Visual Communication Online
Hello everyone and welcome back to the weekly blog post! Today we are going to discuss a methodology called Social Semiotics and provide some examples. Social Semiotics is a methodology used to analyze how meaning is communicated/created through connotation and social and cultural visuals like images, languages or symbols. Developed by Michael Halliday, Social Semiotics represents the ways that meaning is shaped by social context and power structures. Understanding this methodology can be vital to understand communication through many types of media, especially in our increasingly digital world. According to Introducing Social Semiotics by Theo Van Leeuwen: "...the term connotation can also be applied to semiotic modes other than language. Images, too, have two layers of meaning – the layer of denotation, that is the layer of ‘what, or who, is represented here?’ and the layer of connotation, that is the layer of ‘what ideas and values are expressed through what is represente...