It’s another interview episode, the first of a two-parter with qualitative researcher and semiotician Chris Barnham.

In part 1 Chris gives an in-depth overview of the field, and explains his view that the theory of semiotics advanced by Charles Peirce can be be more helpful than Saussurian semiotics when it comes to understanding how consumers create brand meaning.

Focusing on individual customers, rather than cultural codes, means that semiotics combined with qualitative research can be used to understand how brand meanings are created, and how they change and evolve over time.

Next time we’ll discuss the applications of semiotics to customer experience.