User:Manetta/whathowwhy

pre-inter-post

(version 25-09)

what? (the thesis is/contains)
'pre-inter-post' is the name of the thesis i wrote as part of my bachelor graduation in 2012. The text starts with an introduction into semiotics, a study into the making of meaning through signs. This theoretical framework is then connected with visual and written examples, mostly from the world of art and graphic design. The text ends with an overview of the different positions towards meaning-making.

how? (the thesis came to be)
The reason to study semiotics originated from an interest in the term 'representation'. This interest has been shifted towards a meta-level, as i got fascinated by the different structures of 'meaning-making' itself.

extra optional info:

• This interest was first expressed in a series of documents with the title 'untitled'.
• This structural approach has now activated a preference to work from an analytical point of view.
• While getting more familiar with the structural way of thinking that is common in the semiotic world, I started to apply the different 'meaning-making' positions onto written and visual examples, not in a very strict, but more in a loosely and associative way.
• The meta-level-thinking is bending towards a philosophy.
• It lives on quite an abstract level, describing connections that are otherwise not to be seen.

why?
This structural semiotic approach is closely connected with the profession of a graphic designer. The designer's field of activity could be split up into two parts: creating a visual language and communicating certain content. As these two parts are always interweaven, it is exactly this exchange of 'meaning-making' that connects semiotics to graphic design.

extra optional info:

• By decoding the field of meaning-making, one gets an insight in how an object relates to its meaning. A tomato for example, does signifies more than just being a vegetable.
• This awareness is then of course very related how the viewer reads any visual object.

what how why -glued-
'pre-inter-post' is the name of the thesis i wrote as part of my bachelor graduation in 2012. The text starts with an introduction into semiotics, a study into the making of meaning through signs. This theoretical framework is then connected with visual and written examples, mostly from the world of art and graphic design. The text ends with an overview of the different positions towards meaning-making. The reason to study semiotics originated from an interest in the term 'representation'. This interest has been shifted towards a meta-level, as i got fascinated by the different structures of 'meaning-making' itself. This structural semiotic approach is closely connected with the profession of a graphic designer. The designer's field of activity could be split up into two parts: creating a visual language and communicating certain content. As these two parts are always interweaven, it is exactly this exchange of 'meaning-making' that connects semiotics to graphic design.

broader cultural context
The aim of the thesis was to connect a theoretical field with the field of design. The Berlin based graphic designer Manuel Bürger shows a similar interest in his work. Both in commissions as in self-initiated work, he analyses the structures within the visual digital world of today. People there are, as he describes it "lost in connotations".

extra optional:

• One of the examples that was mentioned in the thesis, is a concern from Julian Assange. He mentiones the relation between digital documents and their file-names, and worries about the possible changes one can make to them, without the reader knowing anything about it.