Signs, Symbols, Pictograms and Logos

Signs | Symbols | Pictograms | Logos

1. Signs

In semiotics, (the investigation of apprehension, prediction and meaning; how it is that we apprehend the world, make predictions, and develop meaning) a sign is generally defined as “something that stands for something else, to someone in some capacity” (Marcel Danesi and Paul Perron, “Analyzing Cultures”). It may be understood as a discrete unit of meaning. Signs are not limited to words but also include images, gestures, scents, tastes, textures, sounds - essentially all of the ways in which information can be processed and communicated by any sentient, reasoning mind.

Signs are elements that can be related together logically in a variety of different ways. Within semiotics there are two general schools of thought on the nature of sign relationships: those that believe signs are reducible to dyadic logic, and those that believe that signs require triadic relationships.

Dyadic Signs –

Ferdinand de Saussure famously defined a sign: “the linguistic sign unites not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image. The latter is not the material of sound, the impression that it makes on our senses: the sound-image is sensory, and if I happen to call it ‘material,’ it is only in that sense, and by way of opposing it to other terms of the assocation, the concept, which is generally more abstract.” (1922: 98; English trans. 1959:66) “I call the combination of a concept and a sound-image a sign. Ambiguity would disappear if the three notions involved where designated by three names, each suggesting and opposing the others. I propose to retain the word sign to designate the whole, and to replaced concept and sound-image with signified and signifier; the last two terms have the advantage of indicating the opposition that seperates them from one another and from the whole of which they are parts.”

Signs are composed of two elements:

1. A sound image (such as a word or a visual representation)

2. Concept for which the sound-image stands

(sign = sound image + concept)

Signifier

The signifier is the sound-image part of the sign

Signified

The signified is the concept part of the sign. A sign is both a signifier and signified.

Signifier + Signified

(sound-image) + (concept)

long hair = hippy

tattoo = individualist

bow tie = professor/nerd

string tie = hick/cowboy

back pack = student

Triadic Signs –

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) An American philosopher who founded contemporary semiotics, a contemporary of Saussure, proposed a different theory of signs. Signs establish meaning by means of relating other signs together.

He identified three distinct parts to a sign:

▪ object - the concept that the sign encodes

▪ representamen - the perceivable part of the sign

▪ interpretant - the meaning one obtains from the sign

Sign = unity between object + representamen + interpretant

Object Representamen Interpretant

Object Representamen Interpretant

Peirce's triadic notion of signs requires that relationships between one sign and another have to be mediated by a third sign. In this view, the mediating sign is the only way to express the nature of the relationship between the signs. Excluding this third sign limits the possible relational expression to simple co-occurrence or similarity.

No sign as Sign

No sign is also a sign. Since we are sign-giving and sign-interpreting animals and since for much of our lives we are involved with this kind of activity, no signs or absent signs also communicate something to us.

We feel that when we give a sign to someone, such as saying “hello”, we should get an appropriate response, some form of greeting or reply. When we don’t get the response we expect, we take it as a sign of something. It isn’t always possible to determine what absent signs means.

Area Meaning

Phone rings, but no caller prankster/pervert

Says nothing wrong number

No reply to letter rejection, lack of decision, letter misplaced

2. Symbols (http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Symbol)

A representation of an object or concept based on an agreed upon convention. Something with cultural significance.

Nature of symbols

A symbol can be a material object whose shape or origin is related, by nature or convention, to the thing it represents:

for instance, the crucifix is the main symbol of Christianity,

and the scepter is a traditional symbol of royal power.

A symbol can also be a more or less conventional image (i.e. an icon), or a detail of an image, or even a pattern or color:

for example, the olive branch in heraldry represents peace,

and the color red is often used as a symbol for socialist movements, especially communism.

Symbols can also be immaterial entities like sounds, words and gestures. The ringing of gongs and bells, and the banging of a judge's gavel, often have conventional meanings in certain contexts; and bowing is a common way to indicate respect. In fact, every word in a natural language is a symbol for some concept or relationship between concepts.

A symbol is usually recognized only within some specific culture, religion, or discipline, but a few hundred symbols are now recognized internationally.

Use of symbols

It is human beings’ ability to manipulate symbols that allows them to explore the relationships between ideas, things, concepts, and qualities - far beyond the explorations of which any other species on earth is capable. The discipline of semiotics studies symbols and symbol systems in general; semantics is specifically concerned with the main meaning of words.

Literary works are often admired for their artful use of symbolism, i.e. the use of words, phrases and situations to evoke ideas and feelings beyond their plain interpretations; these uses are the subject of literary semiotics. Religious and metaphysical writings are also known for their use of esoteric symbolism. Alchemical writings made extensive use of symbols for spiritual and chemical processes (which they also saw as symbols of each other). The interpretation of dreams as symbols of one's experiences is a main feature of Freudian psychoanalysis and Jungian analytical psychology.

3. Pictograms

A pictogram or pictograph is a symbol which represents a concept or an object by illustration.

Early written characters (symbols) were based on pictograms and ideograms, it is commonly believed that pictograms appeared before ideograms. They were used by various ancient cultures (in Egypt, Spain, Crete) around 5000 BC and are still in use as a main type of writing in some primitive cultures in Africa, America and Oceania.

Pictograms remain in common use today; for example the symbols on public toilets for "men" and "women."

Because pictograms do not depend on language, places such as airports and train stations use them for signposting. However, they can depend on culture—in the case of toilets, in some cultures men commonly wear dress-like clothing.

A standard set of pictograms was defined in the international standard ISO 7001: Public Information Symbols.

The pictograms or “symbol signs” used by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) are intended to convey information useful to travelers without resorting to verbal language. Among these pictograms, for example, are the now-familiar graphics representing “Toilets” and “Telephone.” Since their introduction in 1974, they have found widespread use in airports, train stations, hotels and other public places not only in the United States but also around the world.

Warning sign Priority Sign Prohibition Sign

In countries or regions where two or more languages are used the typical traffic sign is very often a pictogram with no writing on it. This is the case for much of Europe and several parts of Canada. Many of these signs, however, offer an abstract symbol instead of a picture, and they cannot be considered true pictograms.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Pictogram

4. Logos

A corporate logo is a component of a brand identity. The shape, color, typeface, etc. should be distinctly different from others in a similar market.

The most effective logos should be recognizable instantly, and should evoke some sort of emotional response. Well designed logos work well at many sizes, and even in one color.

Some well-known examples are: Apple computer's apple with a bite out of it started out as a rainbow of color, and has been reduced to a single color without any loss of recognition. Coca Cola's script is known the world over, but is best associated with the color red; its main competitor, Pepsi has taken the color blue, although they have abandoned their script logo. IBM, also known as "Big Blue" has simplified their logo over the years, and their name. What started as International Business Machines is now just "IBM" and the color blue has been a signature in their unifying campaign as they have moved to become an IT services company.

There are some other logos that must be mentioned when evaluating what the mark means to the consumer. Automotive brands can be summed up simply with their corporate logo- from the Chevrolet "Bow Tie" mark to the circle marks of VW, Mercedes and BMW, each has stood for a brand and clearly differentiated the product line.

Other logos that have become global: the Nike "Swoosh" and the Adidas "Three stripes" are two well-known brands that are defined by their corporate logo. When Phil Knight started Nike, he was hoping to find a mark as recognizable as the Adidas stripes, which also provided reinforcement to the shoe. He hired a young student (Caroline Davidson) to do his logo, paying her $35 for what has become one of the most well known marks in the world (she was later compensated again by the company).

Corporate identities today are often developed by large firms who specialize in this type of work. However, Paul Rand is considered the father of corporate identity and his work has been seminal in launching this field. Some famous examples of his work were the UPS package with a string (recently updated) IBM and many others.

While large corporations spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to update and implement their logos, many small businesses will turn to local graphic designers to do a corporate logo.

An interesting case is the refinement of the FedEx logo, where the brand consultants convinced the company to shorten their corporate name and logo from "Federal Express" to the popular abbreviation "Fed Ex". Besides creating a much stronger, shorter brand name, they reduced the amount of color used on vehicles (planes, trucks) and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in paint costs. Note also, the right pointing arrow in the new logo is a subliminal hint of motion.

A logotype is a graphic element which uniquely identifies corporations, products, services, institutions, agencies, associations, events, or any kind of organizations in order to differentiate publicly the owner of the logotype from other entities. A logotype is really a brandname set in a special typeface/font arranged in a particular, but legible, way. At the end of this handout there are true logotypes, whereas the others including non-letter graphics of some kind usually can be described as logos.

The "Canon" logotype is a name in special typeface or font.

The "United Airlines" logotype is an emblem and a name.

The uniqueness of a logotype is of utmost importance to avoid confusion in the marketplace, among clients, suppliers, users, affiliates and the general public. Therefore, once designed, a logotype should be registered as a graphic trademark, so that no other can use it, and no other can try to stop its use by the owner. Duly protected, a logotype can become an asset of great value.

Sometimes a slogan is included in the logotype. If the slogan appears always in the logotype, and in the same graphic shape, it can be considered as part of the logotype. Otherwise, it should be seen as a different element, used to reinforce the identity of the owner, together with the logotype.

The origin of logotypes goes back to the 19th century, when industrial manufacture of products became important. The new industrial procedures allowed a much higher output then that of the former handmade products. The new products were distributed in large geographical areas, even nationwide. New competitors appeared from time to time, and the offer of products of a same kind increased notably. At that time, a significant part of the population was still illiterate. The industrial leaders became soon aware that the public would not easily differentiate their product from the same product of their competitors. More and more manufacturers began therefore to include a logo on their products, labels and packages, so that all the buyers could easily recognize the product they wanted.

The manufacturers later began to add the name of the company or of the product to their sign. The name being shaped often in a specific way by each manufacturer, these combined logotypes, which for the first time included sign and name, became extremely popular. During many decades, when a new logotype was designed, owners, advertising professionals and graphic designers had always in mind to create a logo which would appear with the logotype.

Today there are so many corporations, products, services, agencies and other entities using a logotype, that many of these have realized that of the thousands of logos people are faced with, only few are recognized without a name. The consequence is that there is a notion that it makes less sense to use a logo as a logotype, even together with the name, if people will not duly identify it. The trend in the last years has been, therefore, to use trademarks and names and to emphasize instead in the design of the name, making it unique by its letters, color and additional graphic elements. This notion might be misleading though, as a small product with a logo sometimes will grow in popularity, even grow across alphabet-borders, where for instance an arabic name would be of little help in most European markets, if it's written in Arabic. A logo would keep the general proprietary nature of the product in both markets. In non-profit areas, the Red Cross is an example of an extremely well known logo which does not need a name to go with it.

Logotype Examples

The following are a few examples of logotypes including only the name, actually brand names with the same font. The first table shows the names of six well-known companies in Arial typeface in all cases. In order to recognize the companies, the name has to be read. This takes a little time. The name as a graphic element is not easily memorized, so that it has to be read everytime it is seen or looked for. And, if all companies do the same, there is no difference between one or another, which again makes it necessary to read the name.

The next table shows a totally different picture. Each company has a specific design of its name, a logotype. Due to the design, the color, the shape, and eventually additional elements of the logotype, each one is different from the others, especially from those of the competitors, so that they are easily recognized. For example, in a supermarket a box of Kellogg's cereals will be seen in the shelf from a certain distance, due to the unique design of its logotype. The same will happen when one is looking at the airport for the booth of the Hertz Rent-A-Car company. There is no need to read the name. The logotype will be recognized from far away because of its shape and its color.