Episode #72. How Entrepreneurial Businesses Can Harvest The Science of Meaning: Semiotics, Emotion, and Customer Value With Duncan Berry
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Why do customers choose one offering over another—often in a split second? In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings talks with Duncan Berry, PhD, a consultant to leading brands at the intersection of semiotics, psychology, and neurology. Duncan explains how value is meaning from the customer’s point of view, why most behavior is pre-conscious and emotional, and how entrepreneurs can design signals, experiences, and narratives that align with what people actually feel and do.
Key insights include:
- Value = meaning: Start from the customer’s lived experience, not the firm’s internal value chain.
- Emotion and speed: People form judgments in tens of milliseconds; design must communicate instantly.
- Signals & archetypes: Semiotics and association help brands encode meaning customers recognize fast.
This conversation reframes value creation as a human science: understand meaning, design signals, and earn the right to your customer’s next choice.
Resources:
➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course
Learn more about Applied Iconology
Connect with Duncan Berry on LinkedIn
Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn
Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack
Knowledge Capsule
1. Value Is Meaning (when it is viewed through the lens of Austrian economics)
- Value doesn’t reside in the object; customers bring meaning to it.
- Entrepreneurs discover that meaning through exchange and experience.
- Start with the customer’s perspective, not internal metrics.
2. From Value Chain to Customer Bullseye
- Traditional value creation models taught in business school (like Michael Porter’s 5 Forces model) pursue a linear process in the wrong direction – from the inside of the company to the outside..
- The correct direction is to work backwards from the customer to uncover what they truly prize.
- Treat internal processes as means, not ends.
3. Emotion Drives Choice
- Much consumer behavior is habitual and pre-conscious.
- Emotional states shape attention, preference, and loyalty.
- Blend qualitative + quantitative tools to surface emotions that matter.
4. Bandwidth & Filtering
- The nervous system processes millions of bits per second; all but a tiny fraction of them are filtered out and never register in a customer’s consciousness.
- Attention is scarce; perception is heavily pre-conscious.
- Design for fast, intuitive appraisal, not rational analysis.
5. First Impressions in ~50 ms
- People form website/app reactions in tens of milliseconds.
- Color, typography, layout, and affordances carry instant meaning.
- Consistency turns quick impressions into trust.
6. Semiotics Beyond Logos
- Semiotics = how signs and symbols convey meaning.
- Markets are signal systems; customers interpret patterns, not parts.
- Map the signals your category encodes (and where you fit).
7. Category Cues
- Packaging, labels, and form factors imply attributes (e.g., “healthy”).
- Misaligned cues create friction or rejection.
- Align design language with the meanings your audience expects.
8. Associative > Persuasive (Often)
- Associative networks can outperform direct persuasion.
- Build webs of related cues that guide perception holistically.
- Over time, associations become a moat for your brand.
9. Archetypes Compress Complexity
- Archetypes are dense packets of meaning humans intuitively grasp.
- Use them to organize story, design, and messaging coherently.
- Avoid clichés—choose archetypes that fit your promise.
10. Design as Valuation Engine
- IConsumers are constantly evaluating – as an experience, not a computation..
- Design orchestrates the sensorium (sight, sound, touch) to create value.
- Efficiency matters, but experience moves the needle.
11. What AI Can’t (Yet) Feel
- AI models patterns but lacks embodied, sensory experience.
- Human perception shifts with context; static models lag.
- Advantage: entrepreneurs can notice subtle gradations and adapt.
12. Experiment with a Hypothesis
- A/B tests help—when tied to a value hypothesis.
- Avoid “spray & pray”; let judgment and neuroscience inform tests.
- Iterate toward finer distinctions customers actually care about.