I’m cofounder of the semiotics-fueled branding consultancy SEMIOVOX, editor of the consultancy’s eponymous website, and I’m founding coordinator of the monthly SEMIOFEST SESSIONS. Here’s a round-up of what we’ve been doing during 2Q2025.

PS: The big news, personally, is that my son Sam was married to his wonderful partner Kayla, earlier this month. It was one of the most joyous days of my life!

Also see: SEMIOVOX 2022 | SEMIOVOX 2023 | SEMIOVOX 2024 | SEMIOVOX 1Q2025

SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS

SEMIOVOX’s methodology provides insight and inspiration — to brand and organization strategy, marketing, design, innovation, and consumer insights teams, as well as to their agency partners — regarding the unspoken local/global “codes” that help shape perceptions of and guide behavior within product categories and/or sociocultural territories.

• ENERGY DRINK CODES. On behalf of a multinational beverage company, we kicked off a project analyzing US energy drink codes and adjacent categories. A combination of semiotic analysis and (via our sister agency, Consumer Eyes) concept development. We’ll continue working on this through 3Q2025. Innovation, brand positioning, marketing optimization, pack design.

• FINE WRITING CODES. On behalf of a leading global consumer goods company that owns several iconic fine writing brands, working via our sister agency Consumer Eyes we analyzed luxury and fine writing codes. Innovation, brand positioning, pen design.

On June 5, I attended the mini-conference SemioTopia: Materiality and Humanity in the Cloud Age, organized by Charise Mita and Sarah Johnson, in NYC. It’s always fun and inspiring to get together with my commercial semio colleagues — in this case, all from North America.

Shown here: Charise Mita, Ramona Lyons, Smedes Scovil, Tamara Connolly, Angie Meltsner, Deidre Sullivan, Yulia Grinberg, Sarah Johnson. Francisco Hauss presented from Mexico. Not shown: Max Matus, who arrived (from Mexico) after lunch.

SEMIOFEST SESSIONS

I’m cofounder of and “convenor” for  SEMIOFEST SESSIONS, a monthly-ish series of online get-togethers — put on under the aegis of the biannual Semiofest conference — intended not only to share best practices among, but to nurture collegiality and friendship within the global semio community. Here’s the 2Q2025 lineup:

• APRIL: SEMIOTICS OF PLACE. Place can be a powerful way for brands and cultural strategists to generate meaning and value… and at the same time, in a world of bland developments and cut-and-paste tourism, semiotics can provide a crucial tool for meaningful place shaping. Gemma Jones invited place-oriented practitioners to discuss place as a cultural “text”… and to share creative methodologies for developing a place-based participatory semiotics. 

• MAY: RISE OF THE RIGHT. Now that the liberal consensus has collapsed and the right is resurgent across the Western world and beyond, semioticians and their marketing colleagues are asking, “How do we adapt — while resisting fascism?” Session hosts Louise Jolly and Al Deakin invited Nick Asbury and Charise Mita to join them in an exploration of how neo-liberalism and globalisation, which nourished the rise of commercial semiotics, contributed to today’s situation; the right-wing reaction to the “Corporate Purpose” era; and how semiotics and social psychology can most usefully and positively contribute to this historical juncture.

• JUNE: ART & SEMIOTICS. Art offers a profound, rich vehicle for decoding a culture’s emotional landscape and symbolic layers. Session host Aiyana Gunjan, an artist and commercial semiotician, invited Seema Khanwalkar and Thierry Mortier to “read” classic and contemporary art works — demonstrating how these works navigate cultural tensions and deconstruct taken-for-granted norms and forms. The sessionists also offered expert advice on how art, viewed through the lens of semiotics, can offer inspiration and insights for branding.

Coming in 3Q2025:

Gabriela Pedranti will host a session on GENDER & EQUALITY | Serdar Paktin will host a session on NARRATIVE SEMIOTICS. We’ll take the month of August off.

Also during 2Q2025, I invited Adelina Vaca, a talented commercial semiotician colleague from Mexico (and frequent contributor to this website), to volunteer as co-convenor for these sessions during 2026. I look forward to our collaboration!

All SEMIOFEST SESSIONS here.

SEMIOVOX.COM

I’m the editor here at SEMIOVOX, our consultancy’s eponymous website. Here’s what we published during 2Q2025.

There’s always a moment when it feels like I’ve taken in too much information and everything seems chaotic and disconnected. It’s a bit overwhelming. But then something clicks — the patterns start to emerge, and the codes just fall into place. Suddenly, it all feels natural, logical, and even exciting because it’s fresh and eye-opening. That moment when everything makes sense, and the insights start flowing effortlessly, is hands-down the best part of my work. It’s such a great feeling to know I’ve cracked something meaningful and actionable for the client.

Carla Moss

MAKING SENSE is an ongoing series of Q&As dedicated to understanding what makes semioticians tick. I’ve asked my commercial-semiotics colleagues from around the world to answer a set of leading questions. Here’s the 2Q2025 MAKING SENSE lineup:

CHARISE MITA (USA) | SHION YOKOO (Japan / Estonia) | NICOLAS JUNG (France) | CARLA MOSS (Austria) | SU LUO (Taiwan) | ALEC KOZICKI (Estonia) | TATIANA JARAMILLO (Italy / Colombia) | JOHN MURPHY (England) | NICOLA ZENGIARO (Italy).

Coming in 3Q2025:

ALICE SWEITZER (Germany) | CARANISSA DJATMIKO (Indonesia) | MARK LEMON (England) | RUTH SOMERFIELD (England) | VICTORIA GERSTMAN (Scotland) | SUSAN BELL (Australia) | ALEXANDRA NCUBE (England) | KEES VAN DUYN (Netherlands) | JUAN MANUEL MONTORO (Spain).

All MAKING SENSE installments here.

This photo was taken late at night. I can tell by looking at it that I had loads of work on, I was a bit stressed, and was looking for ways to soothe my busy brain with an intricate, themed collection. 

Rachel Lawes

PHOTO OP is a new global series that reveals the sorts of things that we commercial semioticians notice when “off the clock.” Here’s the 2Q2025 lineup:

Mariane Cara (Brazil) on LA LUCHA CONTINUA | Aiyana Gunjan (India) on YAMRAJ | Greg Rowland (England) on I ❤️ FOOD | Gabriela Pedranti (Spain) on NOT SO TRIVIAL | Biba Allarakia (Saudi Arabia) on ALL THAT GLITTERS | Brian Khumalo (South Africa) on A LOST MEMORY | Becks Collins (England) on A MILLENNIAL ON THE BRINK | Samuel Grange (France) on SLOW DOWN | Rachel Lawes (England) on DESKTOP COLLECTIONS | Marie Lena Tupot (USA) on BOX OFFICE | Sónia Marques (Portugal) on SWISS-NESS | Serdar Paktin (Turkey / England) on BOTTLE SERVICE | Stefania Gogna (Italy) on OPEN-AIR MUSEUM | Charles Leech (Canada) on IS IT IRONIC? | Kishore Budha (England) on DOWN THE TUBE | Josh Glenn (USA) on JOINED AT THE DIP.

Coming in 3Q2025:

Mark Lemon (England) on SHOP LOCAL | William Liu (China) on SWAN SONG | Malcolm Evans (Wales) on CHOCOCRACK | Paulina Goch-Kenawy (Poland) on POLAND’S NEW (HI)STORY | Adelina Vaca (Mexico) on WHAT’S YOUR POISON? | Natasha Delliston (England) on NATURE BATHING | Ramona Lyons (USA) on DEATH TO TECH | & more.

Via the solo series CASABLANCA CODES, I’m developing a thick description of Casablanca‘s codes and thematic complexes. Here’s the 2Q2025 lineup:

ILSA: “Whereas Strasser the cruel autocrat deploys ideology in an effort destroy everyone else’s ability to imagine something better, to isolate them, and to make them feel alone and powerless to fight authoritarianism, Ilsa the empathetic activist offers no ideological justifications. Her secret weapon is her utter sincerity, her emotional honesty. She wears her heart on her sleeve.”

UGARTE: “Though Ugarte won’t ever get his hands on those large sums of money he’s dreamed about, nor will he make it out of Casablanca alive… his story does have a kind of happy ending. The stooge has earned the antihero’s respect. If only for a moment, Ugarte’s thirst is quenched.”

YVONNE: “The seeker in any semiosphere will often end up in a jam. They’re torn between their semiosphere’s dominant discourse and its counter-discourse. How to decide? They oscillate between the semiosphere’s “poles,” whirling in a vortex of their own making.”

Coming in 3Q2025:

RICK | RENAULT.

 It’s a more perfect reflection of the haphazard, fluid, internally inconsistent manner in which culture works than any geometrically rationalized schema can offer.

The series SCHEMATIZING, which is cross-posted from our sister website HILOBROW, attempts to depict the intellectual and emotional highs and lows of developing a G-schema. Here’s the 2Q2025 lineup:

SOLITUDE-FUNNEL | DESPERATE STRUGGLE | TENSEGRITY.

More to come in 3Q2025.

No one has ever been softened after seeing Mickey or has wanted to give away an extra glass of water to the poor. He is never sentimental, indeed there is a scandalous element in him which I find most restful.

E.M. Forster

The latest series in the POP BESTIARY project, which analyzes the evolving meaning of animals in 20th-century pop culture, is on the mouse. (Cross-posted from HILOBROW.) Here’s the 2Q2025 lineup:

MICKEY | AMOS | HERMAN.

Coming in 3Q2025:

MISS BIANCA | MRS. FRISBY | VLADEK.

SEMIOVOX continues to offer glimpses into various audits we’ve done via installments in the long-running series CODE-X. Here’s a selection of CODE-X installments from 2Q2025:

CADRE (AMERICAN WEST): OLD GUN | LOYAL ALLY | ROUGH JUSTICE. ON POINT (CANNABIS): MINIMALIST | OPTIMIZE ME | FINE ART | GOURMAND. OVERHAUL (HEALTH & WELLNESS): SPECIFIC TARGETING | SPA TREATMENT | GUT INSTINCT | YOGA BALANCE | POWER-PACKED. COLONIAL CODES (JAMAICAN RUM): PLANTATION FANTASY | HERITAGE & CRAFT | VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. IN HERE (SOPHISTICATED WHOLESOME AESTHETICS): NICE & EASY | COZY UP | HAPPY HARMONY.

More to come in 3Q2025.

Coming in 3Q2025:

MEDIA DIET, a series exploring the media “input” of a group of people — our commercial semiotician colleagues, from around the world — whose “output” we admire. Stay tuned!

Also see: SEMIOVOX updates from 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 1Q2025

GIVE IT UP

For the past two decades, Rob Walker and I have investigated what objects mean — and also how they mean what they mean — via fun, engaging story telling projects. After the 2023 publication of Lost Objects (Hat & Beard Press), which developed out of our PROJECT:OBJECT endeavor (2017–2021), we took a brief hiatus from our object-oriented story telling collaborations. Until now.

The goal of our forthcoming project GIVE IT UP is to explore what (and how) objects can mean to us, share our objects’ stories with one another… and develop tactics for letting go of meaningful stuff. Unlike our previous projects, this one will be place-based and interactive. It launches this summer in Kingston, New York.

We’ve recruited 10 interesting Hudson Valley denizens to participate; their significant objects and stories will be on display in 10 Kingston venues from Aug. 15th–Sept. 1st. During this period, the general public will be invited to persuade our participants to give up their objects. The most persuasive responses will be announced at the project’s literary event / party on Sept. 10th.

To participate in GIVE IT UP, and/or receive project updates, please subscribe to this free newsletter. Also, please follow us on Instagram.

PS: Books chronicling the PROJECT:OBJECT team’s material-culture investigations include: Josh and Rob’s LOST OBJECTS (Hat & Beard Press, 2022) | Rob’s THE ART OF NOTICING (Knopf, 2019) | Josh and Rob’s SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS (Fantagraphics, 2012) | Rob’s BUYING IN (Random House, 2008) | Josh’s TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY (Princeton Architectural Press, 2007).

MIT PRESS: RADIUM AGE

I’m the founding editor of the MIT Press’s RADIUM AGE proto-sf reissue series. During 2Q2025, we sent our Fall 2025 titles to press: Marietta S. Shaginyan’s Yankees in Petrograd (translated and introduced by Jill Roese); and Before Superman: Superhumans of the Radium Age (anthology edited and introduced by yours truly). Publication date for both: August 19th.

I also worked with the MITP team and our introduction authors on copy editing the Spring 2026 titles: Irene Clyde’s Beatrice the Sixteenth (introduced by Lucy Sante); and E. and H. Heron’s Flaxman Low: Occult Detective (edited and introduced by Alexander B. Joy).

Titles for Fall 2026 through Spring 2028, including several anthologies and collections in translation, are also underway.

More RADIUM AGE series updates: 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 1Q2025 | 2Q2025

HILOBROW

HILOBROW is SEMIOVOX’s sister website. Here are a few semio- and cultural analysis-related series and posts from 2Q2025.

SEMIOPUNK is an irregular series, written by Josh Glenn, dedicated to surfacing examples (and predecessors) of the sf subgenre that HILOBROW was the first to name “semiopunk.” Here’s a sampling of the 2Q2025 lineup:

• Thomas Pynchon’s GRAVITY’S RAINBOW. Excerpt: “‘If there is something comforting — religious, if you want — about paranoia,’ Slothrop muses, in one of the book’s most often-quoted passages, ‘there is still also anti-paranoia, where nothing is connected to anything, a condition not many of us can bear for long.’ […] Pynchon’s fictional semiosphere — which might best be diagrammed, perhaps, via an Imipolex-G-schema — is a non-totalizing, negative-dialectical, post-structuralist one.”
• Ken MacLeod’s COSMONAUT KEEP. Excerpt: “Toggling back and forth between their marine biology research and his family’s surreptitious efforts to crack the code of light-speed travel, Gregor experiences a pattern-recognition revelation that will be familiar to my fellow semioticians: ‘It unfolded before his eyes, the map of the squid nervous system overlaying the data structures of the navigation problem. He understood the architecture of the mind that could understand the problem, and in so doing he understood it himself. He could see, in principle, how the problem could be solved.'”
• Yoon Ha Lee’s NINEFOX GAMBIT. Excerpt: “We surface and dimensionalize the architecture of a semiosphere’s consensus reality — the framework of shared beliefs, values, and assumptions that the semiosphere’s denizens collectively accept as their understanding of the world, a consensus that helps shape social norms and behaviors, providing a common ground for interaction and understanding.”

Coming in 3Q2025:

Don De Lillo’s WHITE NOISE | R.F. Kuang’s BABEL | China Miéville’s EMBASSYTOWN

The 10-part series LOGOLOGY featured selected excerpts from my 2024 contribution — a top-of-mind, semiotics-adjacent analysis of fast food and cannabis brand logos and pack design — to issue no. 1 of the marketing-culture zine Cash & Carry.

More HILOBROW updates: 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 1Q2025 | 2Q2025

On to 3Q2025…