The Semantic Turn

Infobox Book
name = The Semantic Turn:
a new foundation for design
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Klaus Krippendorff
illustrator =
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country = flagicon|USA United States
language = English
series =
subject = Design science
genre =
publisher = Taylor & Francis
release_date = 2006
english_release_date =
media_type =
pages = 349
isbn = 0-415-32220-0
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Semantic Turn" is a book by Klaus Krippendorff (2006), a design researcher now working at the University of Pennsylvania.

Krippendorff takes an encompassing view of the science of design, centering it on the concept of Meaning. Since "Humans do not see and act on the physical qualities of things, but on what they mean to them" (book, pp. 47), his approach establishes a distance from some industrial design practices, that often focus on Form and Function rather than on meaning.

The semantic turn represents an evolution from Product Semantics by Krippendorff and Butter (1989), that had been defined as "A systematic inquiry into how people attribute meanings to artifacts and interact with them accordingly" and "a vocabulary and methodology for designing artifacts in view of the meanings they could acquire for their users and the communities of their stakeholders". While retaining this emphasis on meaning and on the importance of both theory and practice, the semantic turn extends the concerns of designers first to the new challenges of design, including the design of ever more intangible artifacts such as services, identities, interfaces, multiuser systems, projects and discourses; and second, to consider the meaning of artifacts in use, in language, in the whole life cycle of the artifact, and in an ecology of artifacts.

Main book themes

Human-centeredness

Design "brings forth what would not come naturally (...); proposes realizable artifacts to others (...) must support the lives of ideally large communitites (...) and must make sense to most, ideally to those that have a stake on them" (pp. 25-26). Design thus in intimatelly involved with the meaning stakeholders attribute to artifacts. Designers "consider possible futures (...) evaluate their desirability (...) and create and work out realistic paths from the present towards desirable futures, and propose them to those that can bring a design to fruition" (pp. 28-29). Human-centered design is distinguished from technology-centered design by this emphasis on the meaning stakeholders attribute to artifacts.

Meaning

Attributing meaning to something follows from sensing it, and is a prelude to action. "One always acts according to the meaning of whatever one faces" (pp. 58). Meanings are always someone's construction and depend on context and culture. The same artifact may invoke different meanings in different times and places and for different stakeholders. Designers as a consequence need to get involved into "second order understanding": understand each stakeholder understanding of artifacts in order to design artifacts successfully. Since meanings of others cannot be observed directly, designers need to carefully observe actions that imply certain meanings; involve themselves in dialog with stakeholders; and invite them to participate in the design process.

Meaning of artifacts in use

People understand artifacts by their interfaces; not only computer system interfaces but whatever the artifact presents to the user as an indication of its affordances – whatever the artifact affords the user to do with it. Thus scissors and coffee cups have an interface as well as interactive computer systems. The meaning of an artifact in use is then "the range of imaginable senses and actions that users can expect" (pp. 83). Interfaces need to be designed, producing "an intrinsically motivating interaction between human actors and their artifacts" (pp. 83).

Artifacts must be designed to afford initial recognition, exploration and finally reliance, the later when the artifact is so incorporated into the user's world that he hardly notices it or its functioning. Recognition depends on the user's categorization of artifact –how close it is to its "ideal type". Exploration is facilitated by informatives such as state indicators, progress reports, confirmations of actions and readiness, alarm signals, close correlations between actions and their expected effects, maps of possibilities, instructions, error messages and feedback. Reliance is enhanced by the degree the artifact is able to invoke intrinsic motivation in the user and provide an operation free of disruptions. A meaningful interface enables effective recognition and exploration and leads to reliance; designers need to involve themselves in second-order understanding of all this.

Meaning of artifacts in language

"The fate of all artifacts is decided in language" (pp.148) , says Krippedorff. Indeed, designers must pay attention to the names that may be used to categorize an artifact as soon as it hits the market; to the adjectives that may be attached to it (is it a "fast" car? a "graceless" cell phone? a "high class" dress?); and to the narratives and stories and judgements that may be told about it. In particular with interfaces, Krippendorff proposes that artifacts should be designed so that their interfaces are [easily] narratable" (pp. 174, emphasis added)

The "character" of an artifact --the set of adjectives attached to it--, might be assessed using product prototypes by means of semantic differential scales: seven point scales between extreme attributes such as elegant---graceless; or by categorizing free associations made by users upon first seeing or after using an artifact; by examining the content of stories and judgments; or by comparisons against similar artifacts.

Language permeates the life of an artifact even before it is built, in the narratives designers use to influence other stakeholders. And stories are even told nowadays about artifacts defunct years ago. "The meanings that artifacts acquire in use are largely framed in language" (pp.147), as language use directs attention and frames perception.

Meaning in the lives of artifacts

Here Kippendorff invites designers to consider artifacts in their whole life cycle. In the case of industrial products, the life cycle might start with an initial idea, then followed by design, engineering, production, sales, use, storage, maintenance and finally retirement as waste. Well, not "finally" really; designers will then learn about the product's performance and consequences in order to then design new, better products --design never ends. In each phase of the life cycle, the artifact will have to present different meaningful interfaces to varying communities of stakeholder networks that enable it to succeed in one stage and go on to the next: "no artifact can be realized within a culture without being meaningful to those who can move it through its various definitions" (p.186).

Meaning in an ecology of artifacts

Ecology is usually understood nowadays as involving interacting natural species. Humans, however, have created perhaps even more "species of artifacts" than Nature alone. These artificial species are equally born, evolve, diversify into other species, adapt to market niches and eventually disappear -just as the natural ones. Artifacts may compete, cooperate or be parasitic with other artifacts; for an example of the later, consider spam, which thrives in the Email ecosystem. Whereas natural species interact with one another, species of artifacts usually interact through human agency. People can arrange artifacts together at home, or have them communicate over long distances as is the case with distributed computer systems.

In an ecology of artifacts, the meaning of one must include consideration of its possible interaction with other artifacts, artificial or natural; for instance, roads and gas stations interact with automobiles, and cars interact with the rest or nature through waste and CO2 emissions. "Designers who can handle the ecological meaning of their proposals have a better chance of keeping their designs alive" (pp. 202)

Design methods

Towards a science for design

Reaction to product semantics and the book

References

* cite book
last = Krippendorff
first = Klaus
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Semantic Turn
publisher = CRC press
date = 2006
location = Boca Raton, FL
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-415-32220-0

* Krippendorff, Klaus and Reihhart Butter (Eds.) (1989). Product Semantics. "Design issues", 5(2).