What makes a semiotician tick? SEMIOVOX’s Josh Glenn has invited his fellow practitioners in the field of commercial semiotics, from around the world, to answer a few revealing questions.

London…

SEMIOVOX

When you were a child/teen, how did your future fascination with symbols, cultural patterns, interpreting “texts,” and getting beneath the surface of daily life manifest itself?

HARRY KINNEAR

I spent a lot of childhood seeking out different worlds to explore, being dropped into an unfamiliar place and building stories in that new context. I loved fantasy and magic and practiced it in any way I could, including tabletop games like Warhammer, video games like Baldur’s Gate, books like The Hobbit and Paul Stewart’s The Edge Chronicles which featured the most amazing illustrations by Chris Riddell. Any book with a map at the beginning — the glorious promise of discovery.

I even tried my hand at close up magic, which soon turned into assembling friends to cast real magic.

Essentially anything with lore, new cultures, and the rituals that govern their interaction.

I also think it’s true for most who grow up queer that understanding what things mean, and what is acceptable or unacceptable, and being highly tuned to the role you are playing and the meanings you have to construct to navigate the world offers a foundational crash course in understanding cultural patterns and expression.

SEMIOVOX

Describe your first encounter(s) with the theory and practice of semiotics.

HARRY KINNEAR

I didn’t ever meaningfully encounter the word semiotics until I applied for a job at Space Doctors. At university I studied a combined Social Sciences degree that included Politics, International Relations, Sociology, History, and History of Art. This taught to think about the world in a multidimensional way. The History of Art department focussed on socio-political interpretations that I found magical in a way that reminded me of my love of fantasy — a way of constructing story that mobilises thousands of cultural data points hidden in plain sight to drive emotional and visceral responses.

I’m glad I was introduced to semiotics through practice, as I am sure it would have been harder for me to see the potential and excitement of the discipline when it was rendered in models alone.

SEMIOVOX

How did you find your own way to doing semiotics?

HARRY KINNEAR

I had moved back to the UK from China, where I had been teaching in schools with the British Council, and was working in a bookshop when my sister forwarded me a role that she thought I would be interested in — as a grad recruit at Space Doctors. I applied on a whim, not sure what semiotics was at this point. I remember being asked at the interview to bring in a brand that interested me and I spoke about brand names in China and how fascinating it was to encode meaning into names (I have always thought CocaCola was very neat – 可口可乐, ‘tasty joy’). At the time, China was all the rage in most projects, and I am sure that that gave me an advantage in getting my foot in the door.

SEMIOVOX

What are the most important attributes of a good semiotician?

HARRY KINNEAR

The most important skill is to be curious; to know that you are ignorant, to challenge your point of view and think beyond yourself. We must beware echoes, avoid being a snob, and understand that you can learn from anyone who does not share your view of the world.

It’s helpful to be a storyteller, because stories are the building blocks of culture — and at their heart is a semblance of a universality that connects us all.

And while observation is important, it’s helpful to be not just an observer, but an experience seeker.

SEMIOVOX

What three books about semiotics have you found the most useful and enlightening in your own work?

HARRY KINNEAR

• Roland Barthes’ Empire of Signs. I found it eye-opening in its discussion of ignorance and sign interpretation. The chapter on chopsticks is a masterclass on ritual analysis that is beautifully written.
• Confucius’ Analects. It’s a fascinating example of meaning creation and ritual design, and is undoubtedly foundational for those interested in China.
• Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant, if only for one of the best descriptions of an RDE trajectory I have come across: “In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis.”

SEMIOVOX

When someone asks you to describe what you do, what is your “elevator pitch”? How do you persuade a skeptical client to take a chance on using this tool?

HARRY KINNEAR

When describing semiotics I use the symbol of a cross as an example; in different orientations and contexts it can mean lots of different things. My intention is to illustrate that we all use semiotics constantly throughout every moment — that it is an innate, human ability.

With clients, I emphasise that when buying semiotics, you are buying more than an insight; you are buying a framework for understanding, a grammar that can be used to bring intentionality to strategy.

SEMIOVOX

What specific sorts of semiotics-driven projects do you find to be the most enjoyable and rewarding?

HARRY KINNEAR

I find sensory semiotics and ritual analysis super-rewarding and endlessly fascinating. Encoding meaning into gestures, feelings and sensations feels like a true expression of the idea that ‘everything communicates’.

Embodied meaning is something that we all crave in the world, and the leading edge of culture emerges first in the sensorial and experiential before it can be articulated in more cerebral ways.  

SEMIOVOX

What frustrates you about how semiotics is practiced and/or perceived, right now?

HARRY KINNEAR

In commercial semiotics right now, there are quick uses of AI, and then there are good uses of AI. My frustration is that what is sold is often the quick version. So often AI is used to explode thinking rather than focus it.

I have long been frustrated with agencies who use a sprinkling of semiotics to make proposals seem more interesting — as it overlooks the ability for semiotics to make impactful, targeted interventions. In the long run, semiotics is a money-saver for clients. But it’s difficult to persuade them of this.

I want to see semiotics more integrated into other methodologies as a way to focus research, to filter and crystalise approaches to human understanding, to help make every stage of research more intentional.

SEMIOVOX

Peirce or Saussure?

HARRY KINNEAR

I have never once mentioned Peirce or Saussure to a client, because it’s never been useful to do so.

SEMIOVOX

What advice would you give to a young person interested in this sort of work?

HARRY KINNEAR

You do not need to study semiotics to be a semiotician! Foster your inherent interest in the world and that will see you through.

Read widely, write about what interests you, have a point of view, and know that your POV is as valuable as anyone else’s.

Avoid LinkedIn.

MAKING SENSE series: MARTHA ARANGO (Sweden) | MACIEJ BIEDZIŃSKI (Poland) | BECKS COLLINS (England) | WHITNEY DUNLAP-FOWLER (USA) | IVÁN ISLAS (Mexico) | WILLIAM LIU (China) | SÓNIA MARQUES (Portugal) | CHIRAG MEDIRATTA (India / Canada) | SERDAR PAKTIN (Turkey / England) | MARIA PAPANTHYMOU (Greece / Russia) | XIMENA TOBI (Argentina) | & many more.

Also see these global semio series: MAKING SENSE (Q&As) | SEMIOFEST SESSIONS (monthly mini-conferences) | COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | COLOR CODEX | DECODER (fictional semioticians) | CASE FILE | PHOTO OP | MEDIA DIET | TATTOO YOU (semioticians’ tattoos).