Semiotic Foundations of HCI and UX Design - Cross-Cultural Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Design - page 10

1988; de Souza, 2005), and to other disciplines as well, for example, typography
(Ehses, 1976). In the following chapters we take their contribution to build a set
of semiotic heuristics that we use to evaluate a complex UI example. We present a
semiotic evaluation method and report the results of our in-depth investigation. Our
semio-linguistic analysis takes into account also the pragmatics of HCI, manifested
through rhetorical tropes to persuade the user.

2.1 SIGNS, DATA, INFORMATION

The signs presented in the context of interaction and communication design are com-
puted and manipulated as data. This data, or a datum , is a lack of uniformity (Floridi,
2010, p. 23). The lack of uniformity stands at the very outset of sign creation. This
process is known as coding (see, e.g., Flusser, 2002, p. 53). In HCI, there are two
types of coding involved: “1) the creation, change, and interpretation of the shape of
signs; and 2) the storage, linkage, and retrieval of signs into, in, and from memory”
(Pearson and Slamecka, 1977, p. 40). This communication process lies at the heart
of information theory that “studies the problems of signal transmission, reception,
and processing” (Merriam-Webster, 2013e). “Information in its everyday sense is a
qualitative concept associated with meaning and news. However, in the theory of
information, it is a technical term, which describes only quantifiable aspects of mes-
sages. Information theory and semiotics have goals of similar analytic universality:
Both study messages of any kind, but because of its strictly quantitative approach,
information theory is much more restrictive in its scope” (Noth, 1995, p. 34). This
confirms also Moles (1966) by writing about quantifying information: “the measure
of information must be based on originality and not on signification” (Ibid., p. 22). For
a message to be meaningful, it must have a high level of sign redundancy. Therefore,
the more meaningful a message is, the less original it is. The measure of informa-
tion included is also the object of one of Grice's (1975) maxims, namely that of the
category of quantity:

1. Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the
exchange).
2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

(Grice, 1975, p. 45)

The maxims of quantity relate to the information presented in the UI. It is the
dialog messages, choice of menu items, etc., which should be kept minimal. Further,
the category of quality deals with the truthfulness of information:

1. Do not say what you believe to be false.
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

(Grice, 1975, p. 46)

Bringing the quality maxims more in the HCI/UX context, we realize the sys-
tems should present not only valid information, but also information relevant to the