Already in ancient times, Greek philosophers argued with questions of meaning. Do signs indicate the meaning? What do we need in order to understand the meaning? How changeable is meaning? In Far East meaning is found in the act "..slow in words and quick in doing.." (Confucius). Probably much longer people think and look for ways of expression that could be conveyed to others.
How to define a term? What is the actual meaning? How do different languages and cultures denote their terms?
Which senses are addressed?
Which evaluation is in a message?
What triggers the expression?
Which activities are hidden in a statement?
What are the consequences of the statement?
Contents (visually, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory) can be found everywhere as texts, books, pictures, movies, sounds, music, smells and meals. They are produced and used by people, including you. Behind each information sticks an actual meaning, which, in the course of communication, is always falsified and get lost. Meaning design is supposed to work against this filter and to improve the view to the actual meaning.
Meaning design is a process from idea generation to experienced practice. Each Step serves to improve expressions and to refocus on the originally intended meaning. The process follows the following communication model, which is derived from the classical Shannon Weaver model. Sender develop a message and send it via one or more channels to receivers, e.g. by phone. The task of the sender is to provide the message as understandable as possible for receivers.
In each phase tools are available, in order to affirm the actual meaning. Therefore, the task of senders does not end with sending the message, but with the reaction of the receiver in form of messages or actions.
Communication is a business of specialists - public relations, marketing, designer, adviser, coaches and of you. As an important part of all results, it is in your interest to deliver those effectively to your target group. Meaning design takes care of the independent search for the underlying meaning, which is to be transferred. Many fail to actively taking care of an effective distribution of their own ideas, as the following everyday problems show.
Generation of ideas is difficult.
Thematic problem and goal specification is at best superficially executed.
Concepts are developed intuitively and without serious consideration of alternatives.
Development of communication objects takes place without plans and with an unclear image of the target audiences.
Communication is delegated and not pursued or supported.
Misunderstandings are rarely discussed or rectified.
Creation of acceptance and commitment is half-heartedly conducted - if at all.
During implementation, existing practical experiences are rarely used to improve the original concepts.
After successful introduction, continuous improvement does not happen.
It is management, which should promote the communication steps actively and not only delegate to specialists, trusting that they would take over management tasks accordingly. Communication is, besides decision-making, one of the most fundamental management tasks. They have to account for the impacts and thus it cannot be delegated. Making decisions without active communication is like a blind flight without radar, which increases the risk of a crash dramatically. Specialists can construct and support the efforts of management, but do not replace the need for personal dedication and vigor.
The compelling need for meaning design results from technology focus for many decades. People, who make technology possible by their operation, slipped out of focus. Nowadays the limits of automation are clear. Therefore after years of effectiveness and efficiency increases today's improvement potentials lie in communication: e.g. between management and employees; enterprise and business partners; enterprise and customer. Costs of this communication are huge and require active designing, as well as conscious handling of messages. In the end, it is all about:
Definition of enterprise-related terms,
skillful, sensuous formulations,
clear evaluation and
Meaning Design consists of development from ideas to concepts, communication from planning to commitment and business organization from doing to knowing.
Meaning design happens continuously – even now. This permanent cycle that allows us to interact with the world could be called consciousness cycle. It consists of …
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In the Duden, a german kind of OED, you can find the following words „ meaning, meaning improvement, meaning loss, meaning development, …
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For many years, the founder of memecon worked in various international, multi-cultural business environments. It was always a matter of meaning in different …
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