Semiotics

Semiotics or semiology is the study of signs and symbols. The basics of this is split up into four groups Denotation, Connotation, signs and Myths. Denotation, this is looking and reading the simple image or in this case book cover. Connotation, this would be connecting something personal to the viewer or the reader. Signs, this is split up into two pieces firstly would be the signifier, this is what you can see (smell, hear, touch and taste) in this case it would be seeing the image also maybe even holding the book within your hands. The second piece would be call signified, this is the mental image in our minds and knowing want something is. This would be looking at the book cover (signifier) and know what the genre is and what the book may be about (signified).

When exploring the idea of semiotics, I noticed that colour had a big part within semiotics and signs. This is because when you see a certain colour we can relate that to an emotion such as red, this would be passion, aggressive and importance, while the colour purple would be luxurious, magical, mystique, etc.

When people look at a book cover, they must see the genre and connotation of the book within two seconds. For example, when we look at “who's afraid of the big bad wolf” by Janie Marie, the front cover suggests the story and the genre of the book. There is only one colour on the front cover and that is blood red. There is a black silhouette of a wolf with a girl’s face craved within the side of the wolf. When first looking at the book cover you would think of a supernatural romance, which is the genre of this book. But upon reading this book you can go deeper into reading the cover and relating it to the story within the book.