BLOG 26: Sign One and Firstness
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 can only contextualise a facet of both the theory and the creative process. Obviously my 2026 Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators book has nine chapters to fully contextualise how Semiosis can be applied into your existing creative ideation process.
However, this blog post will deal with the fundamentals of semiotic encoding and how this triggers interpretation of the concept. To be technical this all begins i
a phenomenological state of Firstness with the first class of pragmatic semiotic signs - the weak, ephemeral (but crucial) SIGN ONES which already pepper your visual language.
Taking an existentialist position to Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness, the state of Firstness, can be understood as a perception of “logical possibility, likeness or the quality of appearance.”[1] Peirce likened this to effort and resistance, covering “qualities, properties, feelings.”[2] The state of Firstness, can be understood, as a state of Being-in-the-world as itself, that is a state in which there is “no independent existence”[3] other than just BE-ing.
Firstness is a moment “regardless of anything else,”[4] a raw level of perception that is not formed by anything other than itself. The lowest level pragmatic semiotic sign class of ten classifications is a semiotic sign that can only exist in a state of Firstness. In Peirce’s obtuse terminology he calls this sign class level a Rhematic Iconic Qualisign.
Let’s just call this a SIGN ONE.
Each of Peirce’s ten semiotic sign classifications range from the simple (SIGN ONE) to the complex (SIGN TEN). Each sign class’s name is comprised of three words indicating its power level. The first word indicates its Perception Power, then Communication Power and finally its semiotic Delivery Power.
What Peirce means by his obtuse SIGN ONE name is that its perception level is weak, its communicational level is weak, and yes, you’ve guessed it, its semiotic delivery level of meaning is also weak. To put SIGN ONE’s name into a semblance of plain language we can define it as:
SIGN ONE: possible > familiar > instant*
(*only if perceived as meaning-bearing).
Your audience’s perception of meaning is based on possible meaning-bearing qualities. Your communication utilises the familiarity that these possible qualities share with your concept. Any interpretation is instant but very weak.
Peirce uses an inverted pyramid to illustrate the flow between his ten semiotic sign classes (see image). This pyramid of semiotic sign classes is read in rows diagonally downwards from SIGN ONE, zig-zagging up and down all the way to SIGN TEN. Sign Ten is the only semiotic sign class to exist purely in the highest state of Thirdness, and SIGN FOUR the only sign to be purely within Secondness.
All the other signs utilise the different power levels to grow stronger. While a SIGN ONE is the weakest sign it is nested within all the other sign classes. You can think of SIGN ONES as the semiotic triggers you pepper your visual language with to hook the attention of the audience they actually mean something. SIGN ONES are simultaneously dormant and meaningfully active.
SIGN ONES, if perceived as meaning-bearing from familiar qualities, are instant hits of possible meaning. Their job is not to visually communicate all the intended concept at once. Once a quality is perceived as possibly familiar to something, it’s semiotically mediating meaning in the minds of the target audience.
SIGN ONE then hands over to SIGN TWO, etc. to enhance the semiotic interpretations. If not perceived as meaning-bearing SIGN ONES just stay semiotically dormant in plain sight in your aesthetic.
The instant moment meaning is perceived it is semiotically facilitated by what Peirce calls a Qualisign - a visual semiotic sign which has an ephemeral visual quality that triggers the perception of meaning. I say a Qualisign is ephemeral because once triggered it semiotic sign-action begins mediating meaning. As meaning begins to be interpreted, the state of pure Firstness transitions to a state of Secondness.
[1] Huang, A.W. and Chuang, T. (2009) Social Tagging, Online Communication, and Peircean Semiotics: A Conceptual Framework. In: Journal of Information Science, 35(3), p345
[2] Jappy, T. (2013) Introduction to Peircean Visual Semiotics. London: Bloomsbury, p66.
[3] Jappy, T. (2013) Introduction to Peircean Visual Semiotics. London: Bloomsbury, p74.
[4] The Peirce Edition Project. Eds. (1998) The Essential Peirce, Volume 2: Selected Philosophical Writings (1893–1913). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, p160.
Semiosis 101
