Semiotic Flashcards
Our project aimed to effectively convey messages within a subculture relating to the pandemic using semiotic terms.
The theme we chose to focus on for this project was the impact the pandemic had on children's education system and how that, in turn, impacted the growth and development of young children.
Since our theme focused on children's education, we wanted the colour palette to be bright, friendly and colourful, reminiscent of the vibrant colours in children's education workbooks and cards. We centered our imagery around crayons, creating a crayon box for the packaging and including various coloured crayons for the card backings.
Paradigm
For the word paradigm, the aim was to focus on a way of doing things, or in other words, a typical model of the school system. After covid, a lot of teaching methods became digital, causing a significant paradigm shift. In this card I illustrated a computer with a teacher teaching a math question to represent this concept. I decided to use the colour red because it would often be used as a colour for marking for all kinds of school work. Since my original idea was using red for an A+ sign I decided to keep the colour because it is a very powerful one, similar to how teachers are also very authoritative figures in the school setting.
Irony
For the word Irony, the focus was on how children became extremely attached to technology and their devices post-covid. It is ironic in such a way that one would expect that children would start to slowly go out more and make friends, but instead, they stay on their devices. I believe it is an effective illustration since the card depicts a child frolicking with her life-size phone, providing a humorous way of showing how technology can and has replaced social interactions. During research, I found that the colour purple was a “sign of fusing the mundane with the innovative,” similar to how humans are so connected to technology. It is also a playful/cheerful colour which I thought was a good choice since the girl in my illustration is having fun with her phone friend.
