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.

“SUPER HUMAN” NORM: Improve your performance, do the impossible, succeed in the most difficult circumstances.

“SUPER HUMAN” FORMS: Hyper-active individuals. Normal people getting dressed up in super hero costumes. High-performance situations. Hyperbolic, comic book-ish tonality. “Super strength. Speed. Climbing Buildings.”

From a 2019 study — conducted in partnership with Semiotica Studio — of the ADDED BOOST territory across a range of product categories in Mexico.