Product semantics was developed and introduced by Krippendorff and Butter (1984: in Riley 2001) and is defined as the study of symbolic qualities of man-made shapes, in the cognitive and social context of their use. According to this definition, product semantics is concerned with the relationship between the user and the product on one hand, and the importance that objects assume in an operational and social context on the other hand. Intentionally or not, all manufactured products make a statement through shape, form, colour, texture, etc. They communicate with users and can never be contextually neutral. It is widely recognized that visualization is important when it comes to assessing the feasibility
of a product in terms of appearance, functionality, production feasibility, product semantics, ergonomics and social factors (Johanson 2000). Regardless of how designers use colour, shape, form, and texture in designing the product, messages are being sent through products via a part of language structures that deal with meaning called semantics. This implies that designers and ergonomists should not only know what message(s) they wish to transmit and the sort of response(s) that can be expected from the user being the receiver, but also the symbols and attributes forming that language.
A product tells us something, about itself and in certain cases also about the human being who owns it. Through its design and function, the product expresses values, whose importance individuals then interpret and value in relation to a certain social context in terms of acceptance or rejection, liking or disliking. However, the product can, through its semantic content and expression, either strengthen or weaken this role, in this way creating positive or negative perceptions, emotions, values and associations within the individual person (Wikstro¨ m 1996).
The products that we encounter have different functions, e.g., technical, practical and semantic. Mono¨ (in Wikstro¨ m 1996) defines four semantic functions of products:
. To describe –The product gestalt describes facts (e.g. its purpose = define the task), way of use, handling.
. To express – The product gestalt expresses the product’s values and qualities.
. To signal – The product gestalt urges the user to react in a specific way, for example to be careful and to be precise in his/her work.
. To identify – The product gestalt identifies (e.g., the purpose = establish similarity), origin, nature and product area (connection with system, family, product range etc, as well as the function and placement of individual parts).
The semantic functions provide the designer with the possibility to communicate a clear message through the product. This means that the designer has to make clear to him/herself what should and what should not be communicated through the product (Wikstro¨ m 1996).
Butter (Krippendorff and Butter 1984: 4), who first made up the phrase product ‘semantics’, claims that designers and ergonomists, with an awareness of the how to use function of design, can ‘demystify complex technology, improve the interaction between artifacts and their users and enhance opportunities for self-expression’. According to Wikstro¨ m (1996), the semantic functions should make the product comprehensible. Both the whole products and its individual parts should communicate the intended message, so that the user knows how the product should be handled merely by looking at it. For example, a knurled knob says ‘turn me’; a button so designed to say ‘press me’; a form that invites a particular handgrip, like a jack-plane; a teapot or kettle that says ‘hold me here and I’ll pour for you’; a chair that softly welcomes your relaxed posture; a shape or form that indicates ‘I move in this direction’ or ‘I fit into that part of your body’. The user’s reaction to what something is and how this something should be handled is an effective and immediate (semantic) indication of the extent to which a product’s design is self-instructing. Complicated products require a manual, but simpler products ought to be self-instructing. In cases where pictures, labels, or instructions are needed for simple things, arrows or labels to differentiate push from pull;
designers have failed to communicate through the form of the object (Norman 1988).
However, the requirement for comprehensibility varies with the context. In some cases, as Wikstro¨ m (1996) mentions, the product should even be incomprehensible to a certain user group, for example medicine bottles and medicine cabinets to children, in order to prevent them from accessing these. In public milieus, however, information-carrying products should be self-instructing. The user group focused upon here should be able to identify the product’s purpose, be able to use it, and be motivated to use it without the need for additional information (e.g., manuals, text).
Being one of the most important trends in design in the US, product semantics is an