Product Semantics （產品語義學）: Exploring the Symbolic Qualities of Form（探索產品造型的符號品質）

"issue of Innovation” ，Klaus Krippendorff and Reinhart Butter coedited

Klaus Krippendorff：
The German-American professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania;
Reinhart Butter：
also a German-American,is a professor of industrial design

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蘇珊·凱爾（Susan Kare），蘋果最早的設計師之一

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Semiotics

The Sign

The Peirce Triangle

Three Types of Sign

iconic sign used in computer-graphic design

Sign Combination

• Identity
  – syntagm 構成
  

– paradigm 模式(家族)

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Product Semantics

Origin from《Product Semantics:Exploring the Symbolic Qualities of Form》

• Design is the conscious creation of forms
  – Its concern for the cognitive meanings,symbolic functions and cultural histories of form.
• We can trace this concern to developments in Ulm some 25 years ago which are now coming to fruition by the name of product semantics.
  – Study of the symbolic qualities of man-made forms in the context of their use and the application of this knowledge to industry design

Interpretion of design

1. context:

• psychological,social and cultural context- symbolic environment.

Color, Within many Western cultures:
– Red: Anger, danger, excitement, love …
– Blue: Intelligence, loyalty, unhappiness…

2. Denotation 外延 - Connotation 內含

3. Communication: interaction between designers and others

(1) Not linear:

– The knowledge product semantics provides about how objects work within the context of their use cannot entirely be expressed in terms of linear communication between a designer and a user.

(2) More complex-the circular dependency（循環依賴）：

– The crucial difference lies in the individuality of the users' interpretations which evolve in the circular process of their involvement with the designers' products.

Figure 3, depicts a designer whose circumstances realistically restrict him to be a mere contributing communicator, albeit a very important one

Semantics in Product Design

Four Channels Influencing Product Use

• May be redundant（符號冗余）-but aids understanding
• Also may give contradictory messages to a user -produce conflicts

A. Information displays（信息呈現）
B. Graphic elements/two-dimensional markers（圖形/二維標示）
C. A product's form,shape and texture（產品的造型 形狀 材質）
D. Indications of a products internal states（產品內部狀態的指示）

Four Levels to make designers aware of the symbolic process

A. Product identification（產品性質一目了然）-
requires the user to merely look at an object from different perspectives and interpret relevant clues to judge what kind of object it is.
B. Self-evident operation（可在操作中自我解釋）-
additionally requires the user to handle an object,to move it about or alter its controls and obtain feedback from those actions. It also requires that the user experience operational success or failure
C. Explore ability of forms（可供開放性使用的形式）-
invites the user to play with the object,acquire a working knowledge of it and perhaps invent novel applications
D. Coherence with the symbolic context（與使用者操作語境的一致性）-
concerns a user who interprets an object in conjunction with others and who may describe the whole arrangement in terms of personal style,individual expression,social attributes and aesthetic value

Four Semantic Infelicities（不當語義） in Design

• They designate different failures in the circular dependency（Figure 3）
• The infelicities relate to different levels in that dependency

A. Rendering different products indistinguishable or unidentifiable by a user（使用者無法識別不同產品）.
B. Results in the users'inability to manipulate a product in Desired ways（使用者無法按需使用）.
C. Prevents a user from exploring the nature of a product, either to improve its operation or to find new applications without side help（在無外力幫助下，使用者無法明確產品本質，也無法找到新的使用方法和用途）.
D. Product's inability to fit the symbolic environments, while, in which users must operate them（產品不適用於使用者操作語境）

Time-Memory-Habit

研究方向

1. enhanced awareness （above）
2. the development of concepts and a suitable language in which to talk about the symbolic qualities
3. empirical investigations are particularly essential to validate the propositions in this language

研究意義

• a serious study of the meanings that emerge in human interactions with objects.
• enriches our imagination
  -aims to prevent the range of failures we have become aware of only recently.
• This issue of Innovation demonstrates our state of knowledge and points out the direction we wish to move toward.

？human factors study？

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Partial Source from the lecture of
"History and Theory of Semiotics | Product Semantics"
(https://youtu.be/ARmZjtOhWR8)