Free Semiosis 101 Transcript 5.1:
Visual Communication: A Pragmatic Semiotic Turn
Hello readers.
In this free transcript for the episode published on Semiosis 101 on 30 September 2026, we will take a pragmatic semiotic turn in your design or illustration practice (and in your creative mindset too), by exploring the pragmatic philosophy underpinning the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce (and my new 2027 Semiotics for Designers and Illustrator book).
Watch the free episode on YouTube for the full impact…
…and here is the episode’s transcript.
And so season five of Semiosis 101 begins.
In the next twenty episodes we will focus on a pivotal creative moment that has long been coming. This season will lead you in a pragmatic semiotic turn in your design or illustration practice (and in your creative mindset too).
The semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce is a pragmatic theory. But what does that actually mean? Well this first episode will philosophically explore pragmatism AND pragmatic-infused visual communication history (Spoiler alert: we will be talking about ACTION, SEMIOTIC SIGN-ACTION).
With season five, Semiosis 101 is at its half-way mark (there will be ten seasons in all). For the very first time though, Semiosis 101 episodes will be augmented with my book - Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators. See description for link to buy the book.
In the true sense of the word unique, Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators is unique. It has been written is to help you illustrators and designers to enhance how you visually communicate to your target audience. In my book I explain in plain creative-centric terms the pragmatic semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce, and contextualise it into your existing creative process.
As in Semiosis 101, I have purposely adopted Peirce’s term of Semiosis (which means semiotic sign-action) in my book to explain his pragmatic semiotic theory. What makes this book truly unique is that I have written this book from within Creativeland and not Theoryland. What these terms refer to is the disconnect in language and culture between illustration and design practice and theory. Such as what’s the pragmatic in a pragmatic semiotic turn?
Just like the word ‘iconic,’ ‘pragmatic’ has a general meaning in conversation, but means something specific in philosophical terms. Pragmatism is a 20th century philosophy that Peirce founded (with John Dewey and William James) in which ideas are social tools for action.1 Pragmatism is derived from the Greek word for ‘action’ (which is the same source for ‘practice’ and ‘practical’).2
Pragmatists dismissed any philosophical separation of mind/body, as human thought and action in the world logically are in “continuous formation.3” Ideas have actions that provoke thinking. Thoughts affect behaviour. Behavioural changes lead to actions.
The pragmatist Peter Simonson describes pragmatists as a “motley assortment of guerrilla bands that raid other disciplines for tools and texts.4” It’s not a single doctrine but a movement that is like an accordion - expanding and contracting its parameters.5
What I mean by an accordion is that Pragmatism is a movement of thinkers who dismissed absolute certainties in the world, so pragmatism doesn’t have one central dogmatic philosophical code.6 Instead pragmatists emphasised human agency, social lived experiences and individual ‘know-how’ in how we understand ideas and the world those ideas impact.7 But there is a central maxim behind pragmatic thinking.
In 1878 Peirce first published his Pragmatic Maxim to philosophically define the heart of pragmatic thinking: “Consider what effects, which might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the Object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of the effects is the whole of our conception of the Object.”8
For all you non-theoreticians out there, I will paraphrase: a thing’s meaning is dependent upon the practical application of the use of that thing.
John Dewey expanded pragmatism to explore how we understand experience. Dewey’s theorising on experience expanded into the pragmatic framing of aesthetics as proactive rather than passive; and influenced graphic design education through the New Bauhaus movement led by László Moholy-Nagy.
Obviously you read more about this in my book’s introduction, with additional information in blog posts, essays and other semiotic writing on my Semiosis 101 Semiotic Resource on semiosis101.online. Link is below in the description.
Unlike Saussure’s Semiology, Peirce’s pragmatic semiotic theory of Semiosis is predicated on the effects of interpretation on eventual actions. But as visual communicators, who design or illustrate for meaningful impacts on your target audience, most of how you understand how effective you are rests with tacit knowledge - knowledge we cannot express. This is not because it’s a secret.
Without reflection, creative’s tacit knowledge is anaesthetically subsumed into ‘creative muscle memory.’ Without the descriptive words to explain how you achieved a particular enhancement in your visual communication ability, you are tacitly marooned within Creativeland. This is where Theoryland needs to be more accessible to illustrators and designers.
As illustrators and designers, you are not trained in the same way as philosophers or theoreticians and the complexity of Theoryland’s terminology is a barrier to you, as theories are never sufficiently explained in creative-centric terms. Hence the need for Semiosis 101 and my book Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators, which together address this elephant-in-the-design-studio by utilising my Semiotic Rosetta Stone research to explain theory in creative-centric plain language. The Semiotic Rosetta Stone brings Peirce’s pragmatic semiotic theory and your creativity into a new communicational situation9.
In 1799 the original Rosetta Stone was found buried in the Egyptian desert.10 It featured a message engraved in three languages: hieroglyphics, demotic and Ancient Greek. No-one could read hieroglyphics, but 18th century scholars understood Ancient Greek. They used that language to understand the demotic script (a simplified priestly version of hieroglyphics). They then used that demotic script as a bridging meta-language to translate the hieroglyphic language. This meta-language became an interface between the naturally commonplace (Ancient Greek) and the complicated and obscure (hieroglyphics).
The important lesson that the historical Rosetta Stone provides is that an arcane language (in our case Peirce’s semiotic writing) can be translated to be understood by non-academics. My Semiotic Rosetta Stone research means a developed meta-language is needed to bridge their Theoryland to our Creativeland, a much plainer language!
Why?
Well, if you designers and illustrators try to read Peirce directly, you will find his technical language as inaccessible as ancient hieroglyphics. (That I can promise you!). Up to recent times, the theoretical conundrum you creatives face if you wanted to apply theory you needed to understand theory. But, theory is only written by theoreticians in language theoreticians understand. So you find it troublesome to understand the theoretical language in order to apply theory.
This was the current impasse before my Semiosis 101 episodes and my Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators book. The radical position I take in the book and online is to first explain pragmatic semiotic theory within design or illustration contexts.
Now, in my book I’m joined by a new ally to ensure a Creativeland approach to understanding and applying theory. I created the character Little Creative in Theoryland® to visualise many of the key philosophical conundrums of Peirce’s semiotic theory. In these eleven new comic strip infographic episodes dotted throughout the book, our Little Creative grapples with understanding what Peirce means and how to apply that theory within design or illustration practice.
The gestation of Little Creative began with an academic paper I gave in 2019 to the International Association of Design Research in Manchester. This paper was titled Little Designer in Theoryland: A Designer-centric Approach to Understanding Theory and used Winsor McCay’s classic 1920s comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland as a metaphor for the split between practice (Nemo’s reality) and theory (Nemo’s dreamscape adventures).
As creatives, your unguided search for theoretical answers can be just as confusing and mesmerising as Nemo’s adventures. Our Little Creative in Theoryland’s strip adventures will help you to also navigate the high concepts that are a challenge to grasp. These eleven strip pages are also a chance for me to come out of illustration ‘retirement,’ and after 40ish years, finally draw some comic strips (you’ll have to buy my book or become a Semiosis 101 Semiotic Resource subscriber to read them - links in the description).
In the next episode we will preview chapter one of Semiotics for Designers and Illustrators. Remember to subscribe to Semiosis 101 on YouTube to be notified when this is published. Or become a Semiosis 101 Producer on Patreon and watch all future episodes months ahead of YouTube …plus a full episode archive, with other exclusive Patreon-only video content and a Semiosis 101 Producer credit.
Hint… hint…
References
[1] Menand, L. (2001) The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. xi
[2] Bernstein, R.J. (2010) The Pragmatic Turn. Cambridge: Polity Press. p. 3
[3] Dewey, J. (1981) The Philosophy of John Dewey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 56
[4] Simonson, P. (2001) Varieties of Pragmatism and Communication: Visions and Revisions from Peirce to Peters. In D.K. Perry (ed.). American Pragmatism and Communication Research. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, 1-26, p. 20
[5] Bernstein, R.J. (2010) The Pragmatic Turn. Cambridge: Polity Press. p. 11
[6]Thayer, H.S. (1989) Pragmatism: The Classic Writings. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. p. 11
[7] Bernstein, R.J. (2010) The Pragmatic Turn. Cambridge: Polity Press. pp. 8-9
[8] Peirce in Houser, N. and Kloesel, C. J.W. Eds. (1992) The Essential Peirce, Volume 1: Selected Philosophical Writings (1867–1893). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 132
[9] Frascara, J. (2004) Communication Design: Principles, Methods, and Practice. New York: Allworth Press. pp. 13, 19, 67-68, 86
[10] Solé, R. and Valbelle, D. (2002) The Rosetta Stone: The Story of the Decoding of Hieroglyphics. London: Profile Books.
