Meaning and semiotics

Member lesson

Icon, index and symbol

Lesson 2 of 9 in Meaning and semiotics.

Semiotics: Making Meaning from Signs, Symbols, Icons, Index | LittleArtTalks · Little Art Talks
Lesson

Charles Sanders Peirce en.wikipedia.org sorted signs by how they reach the thing they stand for. An icon reaches it by resemblance. A portrait, a map, the little figure on a lavatory door. An index reaches it by a real connection: smoke and fire, a symptom and the illness, a pointing finger and whatever is over there. A symbol en.wikipedia.org reaches it by what Peirce called imputed character, which means by habit and agreement and nothing else, so the red octagon at the end of your road means stop for no reason that anybody can point to in the shape.

iconlooks like itindexpoints at itsymbolagreed to mean itonly the first one works without being taughtmost identity lives in the third
Icon, index and symbol: a drawing of fire, smoke meaning fire, and a word meaning fire.
An Indian postage stamp printed in violet-blue: a four-engined Lockheed Constellation seen from below and behind, banking against a finely hatched sky, with AIR INDIA INTERNATIONAL across the top, FIRST FLIGHT 8TH JUNE 1948 beneath it, INDIA POSTAGE along the bottom and the value 12 As in the corner.
The stamp India issued for Air India International's first flight in 1948. A whole airline's promise, drawn at the size of a thumbnail.Air India International inaugural stamp. India Post, Government of India, 1948.Wikimedia Commons/Public domain
A matchbox label printed in blue and yellow only: a striped tiger walking across a field of sunburst rays, beneath a banner reading INDIAN CAT, with PRICE RE.0.0.6 at the right and SATTUR ORIGINAL MATCH CO. SATTUR along the bottom.
An Indian matchbox label printed in just two inks, blue and yellow. Two flat colours were cheap to print and still read from across a shop.Tiger, Indian matchbox label. Unrecorded designer, for an Indian match manufacturer.Wikimedia Commons/Public domain
Member

The rest of this is for members.

You have read the opening of this lesson. The rest of it comes with a membership.

One membership covers all four courses and Brands.

  • All lessons in the four Learn courses
  • All brand breakdowns in the Brands section
  • All quizzes, flashcards and crosswords
  • An AI teacher on every lesson, for up to 60 questions a day
  • All course material published during the membership

Price

Membership is from $12 a month on the Yearly plan, which is charged at $144 once a year. Lifetime access is $59, paid once.Membership is from ₹200 a month on the Yearly plan, which is charged at ₹2,400 + GST once a year. Lifetime access is ₹3,999 + GST, paid once.

Check what stuck

Members only

You can't take this check yet.

Members answer these 3 questions and keep the ticket for this lesson. Every lesson has one.

  1. Question 1, locked

    Smoke standing for fire is which kind of sign?

    • An index
    • An icon
    • A symbol
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A sign that reaches its object by resemblance. A portrait, a map, a pictogram of a person.”

    • Arbitrary
    • Signified
    • Signifier
    • Icon
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A sign physically connected to its object. Smoke, a footprint, a weathercock, a photograph.”

    • Buta
    • Oppositional reading
    • Index
    • Decoding

Elsewhere in the library

Hear about new courses.

Leave an email and we will tell you when something new lands. We do not write often.