What makes a semiotician tick? SEMIOVOX’s Josh Glenn has invited his fellow practitioners in the field of commercial semiotics, from around the world, to answer a few revealing questions.

Melbourne…

SEMIOVOX

When you were a child/teen, how did your future fascination with symbols, cultural patterns, interpreting “texts,” and getting beneath the surface of daily life manifest itself?

CATHY MAISANO

I grew up in an unrenovated rambler of an old red-brick Edwardian beachside bungalow in what was at the time, a suburb far enough out of Melbourne’s CBD that most people had not heard of it. It was a deep property that ran from the main road, the boundary side lined with thirty giant cypress trees that housed a city for birds, and past the overgrown en-tout-cas tennis court we played every other sport on. Then down to the back gate that opened onto a bayside beach spotted with beach huts (locals call them boat houses) of varying sizes and colours nestled in front of the long grass — their boat ramps perfect for perching on with my cat and dog and watching the world around me. As a child, I played ‘houses’ and ‘shops’ there. Seaweed for sale and shells for currency!

‘A window dresser’ was my answer to the primary school teacher’s question: What do you want to be when you grow up?

‘Be a travel agent’ was my answer to the secondary school teacher’s question: What do you want to do for your career’s week?

In Year 8, I had my first class of ‘Society.’ I heard for the first time about the ‘religions of the world’. I remember two school projects that had me loving library spaces, because that was the only place I was going to find out anything about clothing and culture, and food and culture. I recall borrowing a book and making my family borscht from Russia and matzo balls from the ‘Jewish cooking’ chapter. When relatives travelled the Pacific Islands, I was gifted a coconut bikini and grass skirt. Mum was given locally made dinner placemats from Fiji and when eating our meat and three veg dinners, I imagined who made them and what their houses were like.

In retrospect, I can see that the value of place and culture has been with me since I was a little girl.

SEMIOVOX

Describe your first encounter(s) with the theory and practice of semiotics.

CATHY MAISANO

At university in my graduate diploma of research techniques and social surveys in the School of Sociology and Anthropology, a moment of unleashed freedom, I learnt about ‘observational research methods.’ Gathering data that was not solely interview-driven or survey-led. Finally, in a field of research that I really wanted to explore, a research practice that encompassed semiotics and invited us to see and hear in different ways. ‘Field notes’ became my all-time favourite part of research — a diary-keeping of my observations and interpretations in countless paper journals. As a young adult, I was gifted fabric-lined paper notebooks and pens from relatives, and to this day, I will still carry something like it in my bag wherever I go.

I was grateful for the academic teachers in the 1990s who made semiotics practical and accessible from the word go. I did not attend a prestigious, elite uni (as we call them). The way I remember it — we learnt so we could do it.

My first encounter was conducting an ethnographic-semiotic uni project into ‘rich neighbourhoods and their neighbours.’ (Somewhat of a contrasting world to that depicted in the long-running TV soap opera Neighbours!) It was a ‘covert’ observational approach. I was hired as an ‘ironing lady’ and ‘cleaning lady’ for two households in Melbourne’s exclusive suburb of Toorak. I will share the findings another day, but suffice to say, my ethics (or lack of) of ‘spying’ got the better of me, but not before I was sacked for being a lousy ironer!

SEMIOVOX

How did you find your own way to doing semiotics?

CATHY MAISANO

 ‘There’s a party on the hill, do you want to come?’ That’s a little counting-out rhyme when playing hide-and-seek games. I’d made the decision to move across from working in academic research and wanted to join the commercial market research world.

I’d just flown up and back, in the stinking heat of January, to Sydney for a job interview for a qualitative research executive position. I had worn pantyhose with an uncomfortable ‘business suit’ to the job interview. I returned home, and the house phone rang (no mobile/cell phones then) to inform me, I was not quite it. That counting-out rhyme entered my mind, as I sat on the floor, back against a bookshelf and the pantyhose screwed up and thrown to the other side of the room. I reached for a notebook and wrote the rhyme out and thought, I want a job practicing semiotics. Where are they? I knew that to get there, I’d somehow have to enter the market research world doing qual. So be it.

Several jobs later and bingo — I got the gig when Added Value set up in Australia. I was a quallie who did semiotics. They were happy, so was I. Thanks to the Australian team that wished me well in pursuing a full-time career in semiotics and ethnography, and Malcolm Evans, it was a wonderful story that led me from Melbourne and Sydney to work in London with Malcolm and other wonderful people. I’d remain in the UK for 11 years.

SEMIOVOX

What are the most important attributes of a good semiotician?

CATHY MAISANO

“Six drops of essence of terror, five drops of sinister sauce [and] a tincture of tenderness”. Whilst semiotics is not at all hocus-pocus, there’s something about those lyrics from the 1960s cartoon Milton the Monster that resonate. There’s an intuition to follow a thought and ask a question… and see where and if the connections occur.

Don’t be an echo chamber of everyone else. Trust and follow your thought processes through… and then question them. Know that you don’t know. Good semioticians are not ‘rooms’ full of static knowledge, but brimming with ‘passageways’ and courage to find the fresh. 

SEMIOVOX

What three books about semiotics have you found the most useful and enlightening in your own work?

CATHY MAISANO

The Bible. Full of symbolism and meaning that just keeps giving.

The Meaning of the Built Environment by [Polish psychologist and architect] Amos Rapoport continues to go wherever I live. I appreciate its study of meaning in nonverbal communication and the environment.

The Unobtrusive Researcher by [Australian sociologist] Allan Kellehear is never far from my desk. Whilst the publication addresses principles of research design, pattern recognition, and material culture — it’s the author, too, I think of. He was my master’s thesis supervisor and a true believer in the benefits of unobtrusive methods, including semiotics.

SEMIOVOX

When someone asks you to describe what you do, what is your “elevator pitch”? How do you persuade a skeptical client to take a chance on using this tool?

CATHY MAISANO

‘Skeptical’ about semiotics is still a thing in the market research world, isn’t it? I think a lot of that ‘heat’ has shifted to AI in research these days. I’m rarely challenged about the usefulness of semiotics. The method is proven. It’s impacted scores of brands’ journeys. Chances are you’ll even meet a semiotician at a dinner party these days, the profession has grown so much. But hey, if you’d prefer to do a survey, go for it.

I might say something like: “As someone fascinated with the built environment, semiotics (and ethnography) help me ‘explore the where’ for broader brand, business or personal challenges.” I’ll go on to explain that looking for meaning and making connections isn’t as straightforward as conducting a discussion focus group.

SEMIOVOX

What specific sorts of semiotics-driven projects do you find to be the most enjoyable and rewarding?

CATHY MAISANO

Ones that explore culture to inform physical spaces, and ones that glean insights from physical spaces for other brand and business challenges. I enjoy an ethno-semiotic analysis of a physical setting or of a cultural context to inform spaces. Place is storied, and stories are placed. Place matters.

SEMIOVOX

What frustrates you about how semiotics is practiced and/or perceived, right now?

CATHY MAISANO

There isn’t just one ‘kind’ of semiotic practitioner. Our language is not the same. I don’t need to know every cultural reference that another semiotician expresses. We are all inclusive of each other and willing to learn from each other. 

The joy of semiotics is the freedom to be curious in creative ways and arrive at insightful inspiration. When I write fiction, there can come an incredible moment where you follow your character and plot and setting, and the story starts writing itself. Semiotics can be like this.

PS: Have we arrived at a time when semioticians are employed full-time in-house client-side? If so, I haven’t come across them yet.

SEMIOVOX

What advice would you give to a young person interested in this sort of work?

CATHY MAISANO

• Travel. Walk. Read what you see.
• Journal your thoughts for you and watch them grow.
• Find out about its different applications — is it marketing research? Or perhaps something less obvious.
• Be creative about it from the start.
• Identify your personal values and think how they can manifest in ‘your way of doing semiotics’ and become economically viable.

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