What Do You Mean?

When I was in design school one of the hot topics was semiotics. We spent a lot of time trying to understand the meaning of objects because, I guess, a cigar is not just a cigar. We also attempted to imbue our product designs with meaning, ideas relevant to their use, origin, or signals of some underlying philosophy.

It is no coincidence that SUV's seem masculine, aggressive, and look like a huge, fierce animal in your rear view mirror. Designers made them look that way. (A closer look often reveals a tiny blond soccer mom at the wheel, cell phone in one hand and Starbucks in the other.) It's enough to make you run off the road and let her pass by in a cloud of dust like the bulls in Pamplona, "outta the way, pipsqueak!". After all, they really do have to get to that stop sign ahead of you.
Everything you buy, eat, drive, do, tells the world something about you. A Prius versus a Hummer, an NRA sticker versus an NPR sticker, a PC, a Mac, red meat, tofu, a suit and tie, Starbucks coffee ...

All these help us identify and pigeonhole ourselves and others. They are all signs, although they may have very different meanings to different people.

Anyway, I love this photo that I took early one Sunday morning. I don't know what the hell it means, maybe a tiny woman in a big car ran this car off the road to get to that stop sign first.