Why semiotics matters in product design

Photographic adaptation of M. C. Escher’s Cube. (Source: unknown)

“Design should never say: ‘Look at me’. It should always say: ‘Look at this’.” — David Craib

When we are designing a product, both physical or digital artifact, we need to face several requirements. Curiously, most of them are not visual aspects, in contradiction to aesthetical and visual function that most people expect from design activity.

In fact, intangible aspects in product design may sounds unfamiliar. However, this point of view is not recent in post-industrial design: it’s basilar to conceive new products and services considerating how the people interacts with the objects and the signs that represent the real-world objects, once contemporary artifacts are more about information than their shape and materiality only. It more about the meaning and emotion involved in the experience with product [1][2].

Fig. 1: Salt and pepper shakers designed to represent social symbols.

Symbols, icons and other representation typologies are largely discussed in Semiotics, studying the relation between the things and the interpretation people have about them [3]. In Semiotics, a same object may have several meanings by different individuals, for each mental model produces its own representation dynamics. Therefore, people comprehend products in different ways. The Semiotics supports designers to visualize each level in which an object is read by the user and the influence of its meanings in the user experience and in the product value, consequently.

Semiotic model of product design concept

The product design may be inquired by three semiotic levels [4]:

• Pragmatic Level: Why the product exists?
• Semantic Level: What people think about the product?
• Syntactic Level: How it was made?

In this theoretical proposal (Fig. 2), the pragmatic level corresponds to the product strategy. The semantic level contains the meanings of the user and stakeholders perception. Finally, syntactic level explains how the product is structured, its components, technologies adopted, functional interactions etc. So, this last level corresponds to the form (syntax) of product, revealing that product design, before aesthetics and tangible elements, is defined mainly by the perspectives of business strategies and user’s needs. This dialogue results in the artifact visuality and grows up its quality of use. Also, the three semiotics levels work as design layers that interact each other, in iterations. Here, we consider their combination as the product concept, in this concept is balanced by iteration cycles between the layers.

Fig. 2: Semiotic Design Layers. (Source: Author)

These iterations may work in user centered design (UCD) approach, in which strategic decisions and prototypes are refined and evaluated by user perception (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: UCD dynamics between the semiotic design layers. (Source: Author)

For example, in the perception layer, a car represents an important consumer good and social need for some people while it’s the cause of urban mobility problems for others. So, the perception layer is a path to project different strategies for a transport product solution, also its configurations according each user/stakeholder perspectives. Maybe for the first group of users, an individual vehicle is good, while collective transports, bicycles or alternative mobility services be better for second group. Looking at this interaction between layers allows to design better experiences and value proposition aligned to each user profile.

Fig. 4: LRT in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Source: official government website)

Similarly, some consumers prefer to dine in their homes, while others seek alternatives in the city. For both cases, there are different solutions and strategies to configure, for example, a deliver service, culinary content service, or a food establishment.

It’s important to consider the interdependence of semiotic design layers. In an existing product, for example, the flow of iterations between layers can start in the configuration layer, beginning the redesign process through problems observed in the user experience with the product and identifying the problems in its interface and structure and what strategies the designer and development team need to refine. Thus, the semiotic design layers work as different points of view that compounds the meaning of product and its concept, bringing new insights to design process.

Considerations

In this article, I shared some learnings and theoretical assumptions on semiotics in design. I hope these proposals help design processes and contribute in user experience projects.

Author

André Grilo, M.Sc.
Head of Design, Informatics Superintendency
Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

References

1. Norman, D. (2004). Emotional Design. New York: Basic Books.
2. Buxton, B. (2007). Sketching User Experience. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann / Elsevier.
3. Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics: The Basis. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
4. Morris, C. (1938). Foundations of the Theory of Signs. University of Chicago Press.