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Course Outline

Lesson One - What is Brand Semiotics??

  • What is semiotics? Definitions. An interactive visual exercise, decoding culture, matrix of meaning 
  • Applied semiotics as an inter-disciplinary subject and its mission in branding 
  • Live decoding, dissecting layers of meaning images: ads, art, news etc 

Lesson Two - Brands As Bundles Of Signs

  • Brands originate as marks and become semiotic marketing systems 
  • Signifiers and signifieds, concept formation, identifying cues 
  • How to analyse various aspects of brands and the brand audit 

Lesson Three - Identifying The Codes

  • What is a code? A system of signs, a shortcut to meaning etc
  • How to find codes via pattern recognition, clustering, cue validity 
  • How to identify codes and finalise a code set 

Lesson Four – Plotting Your Code Map

  • NOTNESS and Binary Oppositions as cultural logic 
  • Challenger brands as examples of binary thinking 
  • How to establish the axes and name the quadrants 

Lesson Five - Decoding Cultural Change

  • What is Culture? Definition of culture as a set of interlocking codes
  • Case study on the codes of national identity and the influence of ideology
  • Case study on how deep seated social norms can frustrate global strategy

Lesson Six - Best Practice & Group Tutorials

  • How to become a semiotician: from competence to expertise
  • Blending with other research methodologies, where semiotics fits
  • Psychology of semiotics analysis: some pitfalls and quality criteria

Lesson Seven – Code Map Presentations + Feedback

  • 25 mins group presentations with feedback from tutor 
  • Presentation: case study process of creating a code map
  • Reciprocal feedback and presentation of final certificates
The group task will be briefed in Week 2 giving you 5 weeks to complete the task. Weeks 2, 3 and 4 are designed to directly equip participants with the tools to do the code map task. Week 1,5 and 6 are more of ‘the panorama’ that surrounds these core fundamentals.

This means that whilst it is ruthlessly pragmatic, the course isn’t just one-dimensional and gives participants insight into semiotics as an industry / methodology as well as how to do it. The beauty of the course is that you learn through multiple tracks / channels.