Colour as a semiotic mode: notes for a grammar of colour

Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwen

`Not just a colour': pink as a gender and sexuality marker in

visual communicationVeronika Koller

Analysed Data

• Pilot-survey questionnaire, distributed to 169 where the respondents will identify to what extent the colour pink is associated to the given ideas/ notions in the questionnaire.(PINK)

• Sample or ideas

Research Questions

• The questions proposed do not portray a consistent transition from its original idea whereby the author looked at several related ideas but the connections are not clearly stated.

• Stated in a general manner and progress to more specific ones(by Kress and Van Leeuwen)

Theory/ Concept

• In the first article, Koller proposed a hypothesis saying that “colour associations are mental concepts”.

• Theory framework that combines cognitive semantics with social semiotics.

• In Kress and Van Leeuwen’s paper, a theory from Jakobson/ Halle of distinctive features is used.

Methodology

• Qualitative(GRAMMAR)

• Quantitative(PINK)

Finding

• PINK

Gendering Attract women’s attentionSexuality and sexual identityIndicates post-feminist

• GRAMMAR

Convey ideational, interpersonal and textual meaning.

Colour and its effects change according to time.

Colours are used in home decoration but in different manners according to socio-cultural context.

There are also distinctive features of colour:

1. value (scale of value is the grey scale, white to black)

2. saturation (scale from the most intensely saturated to its softest, and, ultimately, to complete de-saturation, to black and white)

3. purity (scale from ‘purity’ /primary colour to ‘hybridity’/mixed colour)

4. modulation (scale that runs from fully modulated colour)

5. differentiation (scale that runs from monochrome to the use of a maximally varied palette)

6. hue (scale from blue to red).

Conclusion• no conclusion(GRAMMAR)• clear idea on the conclusion of the findings. 1. This study has shown how it is perceived that the colour

pink acts as the sign of complex discourses around femininity.

2. As in terms of multimodal texts, it is often seen as gendering textual referents and also attracts female readers’ attention. Pink also indicates sexuality and sexual identity and symbolize as fun,

independence and confidence. The notion of post-feminist pinksome of the notions are left out. It shows that the conclusion part did not address all the

findings. Other than that, the author has brilliantly sum up most of the findings in the conclusion.

THANK YOU...

BY:S. UVANA JOTHI

JACYNTHA E.JAMES