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

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them 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.

“PEACOCKING” NORM: Looking to get noticed. Making your mark in the world. A swaggering, celebratory approach to Men’s Personal Luxury.

“PEACOCKING” FORMS: Macho, somewhat menacing-looking men in attention-grabbing clothes, wearing flashy jewelry and watches, posing with sports cars. Open collars. Tattoos increasingly prevalent. Tonality is antiheroic — somewhere between James Bond and a Bond villain.

From a 2020 audit of the Men’s Personal Luxury space.