FireSigns: A Semiotic Theory for Graphic Design

by Steven Skaggs

Semiotics concepts from a design perspective, offering the foundation for a coherent theory of graphic design as well as conceptual tools for practicing designers. Graphic design has been an academic discipline since the post-World War II era, but it has yet to develop a coherent theoretical foundation. Instead, it proceeds through styles, genres, and imitation, drawing on sources that range from the Bauhaus to deconstructionism. In FireSigns, Steven Skaggs offers the foundation for a semiotic theory of graphic design, exploring semiotic concepts from design and studio art perspectives and offering useful conceptual tools for practicing designers.

Semiotics is the study of signs and significations; graphic design creates visual signs meant to create a certain effect in the mind (a "FireSign"). Skaggs provides a network of explicit concepts and terminology for a practice that has made implicit use of semiotics without knowing it. He offers an overview of the metaphysics of visual perception and the notion of visual entities, and, drawing on the pragmatic semiotics of the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, looks at visual experience as a product of the action of signs. He introduces three conceptual tools for analyzing works of graphic design--semantic profiles, the functional matrix, and the visual gamut--that allow visual "personality types" to emerge and enable a greater understanding of the range of possibilities for visual elements. Finally, he applies these tools to specific analyses of typography.

Genres: Design

296 pages, Hardcover

Published March 3, 2017

Reviews

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a guide to semiotics for graphic design. The content feels inaccessible and too academic for the average designer.

[Beth Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about semiotics, very accessible.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with the other reviewer in the sense that this book is probably best for someone who is already familiar with semiotics and would like to go deeper. I definitely enjoyed the book and learned new structured ways of thinking about design.