BSP6002

Year 3
Dr John Follett

Name: Student number:

Tayla Rae Pattemore ST20111070
Chloe Sturley ST20109887
Harry Davies ST20111283
Laura Moncunill ST20131036
Max King ST20078667
Zara is one of the largest international fashion companies
that belongs to Inditex, one of the world's largest
distribution companies.
Zara's commitment to achieving their objectives on
sustainability and the environment is what is stated on the
Inditex website.

Zara began in Spain 1975, since then Zara has always

remained loyal to their core values which they have put
forward through the use of 4 key words: BEAUTY, CLARITY,
FUNCTIONALITY, and SUSTAINABILITY.
Zara prides themselves on having a very intimate
relationship with their customers, they make this their
mission as it helps their designers better understand and
respond to the customers instinctively changing needs
(SitesGoogle.com, 2019)
DEFINITIONS:
SEMIOTICS- STUDY OF SYMBOLISM AND INTERPRETATION OF SIGNS (FIND THEORIST REFERENCE)
2 MAIN THEORISTS: CHARLES SAUNDERS PIERCE (1839-1914) AND SWISS LINGUIST FERDINAND DE
SAUSSURE (1857-1913) (Tsotra and Janson, 2004)
ACCORDING TO PIERCE (1894), “nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign” (Sherzer, 1976)
FERDINAND SEMIOLOGY:
SIGN- BOTH SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED
SIGNIFIER- VISUAL APPEARANCE OF A WORD, AN IMAGE OR SOUND ETC.
SIGNIFIED- IT'S MEANING IN YOUR HEAD.
OTHER DEFINITIONS: UMBERTO ECO (1976) STATED THAT “SEMIOTICS CONCERNS EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE
PERCEIVED AS A SIGN.” (SHERZER, 1976)

• The visual hierarchy = old and
traditional : women and children
advertisements first, men last.
(Wagner 2015: 199-216)
• The colour red in the text
represents excitement, passion,
as well as sexual connotations.
(North American mainstream
meaning) (Campbell, n.d.)
• Studies show red to be
a woman's favourite colour, evok
ing feelings of love and warmth.
Studies also show wearing red
can increase your chances of
gaining attention on
a night out.(Strain, 2012)
• The use of multimodal/typography-
different text sizing with bold hea
dlines, outlining a party theme am
ongst all the collections they offer.
(ref: Wagner 2015: 199-216)
• Video - clothes = office chic/ party
clothing. = diverse and versatile.
• Doing the limbo, which
represents the brand as fun and
flexible, the same as their
movement in the video.
• Body shape of women are
thin, to mirror the standards of
high-end fashion. E.g. catwalks
• Can be interpreted as a represen
tation of Patti
Smith. (70s, punk era) (Kaplan, 20
11)
• Gender rebel-
woman wearing a suit. Showing
suits are not just for men.
• Non-
conventional/ controversial.
• Power dressing.
• Background colour = white.
• Positives= purity, youth, innocence.
• Negatives= boring, plain and
cold. (Empowered by color, n.d.).
• Signifier = image of young girl,
with a smile, pink hair, in a sparkly
top.
• Signified intended meaning
= youthful, joyful, playful and
sweet.
• However the connotative
meaning of the pink hair can be
interpreted
by some to be rebellious rather
than quirky and fun. (Tsotra and
• Janson,
Facial 2004)
expression-
happy, showing a care free
youthful feeling.
• The representation of men is
traditional, with smart tuxedos
however also modern by making
them fashionable to the
younger culture.
• The black and white theme represents
mystery, tradition and sophistication.
• It also represents the image of old
photography. Timeless quality feeling.
• However the black and white visuals
can be interpreted to be a waste of
showing its true potential of the image.
Dwelling on the past, when full colour
can be used.
• Black can be used
to market luxury products. (Campbell,
n.d.)
• Although his facial expression
can be emphasized more clearly
without the distractions
of colour- being strong, and
serious. (Geffin, 2014)
• Tuxedos can also show men to
be powerful, rational and have
gravitas (respect). (Businessman)
The pose of the The use of the coat being worn
women campaign backwards engages the
suggests an unladylike consumer through shock factor
posture, with the and cognitive dissonance- key
model slouched with marketing mechanisms.
and expression of
being unbothered.

The use of advertising a new

lipstick is evident from the lack
of other makeup present on the
models face, making the lipstick
stand out, engaging the
audience.

The use of the colour red is also

a statement piece to be bold .

Bold title " NEW LIPSTICK",

highlights exactly what its
advertising.
Signifier- young girl, Zara change and
dressing a mannequin. evolve their webpage
Signified- This image designs quite frequently in order
shows how girls should to keep up with the ever
dress modest changing trends and consumer
and classy. However it market, to stay relevant. Evident
can also when introducing their new lines,
be interrupted that a little targeting new audiences with
girl wants to grow up to new advertisements. In contrast
be just like her mother, to the party themed collection,
therefore a kid's line these advertisements show a
is designed specifically for reserved, modest look.
that- with the use of the
mannequin. (Tsotra and
Janson, 2004)
• 1970s boho chic.
• Hippy.
Is the analysis of how different aspects of modern society combine to create
meaning. It can only come into its own when social semiotics fully engages with
social theory.

• People see the world through signs therefore the meaning resides in culturally
constituted world (McCraken´s 1986)

• The meaning of signs is created by people and does not exist separately from
them(Claire Harrison, 2003).

• Signs alternate and affect meaning (Lemke, 1990).

Is the description of semiotic resources using images and how those can be
interpreted(Jewitt and Oyama, 2001).

• Text
• Typography- Different target market
• Big new Logo letters(changing color)
ü Innovative
ü Eclectic

• Imagery
• Placement
ü The bars and choices frame the campaign pictures
ü Research Bar on top
ü Shopping page right (ICON)
ü Red dot INDEX
ü Bricolage
ü Stores locators and extra ot the end
• Size
• Smaller Index but big videos and pictures
• Color
Is about the different approaches that each individual can have towards
different interpretation of the images based on: social conditions and effects of visual objects
and final personal understanding (Rose, 2001)
Symbols and icons (Wagner, 2015)
Symbols, logotypes, labels, stamps, pictograms, and violators
can be regarded as a subgroup of imagery as each image
can represent a different meaning therefore is about
making meaning between text and reader:

Representation of Metafunction
(about people, places and objects with the image)

• Narrative and conceptual

Different lifestyles, hedonism, conceptual value and images...
Stating the new values of the brand and customers standards.
 Kids- young, free, hedonic, romantic- forest, outside in the sun
 Men- young, fresh, modern and futuristic
 Woman- fashion, modern, colorful and retro
 TRF- Modern, colorful, new, hexcentric

Interpersonal Metafunction (about creator and viewer)

• Action image and Conceptual Image.
 What Zara stands for and what customers want from them
 Fashionable pieces, different exclusive and modern.
 Easy web page to interact, simple ( fashion is accessible even
online)
Compositional Metafunction (about the layout, how signs are put together as parts or as a whole)
• Value- where is the message
• Framing
• Modality- how we feel about message Texture of clothing-
looks expensive
ü 'Social codes' The use
Diverse of direct eye contact
and multicultural. Diffe from the models
rent ethnicities, and towards the viewer
sexualities including a looking at the
gender fluid line, with advertisement, could
both male be interpreted to
and females representi make the audience
ng the same pieces feel uncomfortable, or
of unisex clothing. it could make them
(Dyer 1982) feel involved,
and more personal.
(Rose, 2012)
 Multimodal- use Index- Zara, name of the
of different brand, but also a girls name.
fonts, text sizing,
bold writing.

Discourse
marketisation:
The title/text is highlighted Anchorage(2 literal
through the use of form and it meanings)- Old
photograph of Zara, or
Contrast of colour and non- being in the middle of the general black and
image.
Indexical relationships- pointing you somewhere colour, to show the purpose white picture of
else. of the image. Zara.(Fairclough et al.,
2004)

Principles of design
(Visual.ly, 2014)
Different sizes used to draw
viewer's attention.

Looking into the past.

According to MediaLab99, there are fifty features every successful business website should
have:
 Zara prioritize 'woman'
through SEO.

This is reinforced by
online search interest
being higher for Zara
'Women' than it is for
Zara 'Man' in the UK.

Source: Google
Trends (2019)
Header Clear
Domain
Bold Clear &
Logo easy to
Calls to
read top-
Tagline action
navigation

(No breadcrumb
navigation)

Above Interactive
the fold slider

Crucial
info
Promotional
video
(no reviews)
 Interactive
'New In' is
Below main
prioritised at this
the fold features
period of
changing
Quality
seasons.
content

Internal
links
'Sales'
highlighted
through use of
colour
 Join
Footer
Newsletter

Social
Media
buttons

Inner- Customer
pages support

Further
social
interaction

Policy
engagement

While Zara adopt a minimalist approach,

redirecting the consumer to an external link to
find out more about the company gives a very
corporate and unpersonalised feel. This makes
the consumer question company values and
policies.
France: Spain: Germany:
- French website offers
customer service for
blind people

- Hearing lops effects

10% of the Population
in France

- Attempt at tapping
into niche customer
markets
 PayPal is not a
commonly supported
payment method by
online retailer

AMEX not always

Incentivizes spending
supported (See
on Zara.com
international)
The App uses size proportion
Consumers can
and division to split model's
quickly view an
outfits per item, creating
item by holding
ease and driving impulse
down on an
purchase.
outfit.
ZARA APP INSTAGRAM
 You can also see when entering in to
When entering the Zara website you have the different markets that there’s
the option to choose which market you different currency options available for
are entering in to. You are given options you to make purchases in
to enter your desired market along with
language options for each individual
country.

This can be seen in the two pictures below:

The Turkish The Great British

Lira(TL) Pound (GBP)

Zara is an international brand brand that The American dollar

(USD)
originated in Spain, and operates in over
50 countries whilst trading in over 95
As you can see when selecting
an international country you’re markets(OurStory,2019).
given the language options of
either the first language of the Spanish
country or, the option of
English.

In countries that are considered to

be ‘European’ it can be seen that
Zara has used the same marketing
images. This image has been used on
the Spanish and British website,
advertising their Spring Summer
collection for 2019.
British
Although the majority of the clothes
on the Zara website are the same, no
matter which market you're in, the
images do differ in Zara's marketing, Turkish
this can be due to cultural reasons
and cultural differences.
 Here you can see three
different countries Britain
payment options, each
have variations. Visa is a
internationally known
payment method so is
offered in most countries.
Zara has different URLs to access their
website, these change depending on USA
what country you're accessing. Zara
operates in over 50 countries so in
theory should have 50 URLs.

Spain

When looking at America

and the UK they both offer
AMEX(American express)
this is a payment option
not yet available on the
Zara also tailors their designs to Spanish Zara site.
each country. When designing Zara Spain has an
their website they stick to each Affinity card option
countries purchasing ‘norms’. which is not known in
In America they don’t add tax the UK or the USA, yet
the Affinity payment
to their items until the final
option proves popular
stage of the purchasing in the Spanish region.
process, however in the UK tax
is added straight away.
ZARA AND ETHICS

• Ethics: Human behavior according to the viewpoint of their rightness and wrongness (Pires
and Stanton, 2002)

• Individuals ethical judgement: All the values and moral principles that might guide
behavior (Sherwin, 1983)
ETHICS DIMENSIONS “I made this item you
(1) Privacy; reliability ((Miyazaki and Fernandez, 2001) are going to buy, but
•The site clearly explains how user information is used I didn’t get paid for it.”
(LUCY OSBORNE FOR
(2) Security (Pavlou and Chellappa, 2001). THE DAILY MAIL)
•Secure payment methods and policy is easy to understand

(3) Reliability
•the price , availability, time - you get what you ordered

(4) Service recovery (Smith et al., 1999).

• Return policy and compensated policy

(5) Shared value

Ø Supply chain
• Sustainable Supply Chain
• Code of Conduct
• Action plans and training.
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