This course will suit anyone who wants to gain proficiency in applying semiotics in the world of brands and marketing. The learning process is multi-faceted enough to appeal to and cater for a much wider audience though.

It has been specifically designed to suit brand communications professionals such as Qualitative Researchers, Product Designers, Creatives, Insight Specialists and Brand Managers. In terms of roles, we’ve had in-house Insight Directors, Innovation Directors, Independent Consultants as well as Assistant Professors and PHD Students on the course. 

But ultimately the main reason that unifies people who come on this course is their desire to learn more about semiotics – either to practise it, commission it, or because they’ve always found it fascinating and want to get more clarity on the subject.

The course is suitable both for those encountering semiotics for the first time - although some prior exposure to semiotics is beneficial - and those who have worked with it before and need more clarity, or a refresher. 

Prior to the start, we will send you a brief questionnaire to self-assess the level of semiotic knowledge – noting to worry about, there are no right or wrong answers!

Most of our delegates – 80% - have never studies semiotics before and they consider themselves either beginners or elementary. About 25% had read a book on semiotics in the past but seek more practical approach and tools to actually practice semiotic analysis.

Interestingly, what seems to unify our delegates is that the vast majority of them previously worked with a semiotician and were fascinated by the outcomes semiotic analysis can provide. In other words, they got a taste of it, found it compelling and now they want more!

Yes! Graduates receive a Certificate of Completion during an online ‘graduation ceremony’ at the end of the course. 

But not just that: the course is CPD-Certified by UK’s leading independent accreditation institution, which means that its further learning value and structure of the syllabus are compliant with internationally recognised continuous professional development standards.

The course offers multi-faceted learning and consists of weekly online seminars, individual reading and analytical tasks, community discussions, one-on-one tutorials and a group project which is worked on independently, in small groups of 3-4, and presented at the final session.

The course is a combination of online interactive sessions, tasks you can do in your own time and at your own pace, and collective project work. 

The course consists of 1 weekly live online session with Chris; the sessions last about 2 Hours and take place on Thursdays, either at 9AM or 5PM, whichever timing works better for you. So there are seven live online sessions in total, one each week.

In between the sessions, there is usually a reading task (an article or so) that you can do at your own pace and when convenient. 

After week 1, there is a small analytical task which participants will work on individually and share with the others on Slack. Chris will provide feed-back.

From week 2, participants will be split into small groups of 3-4 and a Group Task is assigned (a code map of a category of their choice). It is entirely up to the groups how they organise themselves, divide work etc. The code maps will be presented and discussed at the last session, at week 7. Throughout the group work, Chris is available for consultations and advice, and there are regular check-ins on the progress.

You will be invited for a 30 Minute ‘private’ tutorial with Chris where you can discuss bits from the course of particular interest and discuss all things semiotics.

So the total time commitment will be the 14.5 hours contact time plus anywhere between 14 and 25 hours work outside of this devoted to readings and to group task work: depending on how dedicated a delegate might be. Ultimately, you get out what you put in.

We do recommend that you try and join in all live sessions, but we appreciate it is not always possible for work / life reasons. For such situations, sessions are recorded and the recording, A Fathom AI summary, together with the deck slides and a one page summary, are shared with participants shortly after the module, so if you miss a session, you can easily catch up from the recording.

No problem at all! Our audience could not be more international: the Alumni network has over 200 members so far, from 30 countries. One delegate based on the East Coast of the US on a recent course was up every morning at 4am, but we don't expect everyone to do that!

To accommodate people from different time zones, we always offer two identical live online weekly sessions in each course – one starts at 9AM (London time) and the other one starts at 5PM (London time) - and you can choose which of the start times will work best for you.

Of course! Firstly, we see semiotics as a universal operating system which can be applied in any culture or geography.  And secondly, for most of our students, English is not a mother tongue - our Alumni network has over 2000 members so far, from 30 countries. Chris taught English for years and seeks to pitch his lecturers for those with English as a second language. We learn together from each other and you will have lots of support throughout the course. We will share all course materials (videos, slides, summaries, reading resources) with you so you can revisit them as often as you want and they stay with you after the course.

Each course candidate can allocate as many points/hours as they feel fit. You should base the points on the hours you calculate you have spent on the course. The formula should be contact time (which will be 14 hours or points if you attend every session!) + total non class based study time (any time you put in both individually and in your sub groups).