Barthes: Elements of Semiology

In semiology there is always a connection to language, even when studying systems of images.
This is equally true about interface icons. As we look at an interface icon, we almost
compulsively think of the word that it can be translated to. According to Barthes, semiology is
a part of linguistics. This is contrary to Ferdinand de Saussure, who considered linguistics as a
branch of semiology.

Language, and also the language of interface icons, is a social institution, a system of
contractual values that resists modification of a single individual. It is like a game with its own
rules, which can be only handled after a period of learning.

Historically, speech comes before language. Speech gives birth to language. Language is at the
same time a product and instrument of speech. In practise, the theory of designing icons could
be considered a language, and the way they are utilized in everyday interfaces is equivalent to
speech. Speech in such form has very little variation compared to speech in real life.

Barthes explores the relationship of speech and language in a semiotic system, by examining
systems of clothing and fashion (the garment system), food, automotive and furniture. The
language of these systems is defined by a smaller deciding or manufacturing group, whereas
the speech consists of the ways in which the large masses utilize the products. For instance, in
the garment system, language could be the generally accepted rules of associating different
types of clothing. Whereas, speech could be the way that clothes are worn, and how individual
people combine different pieces of clothing. In the icon system the volume of speech, or free
association, is small.

Following the Saussurean terminology, Barthes points out that the signifier and the signified
are components of a sign. The same goes for icons. An image of a trash can is not an icon by
itself, it is only a metaphorical logical icon when it is connected to the intended action of
deleting files. He also mentions that Saussure chose the term sign rather then symbol since in
his opinion symbol implied motivation.

Barthes introduces Cantineau's principle of distinctive opposition in the language, which he

attempts to apply to semiological oppositions. A principle of classification is possible by
examining the similar and dissimilar element of the opposition. These oppositions can be
bilateral or multilateral. In bilateral oppositions the common element of two terms is not
found in any other oppositions of the code. As a simple example of the latin alphabet the
opposition of the letters E and F is bilateral, because the common shape F does not exist in any
other letter of the alphabet. In multilateral oppositions the common element exist in more
than two terms. In the alphabet example, this opposition can be found in the letters P, B and R,
where the common shape in all three is P. This classification of oppositions is similarly
applicable to classification of interface icons.