Researcher Reflections: Using Semiotics to Get Beneath the Surface

One thing that came up again and again was how semiotics is often seen as abstract or inaccessible. Some clients are curious but cautious. Others avoid it completely, thinking it’s too academic, too niche, or not relevant to the brief.

But if you strip away the language, the core of it is familiar. It’s about the way people read things, consciously or unconsciously. It’s about the deeper meanings that shape how we understand the world around us. That includes the obvious stuff, like colours or words, but also much bigger things like values, beliefs, and identity. Semiotics helps us spot the cultural patterns that sit underneath what people say or do, even the ones they don’t realise they’re part of. It brings to the surface the meanings, assumptions and signals that shape behaviour, often without people consciously thinking about them.

In conversation, I’ve found that switching the language helps. Instead of jumping straight into frameworks or codes, starting with human truths and human feelings makes things clearer. It also gets to the heart of why it matters.  

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Where semiotics adds something

There are endless scenarios where this kind of thinking can be useful. Anytime we’re working with meaning - what something says, what it represents, what it signals - there’s probably a role for semiotics. But a few areas came through more clearly in the conversations I had.

It can be especially useful when:

- A brand is evolving or trying to find new relevance

- You’re looking at how to show up in a saturated category, visually or verbally

- A brand, product or range needs to feel distinct, but still rooted in something people recognise

- You want to better understand why certain ideas, designs or messages resonate (or fall flat)

And sometimes it’s simply about shifting perspective. Semiotics gives us a lens to see patterns we might otherwise overlook. It helps bring to the surface the meanings people absorb, but don’t always articulate in traditional research methods.

It works better when it's not working alone.

Semiotics works well on its own, but it's even more powerful when it’s layered in with other research. There are a few different points it can slot in:

- Upfront: alongside ethnography or diary work to help define where the interesting tensions are

- In parallel: with deep qual, to see how people are actively or passively reinforcing certain codes

- After: through A/B testing or quant more generally to see if the ideas or shifts you’ve explored land in a meaningful way and are felt at scale

Thinking of it as one piece of the puzzle, rather than a separate thing altogether, makes it more accessible and more impactful too.

The key takeaway? Make it human.
Semiotics as a discipline is a way to connect similarities and differences in people, culture and meaning. When it gets too caught up in its own language, it can lose people. But when it’s clear and grounded, it can shift how we see a brand, a behaviour or a category.  

Using this way of thinking to open up better conversations can help brands respond in ways that feel considered rather than reactive.