Syllabus 2009/2010 AFOA10

Syllabus academic year 2009/2010
(Created 2009-08-11.)

PRODUCT SEMIOTICS

AFOA10

Higher education credits: 5. Grading scale: UG. Level: G1 (First level). Language of instruction: The course will be given in English on demand. AFOA10 overlap following cours/es: AFO160, AFO160 och AFO160. Compulsory for: KID2. Course coordinator: PhD Gunnar Sandin, gunnar.sandin@arkitektur.lth.se, Inst för arkitektur och byggd miljö. Assessment: Four exercises are handed in for evaluation and review. One is a group exercise and is handed in as such. Two of the exercises are visual presentations (presenting sketches, concepts and models), one is a short written thesis and one is an account of a group discussion. All exercises provide the ground for critical group reviews. When all of these exercises are approved, the student has fulfilled the requirements of the course, provided that he/she has also attended 80% of the lectures and reviews.

Aim
The aim of the course is to train the ability to analyse products from a semiotic perspective, i.e. the way in which everyday objects, packages, ads and marks communicate their qualities to those that will use these products. It is also an aim to train the ability to discuss design in the perspective of a general cultural analysis.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

be able to apply a semiotic analysis of products and their relation to different contexts
understand how semiotics is used as a tool in product presentation

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

in images and text be able to describe how products communicate their use, their aesthetic qualities, and their cultural belonging.
in conceptual design sketches, or in written text, be able to interpret semiotic models, i.e. be able to use theories about the mediation and communication of products.
in conceptual design sketches be able to re-design an everyday product, after an analysis of its semiotic weaknesses.
at a verbal review constructively present the semiotic advantages of a personal proposal visually to a group of listeners/critics.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

in a group be able to analyse and present qualities of design products as regards their use, function, construction, family, status and actuality.

Contents
The course introduces product semiotics and the way it is linked to various semiotic theories. The focus is on the way products (home ware, marks, ads, packages, interiors, etc) speak to the user through visual appearance. The course contains the following (with a reference to author/literature):

The basics of semiotics (Saussure) and sign types (Peirce).
Models of communication (jakobsson, Bühler)
Design semiotics objects and their representability (Vihma)
Design semiotics semantic functions (Monö)
Affordance and user perspective (Norman, Wikström)
Marks and logotypes (Mollerup)
Branding (Klein)
Ads and rhetoric (Eco, Sonesson)

The course consists of lectures and exercises that aare critically reviewed in group sessions. A short paper should be written and is discussed with course leader. A free choice of working material is preferred and theymay be previous own work or existing market products. The tasks require of the student to work relatively fast and conceptual.

Literature
Excerpts from:
Monö, R, Design for Product Understanding, Stockholm, 1997, ISBN 91-47-01105-x.
Margolin, V & Buchanan, R, The Idea of Design, Cambridge/London 1996, ISBN 0-262-63166-0.
Vihma, S, Products as Representations, Finland, NID, 1995, ISBN 951-9384-89-8.
Mollerup, Per, Marks of Excellence, Phaidon, USA, 1999.
Peirce, Charles S, Collected Papers, exerpts, CD, ISBN 1-57085-019-4.
Saussure, Ferdinand de, Kurs i Allmän Lingvistik, (English version in copies) Cavefors, 1970.
Lotman, Jurij, The Universe of Mind: A semiotic theory of culture, 1990, copies
Sonesson, Göran, Bildbetydelser, Lund 1992, Pictorial Concepts, Lund, 1989, ISBN 91-44-31661-5.
Eco, Umberto, Den frånvarande strukturen,197, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language, 1986. Cop.
Norman, Donald A, The Design of Everyday Things, 1990 (1988), ISBN 0-385-26774-6