The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

Note that signs on their own, while sometimes interesting, only become truly revelatory and useful once they’re sorted into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“BATTLE READY” NORM: Proudly competitive and aggressive, winner-take-all attitude. No longer the exclusive prerogative of cisgender men.

“BATTLE READY” FORMS: In sports photography, fists shaken in triumph, mouth wide open in a roar of alpha dominance. In advertising, the spoils of victory displayed triumphantly, along with triumphalist language: “Live victoriously,” “Take Charge,” “Business is a Battle.”

From a 2020 audit — for a leading gin brand — of Super Premium-ness.