Information design aspects of a semiotic software

Abstract

SignType – Assisted Semiotic Typifier for Phenomenological Data – is a simultaneously didactic and
applicable software. Its mains goals are: (1) scientific capacitation of researchers and scholars from various
knowledge areas on the methodology of Peircean semiotic classification; and (2) transformation of
phenomenological input (impressionistic descriptions) into semiotic output (kinds of sign), optimizing the use of
the scientific potential of semiotics by the user. Part of the work carried on this optimization comes from the
information design project developed for this application. In this paper, graphic models that aims to represent
concepts and other theoretical aspects of Charles S. Peirce’s semiotics are analysed. Their key characteristics
are customizability (permits certain information to be seen or not under diverse hierarchy criteria), alterability
(being interchangeable for other models) and modularization (making comparisons between ongoing
classifications easier).