Design & Comedy: Laughter as Critique & Therapy

Mistakenly underrated, as comedy usually is, the work of design’s tricksters is overdue for consideration. This talk looks at design that uses the tactics of humor—incongruity, absurdity, and exaggeration—as a means of therapy and critique. Design that operates on comedy can work as a sudden shock or a slow burn that tells us that something’s amiss. It also pays respect to the anonymous pranksters who make us think while we’re laughing.