Structuralism

This idea suggests that words have no real existence of their own, but only gather meaning and significance when compared to things around them called a different word. Language is not natural; it is a human creation. Therefore an object we refer to by a certain name has no natural links to that certain name - it is society and culture which have associated that word with that object. For example, a table could be referred to as any word; as long as the word for chair for example was different. There is a popular analogy to help understand this - The Chess Analogy - you could use a matchbox in place of a knight in a game of chess, as long as it is different from the other pieces. What is important is the way that it moves and the rules it follows rather than the way it looks.

Saussure said that language is in fact a system of signs; what matters is not the items themselves but the differences between them - therefore a system of differences.

So.. how is this relevant to mine and Joe's piece?

WELL... I have previously said logo and 'brand recognition' is crucial for a children's show and for sales of any ancillary products they wish to sell. The logo for a successfully recognised children's show should contain the main characters, fonts and colours used throughout the show (this will all help towards brand recognition). However as long as the logo is associated with the show, it doesn't really in theory matter what is in fact depicted on the logo; does it? If what Saussure and other structuralists say is true about language being a system of differences between signs (better known now as 'semiotics') then as long as the logo is different to all others around it then there should be no problems with brand recognition