Context Analysis of Advertising Design: A New Context-Based Semiotic Approach

This research tried to validate a new approach to semiotic analysis in advertising posters. The aim of writing this thesis was to reveal a new approach in dealing with signs and the way it is used in advertising design. Due to the nature of advertising designs they are constructed on the selection and combination of signs and because of this, people can also select and perceive some of the signs in advertisings posters. Based on the results, it is possible to say that there are no absolute parameters to design an advertising poster in which all the receivers will have the same understanding. Designers aren’t the only ones that will select and combine signs also readers of the text follow the same procedure in order to read the signs. These differences in interpretation is based on the differentiation of understanding Context B and the Context C of each receiver which is due to the information available from the individual perception of the so-called Context B and Context C. Based on the results and findings of this research, the researcher has proven that not only the human perception is different from individual to individual in advertising posters, also it is depended on the three context which the researcher called Context A the linguistic context, Context B the situational context and Context C which is the background knowledge of each individual. These variations in interpretation and perception of advertising posters have three main reasons that can be concluded as three contexts. Some people do not select and perceive all the sentences, including linguistics and/or non-linguistics sentences. The difference in the situational context can be the reason of reading the text in different ways, due to the fact that the knowledge of individuals can be different, consciously and/or unconsciously this knowledge can affect the way that an individual read and understand a advertising posters. Keywords: Semiotics, Context, Advertising Design, Human Perception.