Symbols may also create meaning in a less direct, or less overt, manner. Consider the cultural coding of such symbols and their relationship to power. Propaganda, including advertisements for goods and services, use codes to persuade and convince. You might consider how often we use persuasive communication in our workplace or with friends and family. Visual codes use signs and symbols to create a particular view of the world .
Signs generate meaning through a process of denotation and connotation .
Denotation Denotation refers to the literal meaning of the sign - to what is objectively present and easily recognised or identified. It is a 'first order' meaning. Connotation Connotation is a term used to refer to meanings that lie beyond denotation. Connotative readings of signs move beyond the literal and are activated by conventions and codes. They include figurative uses of language, such as metaphor.