My first encounter to Denotation and connotation and its implementation
A sign is anything that represents something else. Signs create meaning, but what exactly do they mean? What do they communicate and will everyone who interprets the same sign take away the same meaning from it? For example with the word “rose” or an image of a rose is a type of flower. The same sign can be interpreted as love, romance, or passion. The first is a literal representation, while the second is an indirect representation.
Connotation and Denotation are two principal methods of describing the meanings of words. Words have both denotations (literal meanings) and connotations (suggestive meanings beyond literal meanings, cultural meanings). Denotation is when you mean what you say, literally. Connotation is created when you mean something else, something that might be initially hidden. Denotative language is factual; connotative carries emotional overtones.
Academic Definition
Denotation represents the explicit or referential meaning of a sign. In simple terms denotation refers to the ‘dictionary definition’. It is the precise, literal definition of a word that might be found in a dictionary. In other words, denotation is a word’s “dictionary definition” rather than its associated emotion or definition.
Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them. Connotation represents the various social overtones, cultural implications, or emotional meanings associated with a sign.
Connotation and denotation are not two separate things/signs. They are two aspects/ elements of a sign, and the connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings. Denotation represents the explicit or referential meaning of a sign. For example
- The name ‘Hollywood’ connotes such things as glitz, glamour, tinsel, celebrity, and dreams of stardom. At the same time, the name ‘Hollywood’ denotes an area of Los Angeles, worldwide known as the center of the American movie industry.
- If you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is “any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions.” Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations for the word snake could include evil or danger.
Example for understanding :
The Context: This insightful cartoon predicts what Mahatma would have seen, if he had come alive in India post-liberalization era during the 1990s. It was the time when India began to embrace the world and the global brands.
Denotation : The above image is a cartoon illustration that depicts a scene of the commonly named after (Mahatma Gandhi) road. The illustration gives us the insight of the satire environment from the post-liberalization period in India. These kinds of illustrations have majorly appeared in various national and local newspapers.
Connotation: The artwork connotes the contradicting vision of our founding father (Mahatma Gandhi). His dream of Swadesh India is somewhere lost as the international brands take over the Indian market, making India slaves to foreign lifestyles. Initially, India was physically slaves of foreign countries and now has mentally become slaves. We can see a huge contrast between the vision that Mahatma Gandhi had regarding India and the scene shown in the illustration. Somewhere the teaching of Gandhi seems lost and in the illustration, Gandhi himself looks astonished by the new scenario. We can see bullock cart, huts which connotes poverty but at the same time they have hoardings of international brands on them which significantly points out the contrast of developed country’s brand in underdeveloped country.. After successfully taking over the global market, the Indian market now seems to be the battleground for international brands such as Pepsi and Coca Cola. The illustration also creates a witty and humorous comparison among the fast food industry (Mc Donald’s) in a slow developing country i.e. India.
Denotation & Connotation in Design
The concepts of denotation and connotation are used to create meaningful images in design. No matter what the subject, we are attracted to images: from beautiful high-definition photos to carefully designed graphics. We always respond to images naturally and intuitively. The adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” confirms the communicative power of image to deliver complex messages that are more truthful than words.
Images with denotative meanings are used to inform and transmit information. In other words, it can only be described in one way and does not have multiple interpretations. Connotative images, on the other hand, are those that work based on “multiple meanings”. This meaning tends to change between cultural communities, and between geographical regions because of the cultural or social association that is juxtaposed on the objective meaning, giving it new nuances added meaning and new uses.
Case study : Enlighten
Denotation: The above given identity denotes that it’s a logo for a company with an initial ‘E’. When a person looks at the identity, in the first instance he might just notice that it is just an uppercase ‘E’ alphabet. Observing it carefully, one can notice some more minute details., like the beam of light which represents a flare of light which corresponds to the category of brand i.e. electric light company.
Connotation: The beam of light in the logo connotes that it’s a ray of hope spreading which guides people, providing comfort and brings warmth in the period of dark times. It connotes spreading an optimistic feeling. The play of positive and negative space indicates opposite reactions associated with light such as motivation, peace and disheartened, distressed. Essentially, the light side is the good side and the dark side is the bad side. Furthermore, the color blue emphasizes trust, honesty, confidence which reflects the values of the brand.
To conclude, connotations matter when you are producing communication materials or pictures. A language, in itself, is subjective in nature and it can evoke different psychological reactions from different people. That is why while using the words or images one can be careful about its conational meaning otherwise it totally ruins communication even if your intent and ideas were correct.
Written By: Surabhi Mandhare & Sehar Qureshi
Mentored By: Dharam Mentor
Brand Visual Language
