Semiotics is the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems; the analysis of anything that can stand for something else. Our goal is to differentiate between nonverbal and verbal signs. Everyday we use and notice plenty of signs that we know, and don’t really know why we know them. Culturally and socially these signs have been given assigned meanings and have stuck over time. There are three different signs used in semiotics: Symbolic signs, iconic signs, and indexical signs. Symbolic signs don’t show resemblance to the objects they reference; Iconic signs “have a perceived resemblance with the objects they portray”; and Indexical signs “are directly connected with their referents spatially, temporally, or by cause-and-effect. For example, an iconic sign would be a stop sign on a road. It represents stop, which is portrayed by the red of the sign and word “STOP”. The resemblance is obvious.

Semiotics was created by Roland Barthes and it was defined as “the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems; the analysis of anything that can stand for something else”. Semiotics is about signs whether they are verbal or nonverbal. We go through everyday life seeing different signs that we don’t notice or even pay attention too. There are three different type of signs; symbolic, iconic and indexical. The symbolic sign are sign that doesn’t relate to what it is interpreting. A good example of this would be like the play button that we use on radio or remotes. The iconic signs are opposite of the symbole because they relate to what the image actual mean. An example of this would be like the back and forward buttons on a radio or remotes. The indexical signs are the one that are directly connected with their referents spatially, temporally, or by cause and effect.

example of a symbolic and iconic sign:

For Roland Barthes, Semiotics “was not a cause, a science a discipline, a school, a movement, nor presumably even a theory” because “it is an adventure.” Semiotics is all about signs, whether they are verbal or nonverbal. Barthes created two other words to go along with sign: signifier and signified. The signifier is the image we see, the signified is the meaning of this image, while the sign is the connection of the two. Charles Peirce, who developed the triadic model of the sign, also described three types of signs: symbolic signs, iconic signs and indexical signs. Symbolic signs “bear no resemblance to the objects to which they refer.” The surrounding culture has to establish the meaning of this object. An example of a symbolic sign is the bathroom symbol. Although it is universally known now, the image on the sign(a man or a woman) has no relevance to the actual meaning of it. Therefore, cultures had to establish the meaning of this symbol. Iconic signs are the exact opposite of symbolic signs because of the fact that these signs “have a resemblance with the objects they portray.” The fast forward button, for example, is an iconic symbol because it portrays the motion of moving forward using arrows pointing to the right. Lastly, indexical signs are those that “are directly connected with their referents spatially, temporally, or by cause and effect.” An indexical example is a rainbow, symbolizing that it just rained.

Semiotics is defined as, “the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems; the analysis of anything that can stand for something else.” The ultimate goal is clarify between verbal and nonverbal signs. We use or see signs each and everyday and we probably don’t even notice when we do.

Symbolic signs don’t relate to the object they are interpreting. It must be something learned within a certain culture. For example, the pause button on a remote controller. Everyone knows the parallel lines means that one can stop whatever they might be watching for however long they desire. In no way does the image refer to the action that takes place once you push it.

Iconic signs are the complete opposite. The image of the sign directly relates to the object being portrayed. One can use any of their five senses to distinguish the sign to which its referring. For example, the sign used for recycling. The three green arrows represent reusing and the fact that its normally green means that it is eco-friendly. The arrows are designed in a circular pattern to interpret the cycle that our waste is put in.

Indexical signs are “directly connected with their referents spatially, temporally, or by cause and effect.” The use of the sign relates to the object, action, or idea to which one is referring. For example, the shrug of one’s shoulders means that they do not know.