To browse Academia. This article describes a structured axiomatic theory in which important practical phenomena of product semantics can be described and analyzed. The approach includes and extends the well-known semiotic notions of icon, symbol and index. Several small-scale case studies illustrate the theory. Our relationship with products depends on how they communicate with us and where we do put them in our entire system of signification. Product design, like most cultural production can be viewed and analysed by language based theories.
The basic premise behind this possibility is that every artifact can be read as a sign if there is such a reception. Similarly every artifact can be the subject and object of the signal of the basic communication model in different contexts. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the ways in which the designed product can be the sign of the signification process and the signal of the communication process simultaneously.
Emphasizing the difference between communication theories and semiotics, the designed product is discussed as the subject of both areas of inquiry. Product semantics is the study of the symbolic qualities of human-made forms in the cognitive and social contexts of their use.
The fundamental purpose of this theory and method is to treat the form of a designed object as a message and offer possibilities for designers to intervene in the form-making process.
Beyond the functional paradigms, the foundation of product semantics lies in several concepts such as making sense of things, emerging meanings, understanding categories, interaction with interfaces and surfaces, affordances and motivating engagements.
