “semiotics” principle is hidden. This phenomenon also exists in graphic design. The graphic itself is a symbolic image in the visual space design. It is a direct and accurate teaching medium in the visual communication process. It plays an important role in communicating people's cultural information. In graphic design, the use of semiotics influences the representation of graphical forms of thinking in graphic design. It is precisely because of its existence that the information conveyed by the graphic design is more scientific and accurate, and the expressions are more colorful.

1, the essence of graphic design and semiotics

1.1 About Symbols and Semiotics

As early as in the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States period, Zhuangzi, a famous thinker of our country, pointed out in his book Zhuangzi External Chapter: “The speaker is concerned about it, and he is forgetful”, that is, there is a token between language and things. The relation between the objects being represented, the language is the representation of the thing, the thing is the representation of the language, the task of the language is the transmission of the information of the thing, and the role of the language is the medium that conveys the information. Symbol is the use of certain media to represent or indicate something. 1 Italy's famous semiotician Aike proposes to define a symbol as any such thing. It can be regarded as something that represents something else according to the established social habits. ---- A mark X stands for Y that is not. The idiom "Yan Niu Hong Claw" vividly and accurately expressed the concept of symbols, and the paws and seals left by the geese on the mud and snow have made people aware of the fact that once there was a geese passing here, and can infer the size of the geese. And other information. The paw print is the mark X, and the goose is not Y. Semiotics is the science that studies the laws of symbols.

Where does the 1.2 symbol come from?

Due to human-specific social labor and language, people's consciousness activities have reached a high level of development. People's thinking begins by understanding "representation", and then records the appearance in the brain to form a "concept", and then these are derived from The concept of real life experience is fixed universally, so that the various objects and processes in the external world and even in the world of their own thinking all produce corresponding images in the brain. These influences are separated from the direct external relations and are independent of the mind to maintain and operate. These impressions are based on a narrow language, and they are also expressed as generalized languages ​​such as visual graphics, body movements, and music.

1.3 Plane Graphic Design and Semiotics

A. Plane graphic design is a special thinking process. Human consciousness process is actually a process of symbolizing the world. Thinking is nothing more than a selection, combination, transformation, and regeneration of symbols. Therefore, it can be said that people use symbols to think, and symbols are the main body of thinking. Graphic graphic design is for the purpose of information transmission. In the two-dimensional space, the layout of the position, proportion, and relationship of the font is undoubtedly a process of thinking, but at the same time, it is not a thinking process in the usual sense. This is a thinking process that starts with the designer and continues to the audience's psychological activities. This continuation depends on the symbol as the subject of thinking. Like the example mentioned at the beginning of this article, the designer “symbolized” dangerous animal tigers or bees into yellow and black stripes and relied on it to convey danger and alertness to the driver’s consciousness.

B. Plane Graphic Design It can be said that the symbol plane graphic design is essentially the purpose of using the planar media to convey information, which determines that it must be part of the generalized language. Therefore, the graphic design itself is an expression of the symbol; at the same time, it is based on the symbol and the principle of the symbol. From this, it can be seen that the reasonableness and accuracy of the use of symbols are very important for achieving the purpose of information transmission. Finding a symbol X can accurately convey Y's information and become the key to the success of a graphic design work.

2, more to explore the characteristics of the symbol, more accurate use of the language of the symbol

Graphic graphic design itself is the expression of symbols. Designers use it to convey their own thinking processes and conclusions to the audience to achieve the purpose of guidance or persuasion; in other words, the audience is also verified by the designer’s works and their own experience. Finally understand the thoughts and feelings that the designer wishes to express. Obviously, the graphic graphic design work as an intermediate media is now a symbol of the designer's thoughts and feelings, and whether the information that this symbol needs to express can be accurately, quickly, and effectively accepted and recognized by the viewer. The sign of the success of the design work. This is determined by the designer's ability to select, combine, convert, and reproduce graphical symbols during the design process. This shows that symbols are tools for expressing thoughts and feelings. The old saying "The workers must do their thing well," must have a new interpretation here.

In order to better understand and use the symbolic tool, three concepts should be understood:

(to be continued)