ABSTRACT
The global emergencies point to the need for a meta-semiotic framework that extends beyond human-centred design. Semiotics emerged from linguistics and used within the communication industries, which is why it is often seen as a theory of communications. However, the common ground between design and semiotics enables designers to combine them for innovation purposes. As metadesigners, we may also use it as a cognitive playground for making unthinkable problems thinkable. We can extend this idea to recognise the importance of the meta-languages that facilitate tacit knowledge. Moreover, we can even rethink design by noting how its languages, signs and symbols reframe design practice itself. Eco-semiotics can be applied in (re)imagining autopoietic forms that would also work for non-human forms of life. We might, therefore, think of ‘signs’ as verbs that aid ‘co-semiosis’ within co-evolution, thus ensuring our collective survival.
