Every piece of advertising or design has a root in cultural symbolism, otherwise, nobody would understand what it’s trying to say.  For example, most people brought up in a Judeo-Christian society recognize an apple as a symbol for knowledge.  Every culture has symbols like this.  The study of cultural signs is known as semiotics.  One of the first classes I had to take as a marketing student was “Semiotics for Creators of Pop Culture” because understanding this concept is that important.

This week’s spotlight, Creative Semiotics, uses this academic theory as a driving force for marketing and brand strategy. It uses the latest ideas in digital media and design to help business owners develop innovative strategies when going through the branding process.

Founder, Chris, can definitely explain these concepts better than I can:

How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?

What I do is to help understand the meanings that appear without us knowing it in the messages that surround us. Advertising is an obvious example of this. For example you might remember advertising from your childhood in England. Where soap might be sold on the basis of its cleaning efficiency, back then it was sold on the basis of domesticity but also carried quite patriotic messages about the importance of the British empire. In this sense the advertisements were set up to symbolize the purifying and civilizing mission of Victorian empire builders overseas.

Other product categories such as chocolate (Cadbury’s) and other foodstuffs (Bovril) also used images of imperial conquests and territories in their advertising. Soap, however, through its representations of purity signified not only hygiene but also spiritual salvation and regeneration for a fast industrializing nation.

In these ads, all the elements used: colour, the language used and visual composition, even the shape of the lettering could have helped to convey these subtle messages and ultimately an ideology. Digging into the details of all forms of communication and in my job, all commercial communication, and revealing often overlooked meanings. This is the essence of semiotics. Biscuit, gran?

What made you use crowdSPRING?

In the process of establishing my corporate identity already had a logo in mind but as it was a cultural symbol (from West Africa), I was uncomfortable using it as it was and needed it re-interpreted. I had considered briefing some graphic designers I knew and then sent an e-mail out to London based design colleges like St. Martins and Goldsmith’s. But the concerns with professional designers would have been cost and with the college, timescales and quality control.

crowdSPRING was recommended to me by a trends person I had lunch with one day in late summer 2010. I got in touch to find out more, e-mailed Kevin DeLury and within a week of first contact, I had briefed in the project and was happily browsing new entries! Very quick, easy and professionally done. (more…)