Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

lifestyle. This resonance is created by the suits and ties of the human participants
which transfer to the car.
• What are power relationships, (sign-maker to viewer) Response: The sign-maker has
created the viewer and rejected any other potential purchaser. For example, there
may be wealthy purchasers from the world of film, pop music, academia, or even
design, who could and would be interested in the car but have, by a paradigmatic
choice, been rejected.
• What is icon and symbol usage The symbol attribute may have salience through
placement, focus or colour. Response: The only icon used is that of the heart placed
beside the sub-brand name TECNO with no explanation. The heart with its representation
of warmth may be an attempt to humanize the technological hegemony.
• What is representation of detail and tonal shades Response: The representation of the
criterial elements is emphasized through the detail, locative positioning, depth of
colour and use of neutral tonal shades. The three participants are thus emphasized as
such with each participant separated through the use of colour contrast, foregrounding
and involvement in a network of vectors.
Interest
(1) Identify if and how people, places and things combine into meaningful whole which
is/is not an extension of the meaning
Response
The ‘people’ and ‘the thing’ (the car) combine through the use of vectors and foregrounding.
The ‘place’ is less meaningful. It may be the collection point for a car whose
maintenance has been completed or a stand at an exhibition where one enthusiast is
discussing the technical elements with another.
(2) Unisemic or polysemic
Response
The picture is polysemic with each meaning unidirectional, one strengthening the other.
The meanings are apparent within the context of the text which accompanies the picture
and which refers to the sales operation. The left participant must be assumed, in the
absence of a caption, to be a salesman who is identifying sales strengths within the
engine. By pointing at one element and showing his own authority a second level of
meaning is adumbrated. The part of the engine to which the participant points is well
engineered so, therefore, is the rest of the engine and through that the sense of quality is
suggested for the rest of the car which is not visible. The expression of acceptance on the
face of the right participant is of pleasurable involvement in the discussion. Although the
picture is polysemic the second and third layers of meaning are not easily identified and
to the viewer may not be as readily accepted as by the right side participant.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors