In this next section we're going to look at connotation with images. Now, we've already looked at denotation, and we described that as being it is what it is. In other words, as a designer, we might make an image of an object, and that image directly represents that object. In other words, it is what it is. The image of the apple can only be read as being an apple. But connotation works in a slightly different way. It's when we start to want to suggest something else, or build a metaphor or an idea. And that can obviously be very useful for designers in terms of communicating something more complex. The dictionary defines connotation as an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal meaning. But as designers we're also dealing with images. So we're going to also be looking at how images evoke, in addition to their literal meaning. So let's go back and think of our apple. When we looked at denotation, we looked at making an image of that apple in the most simple means possible. And one of our simplest denotative images was just the line drawing of the apple. And it's very hard to read any other kind of meaning into this image other than the fact that it's an apple. The form is really not very ambiguous in any way. It can't be read as being some other shape, some other thing. Pretty much all we can read as a viewer, from this image, is an apple. So how do we make the apple do something else? How do we make the apple mean something else? Let's look at some examples of what kinds of connotation we can build from the apple, what we might have to do to the image of the apple in order to tell those stories. One of the examples that we'd looked at earlier was the idea that the apple might represent the choice between good and evil. For instance, in the fairy tale of Snow White, the wicked witch gives her an apple that's half red and half green. So if we think about that as a cultural context, as a reference that people understand, or a lot of people understand within a given culture, then we can start to use that to build meaning. In this case, we can construct this image that, instead of being just about two pieces of an apple, it becomes about choice, or again, about good and evil. Now, we could also create that same kind of idea, that same kind of context of good and evil in Snow White, by actually thinking about adding another element to the apple. So if we look here, just the fact that the apple has a bite out of it, and then the hand is laid down by the side of it, that suddenly tells a much, much larger story. So we're really telling that story by adding an additional element, by giving some context to our narrative. If, for instance, we were to take away the hand, we'd be left with a totally different image. Without the hand to create the story, we're really just left with an image of an apple that could be very ambiguous. It could just be an apple that's had a bite taken out of it. So what we're doing with our image making here is much more than just making a visual representation. We're actually making meaning. We're telling stories, creating narratives, and giving extra information to the viewer. So let's look at another example. Here's our apple, but now it has a snake next to it. Now, what does that mean? How do we read this image? Reading denotation is quite easy. The apple's an apple. That's the only reading that we're trying to get as an image maker. But now with connotation we're trying to suggest something or tell a secondary story, and that's a little bit harder. We're trying to actually control the meaning that we're conveying to an audience member. And that's a key design skill. So here, you can see there's an image of a snake, and suddenly this becomes about sin, or temptation. It has a Biblical reference in the Western world. Now, denotative images can be very culturally contextual. They can mean different things to different cultures. In general, we're trying to work with an idea of cultural consensus here that most people might understand what this image means. But sometimes that does involve a certain culture knowing a certain history, or a certain context. So things can be different in different parts of the world. So with this image for instance, it relies on the audience knowing the story of William Tell, of the archer placing an apple on his son's head and shooting it with a bow and arrow. Otherwise, this image might just seem very strange. Somebody with an apple on their head with an arrow through it. But if you know the context, then you really understand what the connotation of this image is.