What is graphic design

Graphic design is the visual presentation of specific messages to a target audience. Meaning is the main factor that is associated with visual elements such as text, images, and illustrations.

When meaning is conveyed through text, images, and their combination, “what was meant” takes precedence over “what is said.” We are responding to a “transmission” process where the sender (voice) relays messages to the sender (audience) so that the meaning becomes “content”.

Types of semantic load in graphic design

Denotation – what is depicted?

Any element, whether it be text or an image, exists at two different levels of meaning: denotative and connotative.

Denotation leads to physical reality, that is, if we consider an object or subject that is not a real thing – a photo or illustration, for example – we perceive this as a representation of a certain object or subject. For example, a photo of a dog, this image that we are looking at, is only a representation of the “dog”. In semiotics, this is called “notation”. Even if next to this image of a dog, there are many different images of dogs, its meaning remains the same “dog”.

Connotation – how is it depicted?

This is the second level of designation. The fact that we all have different cultural experiences means that our way of perceiving images is influenced by individual and collective points of view. Thus, our understanding of information and meaning is driven by the pooling of knowledge, learning, and experience gained throughout life. It is the combination of learning and experience that signifies our perception ofe any image and under any circumstances. Therefore, the “connotation” of images is relative and depends on our cultural ties. The reading of an image is arbitrary because we form meaning in relation to these learned rules as we develop throughout our lives.