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.

“HAPPY HARMONY” NORM: Achieving a balanced, pleasing whole via the arrangement or agreement of parts.

“HAPPY HARMONY” FORMS: Figuratively, the goal of many sophisticated wholesome movies, games, etc., is to bring that which is quarrelsome and discordant (friends, family, emotions inside your head, different aspects of your life, an untended garden, etc.) into agreement and balance… without forcing conformity. Literally, this goal is often depicted as the pleasing combination or arrangement of clashing characters, objects, interior décor, etc.

From a 2024 analysis of the IN HERE territory (cozy, safe, familiar; offering a much-needed refuge from “adulting”) within the space of “sophisticated wholesome” videogames, animated movies and series, etc.