Representation in design communication: meaning-making in a collective context

Drawing on the theory of semiotics, this research measures the differences between a non-expert web crowd and an expert design group, when communicating using varying forms of digital representation in a web-based environment. Using an online tool to capture the interactions in each group, the paper analyses how they independently engage in a design task. In lieu of the crowd's varying levels of design and disciplinary expertise, semiotics is employed to describe and compare how representation is used to conceptualize and express design meaning in both groups. Through this research the paper illustrates that representation is a universally understood object of meaning-making and it demonstrates the capture of design intelligence from the web crowd in terms of its ability to generate design meaning in a collectively shared online space.