🔭 符号学：builder 的另一种产品判断工具 Semiotics for Builders: Why Users Stay
场地/Venue: town hall
在 AI 时代，当功能不再稀缺，产品凭什么让用户留下？
符号学不只涉及视觉设计或品牌营销，也可以帮助产品团队判断：用户到底在用一个产品成为谁，以及哪些产品决策会强化或稀释这种身份。
In the AI era, when features are no longer scarce, what makes users stay with a product? Semiotics is not only about visual design or brand marketing. It can also help product teams understand who users are becoming through a product, and which product decisions strengthen or dilute that identity.
我的工作长期处在消费者研究、品牌策略和符号学的交叉处，也常常借助社会学和人类学的方法理解用户选择。我曾服务过快消、美妆、奢侈品、汽车和科技产品领域的知名品牌。也正因此，我认为符号学在今天值得被开发者重新讨论，并应用到产品判断中。
My work has long sat at the intersection of consumer research, brand strategy and semiotics. I also often use methods from sociology and anthropology to understand user choice. I have worked with leading brands across FMCG, beauty, luxury, automotive and technology. This is why I believe semiotics is worth revisiting today by developers, and applying to product judgement.
分享内容 Sharing Content
什么是符号学？为什么 builder 需要它？What Is Semiotics? Why Do Builders Need It? (10 min)
简单来说，符号学是研究人如何通过符号理解世界的方法，已经广泛应用在消费者研究、设计与审美判断，以及商业决策中。
Simply put, semiotics is a method for studying how people understand the world through signs. It has been widely applied in consumer research, design and aesthetic judgement, as well as business decision making.
为了避免过于宽泛和理论化，这场面向 builders 的分享会把符号学放进两个关键产品问题里：
To avoid making the topic too broad or theoretical, this sharing for builders will place semiotics within two key product questions:
一是在早期探索产品定位和 product market fit 时，帮助团队判断产品到底服务哪类人、回应哪种身份需求。
First, during early product positioning and product market fit exploration, it helps teams understand which type of user the product serves, and what kind of identity need it responds to.
二是在产品上线并积累用户后，帮助团队识别产品在核心用户心里最抓人的地方是什么，例如身份象征、进步感、掌控感或归属感，并判断哪些功能、机制和交互正在强化或削弱这种感觉。
Second, after a product has launched and accumulated users, it helps teams identify what feels most compelling to core users, such as identity symbolism, a sense of progress, a sense of control, or belonging. It also helps judge which features, mechanisms and interactions are strengthening or weakening that feeling.
符号学：传统用研以外的另一个通路 Semiotics: Another Route Beyond Traditional User Research (15 min)
当 prototype 越来越容易做出来，很多功能也会更快被模仿和替代。对 builder 来说，更早判断清楚这些问题，可能比单纯把产品做出来更关键：我到底在为谁做产品？这个产品为什么会被他们认同？
When prototypes become easier to build, many features can also be imitated and replaced more quickly. For builders, it may be more important to clarify these questions early, rather than simply building the product: who am I building for? Why would they identify with this product?
传统用研通常从行为和反馈进入用户：他们怎么使用、哪里卡住、提出了什么需求。它能帮助团队做出可用、顺畅的产品，但不一定能解释，一个产品如何被认同、被渴望、被持续选择。
Traditional user research usually understands users through behaviour and feedback: how they use a product, where they get stuck, and what needs they raise. It can help teams build usable and smooth products, but it may not always explain how a product becomes recognised, desired and continuously chosen.
符号学则从意义进入用户：他们如何理解一个产品，如何把它和自己的生活、身份、审美和价值判断连接起来。
Semiotics enters through meaning: how users understand a product, and how they connect it with their life, identity, aesthetics and value judgement.
这场分享会把符号学整理成一个轻量的产品判断工具包，帮助 builder 把用户身份、产品符号和功能取舍连起来。具体会在最后整理成一个“3 步走”工具包。
This sharing will organise semiotics into a lightweight product judgement toolkit, helping builders connect user identity, product signs and feature trade offs. It will be summarised at the end as a simple “three step” toolkit.
案例分享 Case Sharing (15 min)
Manner（VS 星巴克）：弱化积分、任务和会员游戏，并保持简洁、低干扰、路径直接的小程序体验，Manner 把咖啡关系做得更轻、更快，也更少被会员体系牵着走。
Manner (vs Starbucks): By reducing points, tasks and membership games, and by keeping its mini program experience simple, low friction and direct, Manner makes the coffee relationship lighter, faster and less driven by a membership system.
小宇宙（VS 喜马拉雅）：克制热搜和强热点入口，并保持清爽、低刺激、偏订阅库的界面气质，小宇宙保留了更慢、更个人化的内容关系。
Xiaoyuzhou (vs Ximalaya): By limiting trending topics and strong hot topic entry points, and by keeping a clean, low stimulus interface closer to a subscription library, Xiaoyuzhou preserves a slower and more personal content relationship.
Notion：通过 block、page、database、template，以及黑白线稿、手绘头像和克制的 icon 风格，Notion 让用户在记录信息以外，也在搭建一个轻、自由、可编辑的个人工作系统。
Notion: Through blocks, pages, databases, templates, as well as black and white line drawings, hand drawn avatars and restrained icon design, Notion allows users not only to record information, but also to build a light, free and editable personal work system.
延展讨论 + Q&A：符号学还能用在哪里？Further Discussion + Q&A: Where Else Can Semiotics Be Used? (20 min)
除了产品判断，符号学也可以用于视觉传播、产品包装、感官体验、品牌定位等更广泛的场景。
Beyond product judgement, semiotics can also be used in broader areas such as visual communication, product packaging, sensory experience and brand positioning.
你可以带走什么 What You Can Take Away
我希望听众可以带走一个简单的“3 步走”工具包：
I hope the audience can take away a simple “three step” toolkit:
定位产品的文化身份 判断核心用户想通过产品成为谁，以及产品应该反对什么。
Define the product’s cultural identity Identify who core users want to become through the product, and what the product should stand against.
读取产品符号系统 看命名、界面结构、视觉风格、交互机制和产品语气，最后共同让用户把产品理解成什么。
Read the product’s sign system Look at naming, interface structure, visual style, interaction mechanisms and product tone, and understand how they collectively shape what users think the product is.
转化成产品取舍 把这些判断用于 PMF 探索、明星用户访谈和功能优先级判断，识别哪些功能强化身份，哪些功能会让产品变味。
Translate this into product trade offs Apply these judgements to PMF exploration, star user interviews and feature prioritisation, identifying which features strengthen identity and which features may make the product lose its character.
联系主讲人kiko: 微信 kikowuu
Contact: kikowuu