The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“GET ’ER DONE” NORM: A blue-collar attitude towards pain. Don’t let it stop you from getting the job done.

“GET ’ER DONE” FORMS: Images of people working hard — often at agricultural and blue-collar jobs. Language appealing to your blue-collar attitude — pride in being able to put in a good day’s work no matter what the problem. “American doers.” “For the days you won’t let pain get in the way of getting it all done.”

From a proprietary 2019 study of the Back to Normal space within the Pain category (US).