The Importance of Semiotics

Semiotics are the study of signs and symbols within a media product and their use of interpretation. This includes the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification and communication. It is divided into the three following branches:

• Semantics: Relation between signs and the things to which they refer
• Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures
• Pragmatics: Relations between signs and their effects on the people who use them