Visual semiotics, also known as the semiotics of the image is a term that some semioticians use to solidify all semiotic studies that use visual codes. The focus is to understand how visual images function as a system of signs that convey meaning. This field of study applies the principles of semiotics, traditionally used to analyze language and text, to visual media such as photographs, paintings, advertisements, films, and other forms of visual communication. Visual semiotics seeks to understand how images create, communicate, and influence meanings in various cultural contexts.
In this way, it turns out that visual semiotics includes semiotics of the mass media. Also, parts of the artsemiotics, like semiotics of art, cine-semiotics, semiotics of photography, and others.
There is a tendency for visual semiotics to be divided into:
- three-dimensional – Includes plastic semiotics (sculpture) and semiotics of architecture. Called by the Greimas‘ school of thought semiotics of space (proxemics).
- Two-dimensional – divided into:
- Semiotics of unmovable image- photography, pictural semiotics, etc.
- Semiotics of movable image – semiotics of cinema, and television.
