TY - JOUR
T1 - Semiotics and design
T2 - Towards an aesthetics of the artificial
AU - Holt, Matthew
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/7/28
Y1 - 2017/7/28
N2 - Semiotics is the theory par excellence of the artificial and therefore should have a substantial role in understanding designed phenomena. By tracing the relation between design and semiotics at the level of the distinction between the analytic and the synthetic (or artificial), this paper argues that semiotics struggles to explain the environmental element of design so central to post-artefactual accounts of design. The analytic method of semiology is suitable for understanding existent semiotic structures but less so at modeling alternate signifying systems—or systems that alter, transform and self-interpret, that is, environments. The paper argues that to understand such milieus a turn to the aesthetic is necessary. By aesthetics it is meant the simultaneous mapping of the environment, the articulation of the environment and the counterfactual element of any design process. More particularly the paper will focus on recent developments within social semiotics to argue that such a framework must move beyond the constraints of analytical spatial and visual grammar to take into account not only multimodal texts but planning, systems and services. It will conclude by arguing that ultimately design and aesthetics are the same phenomenon, not in the sense that design is the study and application of aesthetic principles to useful objects or experiences, but in the sense that it is the organization of the counterfactual elements of artificial—designed—environments.
AB - Semiotics is the theory par excellence of the artificial and therefore should have a substantial role in understanding designed phenomena. By tracing the relation between design and semiotics at the level of the distinction between the analytic and the synthetic (or artificial), this paper argues that semiotics struggles to explain the environmental element of design so central to post-artefactual accounts of design. The analytic method of semiology is suitable for understanding existent semiotic structures but less so at modeling alternate signifying systems—or systems that alter, transform and self-interpret, that is, environments. The paper argues that to understand such milieus a turn to the aesthetic is necessary. By aesthetics it is meant the simultaneous mapping of the environment, the articulation of the environment and the counterfactual element of any design process. More particularly the paper will focus on recent developments within social semiotics to argue that such a framework must move beyond the constraints of analytical spatial and visual grammar to take into account not only multimodal texts but planning, systems and services. It will conclude by arguing that ultimately design and aesthetics are the same phenomenon, not in the sense that design is the study and application of aesthetic principles to useful objects or experiences, but in the sense that it is the organization of the counterfactual elements of artificial—designed—environments.
KW - Aesthetics
KW - Artificial environments
KW - Counterfactual communication
KW - Design
KW - Semiotics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055991482&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14606925.2017.1352860
DO - 10.1080/14606925.2017.1352860
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85055991482
SN - 1460-6925
VL - 20
SP - S332-S341
JO - Design Journal
JF - Design Journal
IS - sup1
ER -