A Visual Semiotic Analysis of Graphic Chinese Character City and Provincial Logos
Keywords:
Graphic Chinese Character City and Provincial Logos, Visual Semiotic Analysis, Representational Resource, Interactive Resource, Compositional ResourceAbstract
This paper aims to discuss the forms of graphic Chinese character logos of cities and provincial regions in China from the visual semiotic perspective. Visual grammar proposed by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen (2006) is employed to analyze the representational, interactive and compositional resources of 75 graphic Chinese character logos for cities or provincial areas. This paper finds that more of the representational than those of the interactive or compositional resources are employed in these logo designs. Repetition and metonymy coincide with all three semiotic resources for meaning construction. Interestingly, it was found that the two most common cultural elements of Chinese architecture and landscape represented by the resources are meaningfully associated with Chinese philosophical thoughts of the requirement of rite and pursuit of harmony and unity between humankind and nature.
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