The challenge of simple graphics for multimodal studies: articulation and time scales in fuel retail logos

Abstract

This article suggests that a Multimodal Social Semiotics (MSS) approach to graphics is severely challenged by structurally very simple texts. Methodologically, multimodal studies favour the level at which elements from discrete modes are integrated grammatically into texts. Because the tradition has this focus, the analytical description of the expression plane of many modes is underdeveloped. In the case of graphics, there is no descriptive or explanatory readiness for graphic form. The author aims to remedy this problem by combining (i) a small inventory of formal dichotomies for graphic shape features at a general level of delicacy with (ii) a fractal-derived understanding of composition as a nested hierarchy of traces from articulatory events on different time scales. In combination, the two approaches cast a light on the meaning potential of texts that are too simple to specify lexico-grammatical meaning potential as typically understood by MSS. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of the approach, the article carries out a comparative reading of two logos for Scandinavian fuel retail companies: Norwegian Statoil Fuel and Retail ASA, and Swedish Preem AB.