Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. A sign is something that stands for something, other than itself.

There are two main approaches to semiotics;

 - the Ferdinand de Saussure approach (1857-1913)

 - or the Charles Sander Pierce approach (1839-1914)

The first, is based on a study by Saussure - Sausuure's dyadic semiotic system. He concluded that signs are purely psychological and that they only make sense in a formal abstract system. He also stated that a one word language is an impossibility, and that a sign refers to what it is not. A sign is made up of a signifier, which signifies the signified - basically, something which connotes something else.

The other is Pierce's tryadic semiotic system, which states that there are 3 main different types of sign; indexes, icons and symbols. With indexes, the signifier is not arbitrary, but is connected to the signified in some way, either physically or casually (eg. the smell of smoke signifies a fire, but does not necessarily indicate a fire). An icon means that the signifier resembles the signified, for example a painting of a tree resembles a tree, but is not a tree itself, and a symbol is when the signifier is totally arbitrary and conventional, such as letters and numbers.

When making my magazine, I will have to consider the semiotics within it very carefully, in order to attract my target audience. I will take into consideration the colours I use for fonts and backgrounds, the images I use, and even the mise en scene within my photographs, as the wrong use of these things could have a poor end result - if my magazine was of the thrash metal genre, I would not use a pink and purple colour scheme to attract my hard core rock fans! I will have to keep my audience in mind, and use semiotics to ensure that my target audience would be attracted.