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You only need to complete "Phase One: Initial Proposal for Final Project”
Final Project Prompt

Over the course of our quarter together, we have looked at and analyzed many signs as examples of complex systems of signification at work: from individual words and single images to complex assemblages of signs, such as the 1969 advertisement for Pall Mall cigarettes. For your final project, you are going to show your understanding of how these systems of signification work by developing your own print advertisement for an already existing object (see page 3). Rather than applying a semiotic analysis to a sign, as you have done in other assignments, you will be building your own advertisement from the ground up in order to demonstrate your understanding of how the mechanics of semiotics can be applied to creating something rather than interpreting something. Your use of semiotic concepts and terms should be drawn largely from the second half of our course—that is, from the material in Chandler’s book after the midterm (i.e. Chapter 4 forward). Although creating the advertisement is the centerpiece of the project, the goal of the project is also to demonstrate that you understand what a semiotic approach to representation makes possible.

In order to do this, you will produce a structured proposal that incorporates five distinct sections: 1) Introduction 2) Final Advertisement 3) Justification 4) Audience 5) Reflection

Here is what each section of the proposal should contain: 1) Introduction (@ 300 words): Provide a detailed textual description and brief assessment of the object that could be used to explain it to anyone. It should be meaningful to someone who is unfamiliar with it, or someone who is visually impaired, or someone who is not from your community or have your cultural background. A good Introduction will set the tone for the sections that follow. 2) Final Advertisement: This section is entirely up to you, but it should incorporate visual and textual information about your object and any other elements you believe will demonstrate the semiotic concepts you have chosen to put your advertisement together. 3) Justification (@ 300 words): Provide a solid, thorough discussion of and justification for the semiotic concepts that inform your approach to creating an advertisement for this object. Consider the following questions (these are suggestive and not meant to be proscriptive): *Which codes are you using to structure your advertisement, and how are you using them? *What rhetorical devices are you using to create your advertisement, and why? How are you using them? To what end? *How are you engaging with concepts such as denotation and connotation? Literal and figurative language? Why and how are these important for your advertisement? 4) Audience (@ 300 words): Provide a detailed description of the audience or audiences for which the advertisement is intended and your what you are hoping your advertisement communicates to them. You might also consider: to what degree does your advertisement leave open possibilities of interpretation that you cannot account for or control for? 5) Reflection (@ 300 words): Provide a thoughtful, reflective statement about what you have learned from this course about semiotics, what has been the most useful and why, and how this knowledge has enabled you to put this advertisement together. How, for example, did creating this advertisement take you back to our very first discussions of the problems of representation?

Phase One: Initial Proposal for Final Project (due Tuesday, March 7 by 5:00pm): 1) Choose of one of the three objects featured on page 3 of this prompt and make this your semiotic object. [You are also freee to choose an object of your own, pending approval of your TA, to make as semiotic object.] You are not creating an advertisement for a familiar or recognizable brand of object (e.g. a pair of Levi’s) but a generic (or iconic) example of this type of object. In other words, if you choose “jeans,” you’re not re-branding for Levi’s, but creating a brand for “some pair of jeans in the world.” 2) A draft (@ 300 words) of your proposed approach that combines the “Introduction” and “Justification” sections of the final proposal. 3) A draft of the advertisement, incorporating visual and textual information (this can be preliminary and basic, with the “finished” version appearing with the final version of the project proposal). 4) You will not need to submit a hard copy, only a PDF to the “Proposal” link Canvas.