The Semiosis 101 Blog

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read The physical (and digital) outcomes of illustration and design populate our 21st century world. But as humans, from deep within our prehistory, we have evolved abstract thinking and have utilised Symbolic communication. The results of this ability has led to our visual world

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read In my 2026 Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators book I use two metaphorical worlds to help bridge the disconnect between visual communication creative practice and academia. These worlds are the colourful tacit world of Creativeland and the more sombre world of Theoryland. The

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read The concept that you need to connotatively visually communicate through the visual tone of voice you set is important. Peirce calls this the “Object,” but to contextualise his obtuse terminology into your existing creative practice, we will refer to it as the “concept”

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read How does pragmatic semiotic sign-action begin as part of design or illustration is a very good question to ask. Much of Semiosis 101’s content covers all aspects of Peirce’s semiotic theory in bite-sized chunks of explanation. Most of these explanation chunks

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read I have discussed semiotic determination flow in many blog posts, video episodes and in my 2026 Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators book. This flow is essentially between the concept to be visually communicated; how you visually represent that in your chosen visual language;

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read When you ideate you are developing ways to structure your design or illustration to successfully answer your client’s brief. To illustrate or design effectively is not simply a matter of aesthetics. It is not simply about demonstrating your artistic prowess or ego,

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read To really get to grips with Peirce’s Semiosis to apply it to your existing creative practice, you really need to grasp his phenomenological thinking around the states of Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness. This does take some conceptual thinking on your part to

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read Why does your visual communication sometimes miscommunicate? Do you design or illustrate for yourself first or do you consider your audience? The difference between these two positions is a factor in miscommunication. We can frame this binary as first-order thinking versus second-order thinking,

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read Klaus Krippendorff, in his design book The Semantic Turn, argues for design thinking to move beyond a client/creative bias, in order for meaning to be communicated beyond the elements that form the aesthetic outcome. This framing of the creative process beyond an

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read To effectively visually communicate the intended messaging in your illustrations or designs needs your audience. You cannot visually communicate blindly. How many times in our creative life have we quickly sketched something and then shown it to someone, only to hear “what is

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read When we design or illustrate it is essentially for an audience. As the creative you are certainly creating something from your inherent creative skills, using tools and techniques you have spent time perfecting. However, I am not discussing ‘making art.’ I am discussing

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read When you apply semiotic signs in your illustrations and designs you are in fact manipulating your visual language to mediate the visual communication of what was meant to be communicated. We are no longer concerned with denotational meaning but instead connotatively visually expressing

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read In the Semiosis 101 video episodes, and in my new 2026 Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators book, I have spent time putting Peirce’s ten pragmatic semiotic sign classifications into visual communication contexts. As designers and illustrators, if you were to go directly

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read In illustration or design we visually communicate in one of two ways. Each visual element we utilise in the visual language we choose is either detonating that it represents itself as THIS is THIS; or connotatively, THIS representation of THIS actually means THAT

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read The underlying structure of Peirce’s pragmatic semiotic theory is based on sets of threes, interacting with each other. Understanding this triadic structure will help you designer’s and illustrators to understand Semiosis’ power. The first major triad is in the semiotic determination

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read How can you illustrators and designers control what your target audience will interpret from what they see? This blog post will answer that - semiotically speaking. Just because you believe your design or illustration is visually communicating THIS* actually means THAT other thing

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read Think of your grandparents’ generation. Then imagine at least 1600 generations before them. You are back in the European Stone Age, a land of vast glaciers, steppes and mammoths. Bands of modern humans successfully lived there in small hunter-gatherer nomadic communities. These humans

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read By carefully considering the Iconic crafting of your visual language from a very early sketching stage, you can enhance how your final designs connect with the target audience. You creatives will be happier. Your target audience will be happier. Your client will be

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read Semiosis - sign-action - takes the audience’s subjectiveness and helps you creatives to manipulate your visual language from the level of lines, shapes, colours, marks, etc. up to full design and illustration outcomes. This begins at the basic level of Iconic representation

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read You designers and illustrators need your target audience. The semiotic determination flow in Semiosis is not an “ideal concept” flowing to an “ideal representation.” Peirce’s pragmatic Semiosis is unlike Saussure’s linguistic-based Semiology of signifier/signified. Yes, Semiosis can be described as

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read A concept, a representation and an interpretation walk into a bar… To understand how Peirce’s Semiosis works, it is necessary to go deeper into his triadic division of signification. How I opened this post could be the beginnings of a bad joke.

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read If we examine Charles Sanders Peirce’s semiotic theory from the perspective of design and illustration, the mediation of meaning is our focus. In Peirce’s obtuse way, frames semiotic communication as being between three nodes. This brings you creatives into closer alignment

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read As illustrators and designers, Charles Sanders Peirce’s theory of semiotics tells you you are missing a crucial benefit. You creatives naturally focus on your design’s or illustration’s aesthetic. After all, your client has chosen you to answer their brief, haven’

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read As illustrators and designers, if you think of every line, shape, colour, etc. you make in your sketches or final outcomes are Iconic representations. They are the lowest level of semiotic sign-action that are elements with a resemblance to things a target audience

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read As visual communicators, your first visual communication task on behalf of your client is to get the attention of your target audience to look at what you have designed or illustrated. If your audience does not spot something in the design or illustration

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read By manipulating semiotic Iconic representation of the concept in your ideation phase, will help you improve how you visually HOOK your target audience’s attention. To explain how to HOOK and begin to retain the attention of the target audience we will now

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read Designing semiotic visual communication is a natural part of our existing design process. Graphic designers and illustrators describe their ability to visually communicate to a target audience, as something they “just do.” Polanyi in his book The Tacit Dimension clarifies that we tacitly

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read What we see is not necessarily what we see. That conundrum is for graphic designers and illustrators to unpack and Gestalt Theory and Semiosis helps to do just that. Six areas of Gestalt theory are certainly an active part of any designer or

Semiosis 101 - 5 minute semiotic read When is a semiotic sign a semiotic sign? What IS a sign? When Is A Semiotic Sign A Sign? Well in Peircean terms, a semiotic sign is not a sign until it is perceived as a sign. We are in the context of