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.

“SEIZE CONTROL” NORM: Your life is out of control — it’s time to grab the steering wheel. You need to become the boss of you.

“SEIZE CONTROL” FORMS: People looking determined; and also people who are passive, helpless, pre-seizing control. Self-reliant. Life coach. “Take the lead.” “I am the captain of my soul.” ”Take control of ___.”

From a 2018 study of the IT’S UP TO YOU space, defined as “When making a big change, you’ll need to rely on yourself.“