What makes a semiotician tick? SEMIOVOX’s Josh Glenn has invited his fellow practitioners in the field of commercial semiotics, from around the world, to answer a few revealing questions.

Bernareggio (Italy)…

SEMIOVOX

When you were a child/teen, how did your future fascination with symbols, cultural patterns, interpreting “texts,” and getting beneath the surface of daily life manifest itself?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

I grew up in an environment where children were included in complex conversations — to allow us to expand our comprehension of the world, raise questions, and develop our own ideas. To this day, many of my relatives meet every Sunday morning at my parent’s place to discuss the news, (mostly) politics and religion. I had a great time growing up like that. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been the “why” kid — asking endless questions, challenging everyone’s patience. When I was six, my mom was so tired of me asking “where does this word come from? Why so?” that she bought me an etymological dictionary. I guess that was a “sign” of things to come.

SEMIOVOX

Describe your first encounter(s) with the theory and practice of semiotics.

MARTA PELLEGRINI

I studied narrative theories and Propp in high school, but didn’t encounter semiotics — specifically, Peirce and his logic of relatives — until I was earning a bachelor studies in Graphic Design. It was love at first sight. I wrote a thesis on silent books and “silent” narrations overall, then took a creative writing course at Scuola Holden in Torino, and eventually enrolled at the University of Bologna for a Master’s degree in Semiotics. At Bologna, I learned about Greimas and Saussurean structuralism and became acquainted with proper analysis tools.

What attracted me to le due vie della semiotica, as the title of [Italian semiotician] Stefano Traini’s book puts it, i.e., to both the structuralist and the interpretative traditions of semiotics, is the endless horizons that they open in the mind. Using the tools of semiotics in conjunction with the methodic exploration and curiosity in which I was trained as a designer allows me today to process and quickly organise a large amount of apparently disordered information. It helps me to recognise patterns, use technological tools (like AI, on which I wrote my master thesis in 2014, thinking that semiotics might be a great tool also in creating AI engines), and cooperate with different figures in the marketing field — from analysts like me, to designers and brand managers.

SEMIOVOX

How did you find your own way to doing semiotics?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

I spent three years as a qualitative researcher, learning the basics of that methodology — and becoming acquainted with some of my dearest colleagues today, who also are researchers and semioticians. It was good luck. But also hard work. I was attracted by the world of communication and design, though I didn’t really know what to do. I just knew I wanted to be the “why person” — the one who digs a bit further, who finds the bundle of “sense-making”, who helps the client build a narrative that is strong and coherent.

SEMIOVOX

What are the most important attributes of a good semiotician?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

• Study semiotics properly
• Curiosity is of the essence. Never accept too-easy answers, challenge your mind-set, question yourself. 
• Pattern recognition. Find that fil rouge that connects everything.

SEMIOVOX

What three books about semiotics have you found the most useful and enlightening in your own work?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

• Mille Plateaux [translated into English as A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia] by [French philosopher] Gilles Deleuze and [French psychoanalyst] Félix Guattari
• Semiotica del testo by [Italian semiotician] Maria Pia Pozzato
• Kant e L’Ornitorinco [translated into English as Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition] by Umberto Eco

And if you can handle it, I recommend C. S. Peirce’s Opere (collected writings), curated by M. Bonfantini.

SEMIOVOX

When someone asks you to describe what you do, what is your “elevator pitch”? How do you persuade a skeptical client to take a chance on using this tool?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

I look at the type of strategic information the client needs from me, to be able to do the best job possible. At times semiotics isn’t of the essence; at times it can make a huge difference. Also, it might be a cheaper way to achieve a quicker and often more refined result vs. interviews or surveys (that should anyway collect and validate the insights). So, I don’t try to persuade. Instead, I make the best effort to achieve results while being transparent about the process. 

Also, most clients aren’t interested in the methodology! They care about timing, costs, reliability, and actionability of the results. So that has to be the pivot of attention. Semiotics builds the elegance of the process, when correctly applied, and adds a perspective that encompasses a higher cultural awareness level.

SEMIOVOX

What specific sorts of semiotics-driven projects do you find to be the most enjoyable and rewarding?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

I don’t have preferences; the most rewarding job is a job well done. So I take the biggest satisfaction when proper criteria are respected and efficiently applied, when there is time to think through things. Deliver the expected results by applying semiotics correctly, transparently, and in the best way possible: this is the best outcome for me. Of course, it is not always easy — due to many contingencies that may intervene.  

SEMIOVOX

What frustrates you about how semiotics is practiced and/or perceived, right now?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

I’d like to see commercial semiotics become more reliable in terms of results: less interpretation (even though the “eye” of the analyst does make a positive difference in many occasions) and more analysis. I’d also like to see more awareness from the clients. Dry numerical data lack insights, many times, and being driven by numbers risks transforming brands’ personalities in unwanted or undesirable ways. Semiotics can help clients interpret and foresee cultural changes, helping to understand whether it is best to foster or counter them, according to brands’ views and personalities. 

In the world of academic semiotics, I’d like to see more engagement with technology as a tool for analysis. I’d also like to see development in the theories: Something new, something more engaged with society and practice.

SEMIOVOX

Peirce or Saussure?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

Is it a real dichotomy? I’d love to see a bridge built between the two. Or a revolution, perhaps.

SEMIOVOX

What advice would you give to a young person interested in this sort of work?

MARTA PELLEGRINI

Being a freelance semiotician is demanding because you need to be your own supporter when times are tough.

Doing semiotics can feel empty, at times — meaningless, not rewarding. Conversely, at times you’ll feel like you “hold infinity in the palm of your hand.” Either way, it’s the “why?” that chases you — and from which you can’t escape.

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