Semiotics (and other big, fancy, cool sounding words)

So, as an Interior Design major, our exercise on Friday was very difficult for me. In Interior Design, we try to represent things as accurately as possible without going overboard, spending hours and hours on one little detail. So, when we were doing the exercise in class, it was very hard for me to not draw an accurate picture of what I was trying to say... Then I put my picture up, and after looking at the other drawings, I felt ridiculous. I also felt like I had pretty much failed the assignment... but that's ok. I learned a lot from actually doing the drawing wrong. When Babcock was explaining what would have been better for me to focus on and what I could leave out, it really helped me understand exactly what it was that I was supposed to be doing. Today, I redid my drawing from Friday and completed the other drawings with much more ease.

So anyway, we are supposed to talk about our understanding of semiotics. Well, I feel like I pretty much understand, but not 100%. This is what I have so far:

Semiotics is like a sciencey-way of talking about communication and language and symbols. People understand things when they are easy to see and read and comprehend. Sort of like, it's easier to read someone's handwriting the neater the handwriting is. People also don't need "fluff" and "frill" to get the picture. If you want to draw a lamp, you don't have to add carved wood details and fringe around the edge of the lamp shade and all of those details for people to understand that it is a lamp. When you leave those details out, there is less for the person to look at, ergo, they can comprehend the picture quicker. People also can understand things easier when they can quickly recognize the images. Sometimes, when you are trying to convey something via picture, it is easier to use a graphic image that may not necessarily be exactly what you mean, but for the viewer, would be easier for them to understand. Example: if you want to draw a story about a person cutting down the rain forest, you don't necessarily have to draw trees that look exactly like the ones in the rain forest. It would probably be easier to draw the traditional tree with a trunk and a large bushy top.

So, other vocabulary we are supposed to understand...

An icon is a graphic image that very accurately represents the object. Lets use a pencil as an example. A photograph of a pencil would be an icon.
An index is a graphic image that has to do with the object, but isn't that object exactly. An eraser would be an index for a pencil. They are related, but not the same.
A symbol would be (as far as I understand...) is simply the written or spoken word for the object. Saying "pencil" would be a symbol for a pencil.
A metasymbol is a graphic image that is easily recognizable and a learned image/relationship. Kind of like clip art images. Clip art images (generally) do not represent the object perfectly, but enough that you can easily recognize the object.