Dictionary - Definition of Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs and the meanings behind them. The semiology theorists, Ferdinand De Saussure said that everyone interoperates signifiers differently. This means that when we see a sign we all interoperate it differently. For example, when I see the Calvin Klein logo, I can hear a sound in my head that always reminds me of it. When someone else see's the Calvin Klein logo, someone else could picture of hear something completely different.

Pierce said that there are many signs that we all interoperate in the same way. For example when we see the parental advisory sign, we know that this means that a song or album has themes or words that listeners might find offensive. These are important because in order to know important things like that, we need a simple and well known sign that is easy to decode.