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Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Semiotic
Semiotics: A Primer for Designers
by Challis Hodge on 2003/08/11 | [12 Comments]
“ “Semiotics is important for designers as it allows us to understand the relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them — the people we design for.” ”
OverviewIn its simplest form, Semiotics can be described as the study of signs. Not signs as we normally think of signs, but signs in a much broader context that includes anything capable of standing for or representing a separate meaning.
Paddy Whannel[1] offered a slightly different definition. “Semiotics tells us things we already know in a language we will never understand.” Paddy’s definition is partly right. The language used by semioticians can often be overkill, and indeed semiotics involves things we already know, at least on an intuitive level. Still, semiotics is important for designers as it allows us to understand the relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them — the people we design for.
The science of Semiology (from the Greek semeîon, ‘sign’) seeks to investigate and understand the nature of signs and the laws governing them. Semiotics represents a range of studies in art, literature, anthropology, and the mass media rather than an independent academic discipline. The disciplines involved in semiotics include linguistics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, literature, aesthetic and media theory, psychoanalysis and education.
Origins of Semiotics
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure[2] is considered to be the founder of linguistics and semiotics. Saussure postulated the existence of this general science of signs, or Semiology, of which linguistics forms only one part. Semiology therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if notlanguages, at least systems of signification.
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure[2] is considered to be the founder of linguistics and semiotics. Saussure postulated the existence of this general science of signs, or Semiology, of which linguistics forms only one part. Semiology therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if notlanguages, at least systems of signification.
Language of Language
Structuralism is an analytical method used by many semioticians. Structuralists seek to describe the overall organization of sign systems as languages. They search for the deep and complex structures underlying the surface features of phenomena.
Structuralism is an analytical method used by many semioticians. Structuralists seek to describe the overall organization of sign systems as languages. They search for the deep and complex structures underlying the surface features of phenomena.
Social Semiotics has taken the structuralist concern with the internal relations of parts within a self-contained system to the next level, seeking to explore the use of signs in specific social situations.
Semiotics and the branch of linguistics known as Semantics have a common concern with the meaning of signs. Semantics focuses on what words mean while semiotics is concerned with how signs mean. Semiotics embraces semantics, along with the other traditional branches of linguistics as follows:
- Semantics: the relationship of signs to what they stand for.
- Syntactics (or syntax): the formal or structural relations between signs.
- Pragmatics: the relation of signs to interpreters.
A Text is an assemblage of signs (such as words, images, sounds and/or gestures) constructed (and interpreted) with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication. Text usually refers to a message, which has been recorded in some way (e.g., writing, audio- and video-recording) so that it is physically independent of its sender or receiver.
Saussure made what is now a famous distinction between language and speech. Language refers to the system of rules and conventions which is independent of, and pre-exists, individual users; Speech refers to its use in particular instances. Applying the notion to semiotic systems in general rather than simply to language, the distinction is one between code and message,structure and event or system and usage (in specific texts or contexts). According to the Saussurean distinction, in a semiotic system such as cinema, any specific film is the speech of that underlying system of cinema language.
The structuralist dichotomy between usage and system has been criticized for its stiffness, separating process from product, subject from structure. The prioritization of structure over usage fails to account for changes in structure. Valentin Voloshinov[3] proposed a reversal of the Saussurean priority, language over speech: “The sign is part of organized social intercourse and cannot exist, as such, outside it, reverting to a mere physical artifact.” The meaning of a sign is not in its relationship to other signs within the language system but rather in the social context of its use. Voloshinov observed “there is no real moment in time when a synchronic system of language could be constructed… A synchronic system may be said to exist only from the point of view of the subjective consciousness of an individual speaker belonging to some particular language group at some particular moment of historical time.” As it turns out, both are correct.
In other words, take a very simple example—the word live. The fact that the ‘L’ is next to ‘I’ is next to “V” is next to “E” is important. Without those characters in that order we wouldn’t have the word live. But it is also important that the word live is being viewed on July 3, 2003 and that the context is ‘on a concert ticket’, so that we may imply that the music is indeed being played live! The study of semiotics needs to account for the relationship of the symbols and the social context or context of use.
Understanding Design as a Dialogue
In Semiotics: The Basics[4], Daniel Chandler sums up precisely why we as designers must be well versed in semiotics.
In Semiotics: The Basics[4], Daniel Chandler sums up precisely why we as designers must be well versed in semiotics.
“The study of signs is the study of the construction and maintenance of reality. To decline such a study is to leave to others the control of the world of meanings.”
Semiotics teaches us as designers that our work has no meaning outside the complex set of factors that define it. These factors are not static, but rather constantly changing because we are changing and creating them. The deeper our understanding and awareness of these factors, the better our control over the success of the work products we create.
Semiotics also helps us not to take reality for granted as something that simply exists. It helps us to understand that reality depends not only on the intentions we put into our work but also the interpretation of the people who experience our work. Meaning is not contained in the world or in books, computers or audio-visual media. It is not simply transmitted—it is actively created, according to a complex interplay of systems and rules of which we are normally unaware.
Becoming aware of these systems and rules and learning to master them is the true power of visual communication and design.
References
[1] Semiotics, Structuralism, and Television, Ellen Seiter, 1992.
[2] Saussure, Ferdinand de (1993). Third Course of Lectures on General Linguistics. Pergamon Press.http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/saussure.htm
[3] In Perspective: Valentin Voloshinov, Issue 75 of International Socialism, Quarterly Journal of the Socialist Workers Party (Britain), Published July 1997. http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj75/parring.htm
[4] Chandler, David (2001). Semiotics: The Basics. Routledge. ISBN 0415265940
Bibliography
Barthes, Roland (1964). Elements of Semiology. Hill and Wang.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/barthes.htm.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/barthes.htm.
Chandler, David (2001). Semiotics: The Basics. Routledge. ISBN 0415265940.
Saussure, Ferdinand de (1993). Third Course of Lectures on General Linguistics. Pergamon Press.http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/saussure.htm.
Stuart Hall, Recent Developments in Theories of Language and Ideology: A Critical Note, from Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-1979 (1980).
Vestergaard, T & K Schroder (1985): The Language of Advertising. Oxford: Blackwell.
Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976), p. 16.
감정이입 vs. 공감
감정이입 vs. 공감
감정이입(Empathy)과 공감(Sympathy)은 문학, 예술, 심리등 다양한 방면으로, 이해와 소통을 돕는 역할을 한다는 측면에서 맥락과 뜻을 같이하지만, 이 둘의 차이를 어떻게 이해하고 접근 하느냐에 따라서 보다 주관적이거나 객관적인 결말을 발현할 수 있기 때문에 작지만 큰 차이가 있다고 본다.
예전에 코펜하겐에 있을 때 독거노인들을 위한 리서치 및 디자인을 개발한 적이 있었다. 요양원에서 혼자사는 노인들을 위한 프로젝트였는데, 리서치 중 맞닥트린 두 키워드가 바로 감정이입 vs. 공감 이였다.
오늘 불현듯 하나의 그림을 보고 이 두 키워드가 떠올랐다.
라인으로 흐르듯 그린 그림이였는데, 딱 초등학생 수준의 낙서에 불과한 그림이였는데, 그만 찌릿하리만큼 섹시한 느낌이 퉁하고 떨어지드라. 에로영화를 보면 공감이 아닌 감정이입이 먼저 되듯이… 오늘 느낀 이 느낌도 분명 빨리듯 따라 들어가 버린 본능적인 감정이입이리라.
휴우~
어쨌거나 이왕 튀어나온 거, 그럼 감정이입과 공감이 어떻게 틀린지 뒤져보자.
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이상섭의 문학비평용어사전에서는 공감(Sympathie; Sympathy)을 주로 인간끼리 무엇을 함께 느끼는 것으로, 감정이입(感情移入; Einfühlung; Empathy)을 그 이입의 대상의 안으로 들어가서 느끼는 것으로 구분하여 공감을 이자적(二自的) 상태로 설명하는 반면 감정이입은 일자적(一自的) 상태로 설명하고 있다.
이상섭의 문학비평용어사전에서는 공감(Sympathie; Sympathy)을 주로 인간끼리 무엇을 함께 느끼는 것으로, 감정이입(感情移入; Einfühlung; Empathy)을 그 이입의 대상의 안으로 들어가서 느끼는 것으로 구분하여 공감을 이자적(二自的) 상태로 설명하는 반면 감정이입은 일자적(一自的) 상태로 설명하고 있다.
감정이입(感情移入; Einfühlung; Empathy)
대상과 인간에 대하여 가지는 자신의 감정을 저도 모르게 다시 그 대상과 인간에게 옮겨 넣고 마치 자신과 같은 감정을 가지고 있는 듯이 느끼는 것을 감정이입이라 한다. 예를 들어, 흐르는 시냇물은 늘 소리를 내며 흘러가지만, 감정을 느끼는 주체자가 슬플 때는 냇물 소리가 슬프게 느껴져 처량한 소리를 낸다고 하고, 주체자가 기쁠 때는 명랑한 소리를 내며 흘러간다고 느끼는 것을 말한다.
예를 들면, 한 독자가 소설의 주인공과 자기를 동일시(同一視)하여 그 주인공이 웃었다는 대목에 이르러서는 자기도 같은 마음에서 따라 웃었다는 것, 또는 무섭게 찡그린 배우의 얼굴을 보면서 관객이 자기도 모르게 얼굴을 찡그리는 것 등은 다 감정이입의 결과이다.
독일의 헤르만 로체(Hermann Lotze)가 1858년에 처음 예술과 관련지어서 아인필룽(Einfühlung, 감정을 넣어줌)이란 말을 썼고, 후에 테오도르 립스(Theodor Lipps)가 예술의 이론으로 정립시켰다. 그들에 의하면 수사학에서 의인법(擬人法), 비유(比喩) 등은 모두 감정이입의 결과라는 것이다. (“내 마음은 촛불이오.”에서 시인은 자기의 정서를 촛불에 옮겨 넣고 있다.)
공감(共感, sympathy)
공감(共感, sympathy)은 주로 인간끼리(또는 인격이 부여된 상상적인 행위자에게) 동류(同類)의식을 가지는 것을 뜻한다. 즉 <햄릿>을 보면서 내가 감정적으로 햄릿이 되는 것이 아니라, 그의 고민을 동정하고 불쌍히 여기는 제3자의 감정이 공감인 것이다. 감정이입이 결합시키는 것이라면 공감은 나란히 서게 하는 것이다.
공감(共感, sympathy)은 주로 인간끼리(또는 인격이 부여된 상상적인 행위자에게) 동류(同類)의식을 가지는 것을 뜻한다. 즉 <햄릿>을 보면서 내가 감정적으로 햄릿이 되는 것이 아니라, 그의 고민을 동정하고 불쌍히 여기는 제3자의 감정이 공감인 것이다. 감정이입이 결합시키는 것이라면 공감은 나란히 서게 하는 것이다.
공감의 능력이 없으면 작품을 읽을 수 없다. 작중 인물들은 대개 공감 또는 반감(反感)을 사도록 되어 있으며, 그들에게 얼마나 옳게 공감하고, 또 얼마나 바르게 반감을 가지는가가 독자의 질을 결정하는 척도가 될 수 있다. 이로써 미루어보면 공감은 다분히 지적이고 사상적인 것인 반면, 감정이입은 육체적이고 본능적이다.
작품의 전달을 위해 위의 두 가지는 다 필요한데, 감정이입에 역점을 두는 작가는 암시성이 강한 말을 골라 구체적이고 세밀한 묘사에 치중할 것이고, 공감에 역점을 두는 작가는 인간 본연의 성격을 부각시키려 할 것이다.
- 이상섭 ‘문학비평용어사전’(민음사, 1976) 중에서
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Taylor Series
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