(Design + Semiotic) Thinking: The Value of Semiotics in Innovation Processes

by Luz Romero and Clio Meurer (VRD Research)

Major consumer goods companies have been questioning themselves as to the future of important brands, dealing with the mixed emotions that come from wanting to take a step forward and being apprehensive about losing part of their history. It is in cases like these that the involvement of semiotic studies in the innovation processes can prove fundamental. Our aim here is to share our experience at VRD with the construction of an original analytical framework where semiotics meets design thinking methods, showing how this new perspective has contributed to define pivotal new lines of action, expand the scope of innovation and increase the argumentative repertoire. Two main features make our methodology distinctive. One, the conviction that a product’s communicative dimension is conditioned by its coexistence with, and — why not be clear about it — its confrontation with other products of its kind, leading to the analysis of the product and its competitors in the contexts where they are located. Two, and most importantly, the construction of a framework capable of preserving the complexity of the results of an in-depth study of the occult discourses of the products (object and communications) in a graphical logic.

http://www.vrdresearch.com/methods/design-semiotic-thinking-2/