| As we enter the twenty first century, we are exposed to countless numbers of logos, which appear everywhere, from bulletin boards to the Internet, from cars to clothes we wear. Logos play an increasingly important role in people's daily environment. They are not only visual representatives of companies, but also meaningful signs. Currently, many studies mainly focus on the designing of logos. Few studies were conducted on the connotation of logos as signs based on Roland Barthes'semiotic theory.This thesis aims to study the connotative meaning of the Apple logo and the Founder logo from the cultural and social perspectives through a semiotic approach defined by Roland Barthes. It is laid out in seven chapters:Chapter 1 is an introduction focusing on the aims and significance of the study. Based on Roland Barthes'semiotic theory, this study attempts to find the meanings hidden behind logos to prove that logos are endowed with rich meanings from cultural and social perspectives so that the functions of logos can be fulfilled. Two logos are selected as the subjects of the present study: the Apple logo and the Found logo.Chapter 2 deals with literature review on the previous studies abroad and at home on logos. Some views on logo, the functions of logos, and the meanings of logos adopted in the present study are discussed respectively.Chapter 3 focuses on the theoretical framework of this study. Since Roland Barthes'semiotic theory was influenced by Ferdinand de Saussure, Saussure's linguistic concepts such as langue, parole, sign, signifier, signified, syntagm and paradigm was introduced. Meanwhile, the semiotic theory of Barthes is studied: as the theoretical framework of the study, four pairs of concepts in Barthes'semiotic theory: langue and parole, signifier and signified, paradigm and syntagm, denotation and connotation are studied.Chapter 4 centers on the history of the Apple logo and the Founder logo, since logos have been updated by companies.In Chapter 5, a semiotic analysis of the Apple logo and the Founder logo is conducted. Firstly, the denotations of the Apple logo and the Founder logo are concerned. Since the denotations of the two logos are totally different, a contrastive discussion is performed.Secondly, the Apple logo and the Founder logo are analyzed respectively in order to study the connotations from a cultural perspective and a social perspective: The signifiers and the signifieds of these two logos are identified; syntagmatic and paradigmatic methodologies are adopted; finally the connotations of the two logos are observed. Serving as signifers, the visual elements of logos, via the process of significance, connote different meanings from the cultural and social perspectives. Finally, the two logos share one deep social connotation: consumerism– the ultimate goal of every logo. A contrastive discussion is also performed in order to identify the differences between the connotations of the two logos.Chapter 6 discusses the meanings of logos from three aspects: firstly, in the system of langue and parole, logos are examined according to Roland Barthes'semiotic theory in order to reveal that the logo-sign exists as an abstract system in people's minds, whereas the concrete consumption behavior conducted by individuals is the parole of this system.Secondly, the functions of logos (expressive and social) are investigated.At last, the production of the meaning of logos is discussed. Although the Apple logo and the Founder logo own denotative meaning and connotative meaning, they share one deep ideology, which is subordinated to the connotative meaning– consumerism.Chapter 7 concludes that the two logos produce significantly meanings due to the fact that they are endowed with their own cultural and social connotations. Roland Barthes'semiotic theory is of great help in the research of the connotations of logos.
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