Applied semiotics
Denotation is the literal meaning of a sign: what a word or an image points to before any added value.
It is the plane that can be measured, compared and written into a specification, and it is the floor connotation stands on, because added meaning holds only as long as the product does what it says. Negotiation happens here, communication happens one level above, and the two levels have to stay aligned.
An example
A pump's data sheet states flow rate, head and consumption: that is denotation. The catalogue that calls it «the silent heart of the system» works on another plane, and a salesperson who mixes the two ends up defending a promise with a number.
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