WHAT IS VISUAL SOCIAL SEMIOTICS?
Semiotics is generally described as the “study of signs.” For a sign to exist, there must be meaning or content (the signified) manifested through some form of expression or representation (the sign). Figure 1 is a well-known painting by Rene Magritte that demonstrates this relationship in a striking and explicit manner. By putting the sentence This is not a pipe below a highly realistic representation of a pipe, Magritte reminds viewers that the image is not reality but artifice–in other words, a representation or sign. A thoughtful viewer might note that the word “pipe” itself is an arbitrary combination of four letters that conveys the concept of “pipe” through the form of written expression–once again, a sign. Signs exist within semiotic systems. For example, the green light in a traffic signal is a sign meaning “go” within the semiotic system of traffic control; words are signs in the semiotic system of language; gestures are signs within the semiotic system of nonverbal communica
