Communication Theory in Seafleam
General theoretical foundations of communication in the field of design
Modern design has long ceased to be just a visual reinforcement of the brand’s character. Now it can be safely called a tool that helps to build communication with the consumer at the level of aesthetic objects, symbolic and cultural associations, which become the non-verbal language of the company or product. Communication theory provides designers with a number of tools that help them better understand the audience and create an optimal semantic message using symbolic forms and symbols within the context defined by the media.
The integration of Shannon-Weaver’s information framework models, visual rhetoric, and other communication theories can help a designer structure meanings and turn design into a dialogue process instead of the usual creative process.
Let us dive a bit deeper into the Shannon-Weaver model. It provides us with an interpretation of the concept of communication as a linear process consisting of encoding, transmission, and decoding. While originally created for engineering and telecommunications, the model has been widely adopted in design theory because it clarifies the designer’s role as the encoder of meaning and the viewer’s role as the decoder. In visual communication, this means that the designer needs to use various systems, from typography to shapes and colors so that they create a number of encodings that can be interpreted verbally or emotionally.
Semiotic theory, developed by Saussure and Peirce, with a slightly different vision of each of the scientists, provides a deeper understanding of how meaning is conveyed through symbols. Saussure considers languages as a system of symbols, while Peirce connects signs with thinking, encompassing the entire experience of an individual. Semiotic theory helps designers create brands that go beyond aesthetics and speak about identity, aspirations, and emotional resonance.
Communication in design is usually shaped by visual and symbolic references that can be interpreted by the audience within a certain cultural framework. Minimalism, as an example, is usually associated with clarity and stability, while colorful bright visual materials may refer to products for children. Understanding these codes allows designers to create intuitively understandable messages to the target audience. Such communications which are based on associations are often used by jewelry brands, since their product is primarily focused on decoding images, colors and materials.
Visual rhetoric describes how images persuade, evoke emotions, and construct narratives, it includes strategies such as metaphor, metonymy and contrast. These rhetorical strategies shape audience perception and help guide interpretation, for instance, designs that rely on minimalism, use visual rhetoric subtly, not through elaborate symbolism but through reduction, precision, and controlled visual rhythm.
It should also be taken into account that communication cannot exist on its own, in a vacuum. Often, the media in which it exists imposes a great influence and framework on it. A photograph communicates differently from a website, a printed catalogue, or a street billboard. Design must therefore adapt meaning across formats while maintaining coherence.
To summarize, the design acts as an intermediary or a special form of communication between the sender and the recipient, through visual images and associations, basic emotions, feelings, and even values are conveyed. A communication strategy rooted in theory ensures that meaning does not emerge accidentally but is intentionally crafted. This theoretical foundation sets the stage for understanding the communication strategy developed for the jewelry brand Seafleam.
A little bit about the brand
Seafleam is a collection of jewelry made of white metal, inspired by the foam on the surface of the water, its fragile texture and iridescences of light. The design of each product conveys smooth, organic lines and the softness of foam, accentuated by deep marine shades.
The main idea is to convey the fleeting beauty of the moment when the foam is dancing on the waves, to capture the moment when it is about to disappear, dissolving, and preserve this moment in jewelry.
Brand presentation for general audience
In our jewelry, we convey the special feeling of foam dancing around your finger, forming a unique pattern of metal and glass.
The fleeting feeling of a dissolving moment makes Seafleam something more than a jewelry brand. Obviously, our collection was created for those who see beauty in the fleeting manifestations of nature and strive to convey it in products using organic shapes and soft lines. We create jewelry for dreamers, for people with a subtle inner world who see philosophy in the wave line and a whole story in the glare of light.
Brand semiotics The design of our products is based on organic, gentle lines and smooth surfaces. These are images and symbols that you intuitively read as something natural and sincere. We chose white metal for a reason, it is a symbol of purity, clarity and elegance. The deep blue hues in our rings are not just a color. These are symbols of depth and mystery.
We believe that our target audience is people for whom jewelry becomes a material reflection of an inner state of calm and tranquility. Our collection is for those who see quiet luxury in the beauty of the moment, which is born in the light that plays on the smooth curves of metal. That is why we believe that our jewelry is created for creative people, for whom the design of external objects becomes an expression of their unique perception of the world.
Our collection was developed as a means of non-verbal communication, bringing together a community of like-minded people, that is why when you choose Seafleam, you feel connected to those who share the aesthetics and philosophy of our jewelry. It becomes a deeply tangible sign of a shared identity.
The power of narrative To bring our brand’s philosophy to a wide audience, we are building the Seafleam world around sensations and images. We translate complex meanings and inspiration into the language of emotions. We create visual stories in which sea foam floats on the waves and capture the moment when it is about to dissolve.
Presentation for professional audience
The Seafleam project represents a system of visual communication where colors, forms and photography perform as an interconnected semiotic elements. Collection builds meanings through structural clarity, reflecting the approach where design act as a process of encoding meanings. Project’s visual patterns were created to guide interpretation through shared cultural and aesthetic codes.
Materiality plays a central communicative role in the project. The use of white metal operates as an indexical sign of durability and value, while its reflective surface allows light to become an active component of the visual language. This creates a productive tension between physical stability and visual ephemerality, echoing the conceptual reference to sea foam.
From a semiotic perspective, the material does not simply support form but participates in meaning-making by linking tactile qualities to abstract ideas of transience and fragility.
The main color of the jewelry collection is deep marine, appearing as accents rather than dominant element. By choosing it, we meant that in the context of the cultural code, it would be easy to read as the sea depth, water, and emotional calmness. In the promotion materials we focused on reducing communicative noises, reinforcing the clarity of the encoded message. That is why the brand’s primary colors aren’t flashy, but still are connected to the theme of sea and sand, emphasizing precision and controlled transmission of meaning.
The photographic language of Seafleam further supports this communicative structure. We tried to convey the emotional sensations that the products give in subtle materials, translucent, watery shades gentleness.This creates an indexical connection between jewelry and a person, blurring the boundaries of the material and emotional, conveying and translating meanings not by formulating them into words, but by leaving symbols.
Soft shades and light are aimed at leaving the focus solely on jewelry, reinforcing the collection’s conceptual focus.
For the Seafleam, visual system perform as a rhetorical devices, where elements function through metaphors and associations, encouraging the viewer to complete the meaning through interpretation. The products echos the notion of fragility and transience, forming a unified narrative, aligning with contemporary approaches to conceptual design communication.
For a professional audience, the project may be interesting because it demonstrates how communication theory can be implemented in certain design solutions. Semiotics informs material and color choices, cultural codes shape symbolic associations, visual rhetoric guides composition, and medium-awareness determines how meaning adapts across contexts. As a result, a project is born in which all these theories merge into one, creating a non-verbal storytelling in which the brand and communication become a reflection of the values embedded in the product.
Development of the communication strategy
With the core of our target audience we speak in «language of nature» through jewelry. We do not seek to invent something new, complicated, massive and «for all». We use existing natural forms and textures, strive to give the individuality of each product with our philosophy and design. White metal symbolizes clarity, material simplicity and something pristine. Soft lines represent tenderness and lightness. Blue colors refer to memories of the ocean and sea glide.
We take from nature eternal values and use simple symbols: crystal purity, simplicity of lines and elegant wisdom of natural forms. Thus, by choosing Seafleam, the customer acquires his own history, puts personal deep meaning in our decorations. They remind him of something personal, intimate and authentic.
That is why in the dialogue with our audience we adhere to sincerity, simplicity and lightness in all our communications.
Our photographs of models are devoid of pathos and pretense. They are calm and full of life, held in beige tones. There is no place for bold postures and provocations. We value naturalness and serenity, we observe a subtle dialogue between man and decoration.
Our products do not «shout» about the status of its owner, but convey revelations, tell about the state of the soul, about harmony with nature and its contemplation. Through the frame, we transmit not just an image, but a sensation — the touch of the skin with cool metal, the visual softness of lines and the same slipping moment of natural phenomena that inspired us to create this collection.
Seafleam is not just another white metal jewelry for «mass consumption». Through our minimalist ornaments, we want to convey the totality of meanings: a state of harmony, a deep connection with the elusive, the beauty of nature and the short-lived quality of life.
The project is based on materials from the Communication Theory course.
URL: https://hsedesign.ru/project/091192cba64a49c283da38c7b00dbf37 (Дата обращения: 13.12.2025)
