Abstract: As a symbolic phenomenon in visual design, print advertisement design plays a role in communicating people, culture, and information. Therefore, we should study and recognize this, promote more symbolic characteristics, and use symbols more accurately. Learn the principles of print advertising design.
Keywords: symbolic semiotics, image symbol, symbol, symbol, symbol, symbol In the design of print advertisements, many of the expression techniques we use widely hide the shadow of semiotic principles. Advertising design itself is a symbolic image in visual design. It is a relatively direct and accurate communication medium in the visual communication process. It plays an important role in communicating people, culture and information. In the design of print advertisements, the use of semiotics influences the formulation of the representational thinking. It is also because of its existence that the design of print advertisements is more scientific and accurate, and the expressions are more colorful.
First, print advertising design and semiotics 1. Where does the symbol come from?
Because of human-specific social labor and language, people have highly developed awareness activities. People's thinking starts with the cognition of appearances, then records the representations in the brain to form concepts, and then regularizes and fixes these different concepts that come from real life, so that the various representations and processes of the external world and even its own thinking world are The corresponding image is generated in the brain. These images are separated from the intuitive external world and are independent and fixed in the mind. These images are based on a narrow sense of the language of words and are also expressed as generalized languages ​​such as visual graphics, body movements, and music.
2. About symbols and semiotics
As early as in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period, the thinker Zhuangzi put forward in his book Zhuangzi Outer Chapter: “The speaker is concerned about it, he is proud and forgets.†That is, the relationship between the language and the thing is a representation and a representation. Language is the representation of things, things are the representations of language, language plays a role in the transmission of information, and language serves as a carrier for conveying information. For example, the "wild goose claw" vividly and accurately expressed the definition of the symbol. The paws and seals left by the geese in the mud or snow have made people aware of the fact that the geese once passed here and can infer the size of the geese. Semiotics is the science of studying the laws of symbols.
3. Print advertising design is a form of semiotics
The process of human consciousness is actually a process of symbolizing the world. Thinking is nothing more than a process of selecting, arranging, transforming, and regenerating symbols. This shows that the symbol is the main body of thinking, and people use the symbol to think. The purpose of print advertisement design is to convey the choices and combinations of graphics and texts and the relationship between them in a two-dimensional space. Undoubtedly, this is also a process of thinking, but at the same time, it is not a normal thinking process. This is a thinking process that starts with the designer and continues to the audience's psychological activities. This continuation depends on the symbol as the subject of thinking.
The essence of print advertising design is to use the print media to convey information, which determines that it must be part of a generalized language. Therefore, the print advertisement design itself is a comprehensive expression of the symbol; at the same time, it is based on the principle of the symbol and expressed in the symbolic manner. From this we can see that the reasonable and accurate use of symbols is very important for achieving the purpose of information transmission. Finding a symbol X can accurately convey Y's information and become the key to print advertising design.
4. The role of semiotics in print advertising design
Graphic advertising designers use symbols to convey their thinking processes and conclusions to the audience and achieve the purpose of guidance or propaganda. In other words, it is through the designer's work and the experience of the audience that the audience understands and confirms, and ultimately feels the information that the designer wishes to express. Obviously, the graphic advertising design work as an intermediary is now a symbol for the designer to convey information. Whether the information expressed by this symbol is accepted, recognized and recognized by the audience accurately, quickly, and effectively is determined by the designer. In the process, the accuracy and effectiveness of the selection, arrangement, transformation, rebirth, etc. of graphics and text symbols are determined. Therefore, the role of semiotics in the design of print ads is extremely important.
Second, to explore the characteristics of symbols, the precise use of symbolic language 1. The use of symbols to give space for imagination
The effectiveness of print advertising design often depends on the design's creativity. Modern print advertising is no longer merely a straightforward expression of product information. Instead, it uses exaggeration, humor, and allegorical methods. It uses a large number of symbols in life to subvert the concept of life, the characteristics of goods, and the integration and integration. Fashionable information for the purpose of conveying sentimentality. Sometimes the symbols are applied directly and people immediately associate and understand their meanings, such as the use of symbols such as notes, staves, and notes in the design of print advertisements to convey the feelings and information of audience music melody and theme.
2. Symbol deepening, giving a broader meaning
From the relation between the symbol and its referent (that is, its orientation to the involved thing or field), it is currently widely believed that the symbol can be deepened into the following three different types in the field of symbolic theory research. It is also the three levels of the symbol:
(1) Icon: The image symbol is constructed by simulating or being similar to the object. Such as "KFC" sign is the image symbol of people. People have an intuitive perception of it and can be identified through the image.
(2) Index: There is a causal or temporal and spatial relationship between the indicator and the object to which it refers. If the "!" symbol is on the road, it is a warning, attention indicator; and the door is the sign of the building entrance.
(3) Symbol: There is no inevitability or intrinsic link between the symbolic symbol and the object to which it refers, and it is the result of convention. The object it is referring to and the acquisition of related meanings are the association of the associations produced by the feelings of many people over a long period of time into a kind of social custom. For example, green represents life, and the crane is a symbol of longevity in the eyes of the Chinese.
The three types of the above symbols coexist and cannot be replaced by each other. It is also a gradual deepening of the three levels. From image symbols to indicator symbols to symbolic symbols, it is a process in which the degree is continuously deepened and the information content is more extensive. For example, when the image of a pigeon appears on the product packaging, it is only a symbol of the product in the package. The message conveyed is “The product in this package is related to the pigeonâ€. At this time, it appears as an image symbol; because the pigeon is people’s life. Animals that are common in these animals have widely recognized animal characteristics. Therefore, when it appears on a street sign or in a sign, it appears as an indicator symbol. The information conveyed is: "When the pigeons and the Maple Leaf form a new symbol together, it no longer has the meaning of both, but refers to the environmental protection industry and represents the protection of the environment." When people see the Maple Leaf, it is easy to think of the image of the Canadian flag. The Maple Leaf has become a symbol of Canada. At the moment, the Maple Leaf represents the region. Here, the images of pigeons and maple leaves are displayed in front of people as their symbols. The designer intends to use three pigeons to form a maple leaf shape to represent Canadian animals and plants. The ingenious conception of the concept of "Canada-Animal and Plant-Protection" information concept. At this time, the meaning of the expression is accurate and effective, and it is impeccable, and this is precisely because it is transformed into an indicator symbol by the simple image symbol through its internal causality, and then it is given a broader meaning through a long time people's sensation association, qualitative change. Symbolic symbol. From this we can see that in order for information to be conveyed more effectively and accurately, it is necessary to deepen and evolve the symbol. However, the lack of popular foundation, unlawful, goal-free deepening of the sign is imperceptible, and it is even more difficult to convey clear information.
3. Symbolic thinking, variables in the space-time category
As a narrow sense of personal thinking, it has the same long time as life and exploratory of different living space. As the thinking activity of the human society in a broad sense, it has the immutability in the general sense and its applicability to all involved spaces. As the main body of thinking, symbols are also variable in the transformation of time and space.
(1) Different time and space, the same symbol has different referents.
The bones carved on the tortoiseshell animal bone unearthed at the Yinshang site in Anyang, Henan Province, are the earliest Chinese characters that can be used for examination, and are used to record divination results and events. Over time, thousands of years later, except in the eyes of archeologists, it still retains the characteristics of the symbol of events recorded. In the minds of most people, these hard-to-recognize words have become thousands of years. The symbol of the previous era. In a large number of graphic design works, the image of Oracle has repeatedly appeared. The information it conveys is no longer the symbol of the ancients' divining events, but has turned into a memorial for people of that era. At this moment, these words have become the symbol for the glory of the Chinese civilization for thousands of years.
(2) Different time and space, different symbols refer to the same thing.
Our society is experiencing more and more rapid changes. The changing time and space give new meaning to things. Things are constantly changing the symbols that represent it to adapt to its new meaning. The people's cognition of things in the time and space of such change is also changing, and the image-symbols built in the brain will naturally be different. Fashion may be the fastest-changing thing in society, changing every year, every month, or even every day. In fashion's most sensitive fashion design field, every year and every season has the latest fashion element and color conference. The purpose of these constantly updated elements and color symbols is to convey the same concept of fashion, so that the symbols that represent fashion are constantly updated and changed.
(3) In the relatively consistent time and space, social factors become the main factor of sign changes.
For example, because the Internet has become an essential communication method for the contemporary human society, the symbol "@" is the symbol of the Internet. It originally symbolized the meaning of computers and the Internet. It gradually faded into people's minds. Instead, it has become a symbol of communication. , and repeatedly appeared in the related theme of print advertising design works.
In the design, for the selection, excavation and use of symbols, these variables should be grasped so that the information can be accurately conveyed without ambiguity.
In summary, using the symbol to convey information in print advertising design works, the symbol elements it selects, arranges, and reorganizes should be symbols with explicit referential functions. It should be consistent with the space, time, social reality requirements or expression in which it can work properly. This requires that the designer must grasp the possible variables of the symbol that he applies, and ensure that the current value of these symbols is exactly what the designer needs to convey the information, rather than what they have, what they have, or what they might have. .
Concluding remarks <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br> The symbol is undoubtedly an inevitable tool. As designers, learning to use semiotics will make design more effective. Design as a medium for conveying ideas is itself a symbol. The design is also composed of symbolic elements. The designer successfully selects, arranges, transforms, and regenerates these elements and assembles them into symbols that refer to his own thoughts, becoming a symbol mutually recognized by both himself and his audience. Only when communication is truly formed and the information is accurately and completely conveyed, the design of this ideological process is perfect.
Semiotics is an interdisciplinary comprehensive discipline that integrates graphics and textualization. Its unique principles and methodologies guide and apply it in various applied disciplines, especially in print advertising design. In the field, it plays a decisive role.
Chen Wu Changsha University of Science and Technology
Ningbo XISXI E-commerce Co., Ltd , https://www.xisxipetsupplies.com