North Face commercial
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.
“LONG VIEW” NORM: Adventure provides opportunities to reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re going.
“LONG VIEW” FORMS: Adventurers gazing from mountaintops — metaphor for gaining perspective on your own life. Perspectival tonality: “Sky’s the limit.” “Pain/perspective.” “Enjoy being small in a giant world.”