Semiotics at work

I think semiotic analysis would help us to plan web pages, sites and blogs by helping us to utilize existing signs as a shorthand for concepts that take a long time to explain. And for instances where the writer wants to be persuasive, the use of semiotic analysis can serve to subtley sway audiences, like subliminal messages. In an art class, I learned that certain shapes and lines can evoke certain responses. A jagged line engenders feelings of unease, danger or violence. A smooth, undulating line conjures thoughts of motion, soothing water or softness. Likewise, certain images and signs can create different feelings in the reader. If we can harness those emotions online, perhaps we can get people to feel or act a certain way.

Semiotic analysis can complement our findings from useability studies by giving us more tools to evoke certain reactions and gain and keep readers. The main goal of writing anywhere - on the internet, in the newspaper or even on the radio - is to get people interested and to keep them interested, so they keep reading, listening or watching. Semiotic analysis can teach us ways to draw people's attention and keep it.