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.

Milan…

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?

DANIELE DODARO

I was probably just a bit more curious (read: nerdy) than my peers. I devoured the classics my mom brought home, asked way too many questions, and never took anything at face value. My best friend Lucia once gave me a Doc plushie from Snow White — which, honestly, says a lot about me.

Academically, I had my sights set on Communication Sciences and dreamed of becoming a music journalist. But the summer before enrolling, I had a sudden “Maybe I should study Psychology?” moment. Looking back, it makes total sense — I’ve always been someone who digs deeper rather than just skimming the surface. At the time, though, I didn’t even know what Semiotics was.

SEMIOVOX

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

DANIELE DODARO

In my first year of Communication Studies in Bologna, we had a required semester-long course called “Semiotics I.” The first half covered basic linguistics; the second introduced Greimas’ text semiotics. I vividly remember one lecture on enunciation where I was totally lost — the only note I took was: “Debrayage = disinnesco” (defusing).

Even though I wasn’t a fan of semiotics’ tendency to hide behind lofty, almost esoteric language, I found it fascinating. Unlike the more accessible sociological courses, it didn’t reveal its beauty right away — you had to dig for it, uncover it.

In my second year, “Semiotics II” (Eco, Greimas, Floch, Fontanille) grabbed me with its practical, analytical approach. By then, I was hooked. In my third year, I took electives in applied semiotics, exploring advertising, journalism, and youth music cultures through a semiotic lens.

At that point, it was a mix of genuine curiosity and a Doc-from-Snow White-style urge to swap breadth for depth — I was ready to leave behind my interdisciplinary training and really dive into one subject.

So, I enrolled in a Master’s in Semiotics from 2008 to 2010. The post-9/11 atmosphere was still strong, and maybe that’s why I shifted away from youth music trends to cultural semiotics — especially the social and political use of religious symbols.

SEMIOVOX

How did you find your own way to doing semiotics?

DANIELE DODARO

Honestly, when I decided to pursue a Master’s in Semiotics, I didn’t even know you could actually work as a semiotician — aside from teaching, of course. I was familiar with agency roles like copywriting and art direction, but jobs like market researcher or strategic planner were still somewhat unclear to me.

I ended up in semiotics somewhat by chance, when a Milan-based institute specializing in semiotics and trend forecasting needed someone to replace a researcher who was returning to academia. I spent two years there — two intense years, the kind only military service could truly compare to.

But what really changed my career — and my life — happened at the end of August 2012. My colleague and I, just for fun, started a blog where we posted Semiotic Squares applied to everyday life, sketched on napkins and scraps of paper. Our first one was the “Semiotic Square of Milanese Fun,” focused on youth subcultures in the city. We posted it in the morning, and within hours, it went viral. We ended up in newspapers, on TV, and even got offers to publish books to sell at highway rest stops (which, thankfully, we turned down).

From that moment on, our semiotic squares became a pop phenomenon in Italian media and online. The blog’s called SQUADRATI — and it’s also the name of my market research firm.

SEMIOVOX

What are the most important attributes of a good semiotician?

DANIELE DODARO

First off: be light. The kind of lightness Italo Calvino — who was close to both semiotics and Umberto Eco — spoke about. Not superficiality, but the ability to float above things, to see clearly, and to speak accessibly.

Second: be deep. Which goes without saying if you’re doing semiotics — or simply trying to make sense of the world.

The trick is understanding that lightness and depth aren’t opposites. The opposite of light is heavy — meaning dense, dull, or inaccessible — while the opposite of deep is shallow.

But being light and deep at the same time? That’s rare — but in my view, it’s the holy grail for a semiotician.

SEMIOVOX

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

DANIELE DODARO

• Mythologies by Roland Barthes. Even though it’s rooted in the semiology of the 1950s and ’60s, I still love its approach to analyzing small, mundane objects and revealing their possible meanings.
• [Italian semiotician] Claudio Paolucci’s Persona. He was my professor of Interpretative Semiotics, and his course blew my mind. I truly think he’s a genius. The book develops his theory of the persona, going beyond the limits of traditional enunciation theory.
• [British historian] Eric Hobsbawm’s The Invention of Tradition, which introduces the concept of “invented tradition” — one of the most powerful ideas, in my view, for studying culture. Although I’m deeply connected to Lotman and his theories, this work of cultural history deserves mentioning.

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?

DANIELE DODARO

I want to focus on the first question. Partly because I’d rather keep a few secrets when it comes to the second one — and partly because I believe in attracting, not chasing. I usually say, “I help brands stand out from the competition and stay meaningful and relevant to people and pop culture.”

SEMIOVOX

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

DANIELE DODARO

As rewarding as trend projects can be — and as much as they fascinate both me and my clients — nothing gives me more cultural satisfaction than a well-crafted Semiotic Square that works. When it clearly reveals and clarifies the logical connections between concepts, it’s incredibly fulfilling. That holds true whether I’m analyzing audiences or mapping out a brand’s competitive landscape.

SEMIOVOX

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

DANIELE DODARO

What I don’t like is how easily, both in Italy and abroad, people claim to practice semiotics when they actually don’t. On the one hand, I laugh at how cheeky (or naive) they are; on the other hand, they somehow contribute to making the perception of semiotics even fuzzier.

I also don’t like how semiotics is perceived as something abstract. However, this is actually the direct result of a long-standing tendency among many semioticians to distance semiotics from people and everyday language. With SQUADRATI, I set out to change this perception — and in a way, we succeeded. The market recognizes that. But a collective effort is still needed to move further in this direction.

SEMIOVOX

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

DANIELE DODARO

I would tell them to read widely and watch films beyond what’s offered on mainstream platforms, in order to develop a strong and deep cultural and visual background. Then, I’d recommend they follow the advice I gave in response to question 4: to be light and deep at the same time. But to begin with, I’d focus on depth.

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).