Abstract

This paper is aimed at contributing towards the understanding of the process of embedding meaning in products, informing industrial design practice. The approach chosen commences with review of selected semiotic studies, to expose the relation between semiotics and the design of products. The purpose of understanding the usefulness and suitability of semiotics to support the design of products is rooted in the belief that semiotics may assist designers by informing their choices and decisions about paths to pursue in the design process. An analysis of design’s fundamental periods suggests a gradual but steady uptake of the elements of analysis of each of semiotics’ branches. The pursuance of symbolic connotation, beyond mere denotation of objects, is inherent to human nature. Evidence abounds of the purpose of embedding meaning into objects, even if the structured and purposeful inclusion of elements of semiotic analysis in the process of product design is not always done methodically, albeit intuitively. The orders of signification (connotation, denotation and myth) support the analysis of symbolism, when meaning is to be embedded into objects. Practitioners may further benefit from a structured and purposeful inclusion of elements of semiotic analysis in a methodologically supported process of product design. Another goal of this paper is, hence, to outline an explicit design methodology and highlight, in its several stages, the semiotic perspective that is viewed as most adequate to support the attainment of improved outcomes to the design process. The relation between design and semiotics is further elicited by retrospective analysis of two design cases. The semiotic elements of analysis may be positioned in complement to a systematic design methodology, with the aim of informing the design process. A frame of reference is proposed that shows a partial overlap between levels of semiotic analysis in their correspondence to the industrial design process.