The production of signs in graphic design
The signs produced in graphic design are those found on a daily basis on the whole range of products and services: in the supermarket, in perfumeries, in bookshops, on magazines, screens, signs on facades and many other supports. Among these signs one distinguishes, on the one hand, singular signs such as a symbol, a logo, an alphabet, and on the other, mega-signs: a wine label, the packaging of any given product, a banknote and others. These mega-signs are characterised for always being composed of a set of singular signs; symbols, images, badges, textures, letter types, etc. However, given that the nature of design – and especially graphic design – is still confusing for many and arouses contradictory and even contemptuous interpretations, one must insist that all types of signs produced in this field – whatever the means employed to create them – they have one main purpose in common: signs, when they communicate, must “make their significance known to a community.” To make possible the achievement of this purpose, that is, interpretability of the sign, any production of signs must be tackled on the basis of three parameters: what the sign must mean, its semantic content, the context in which it must work, its interpretability.
