Design-wise, memes aren’t exactly complicated. For the most part they simply consist of an image with some words pasted onto it.
There are really only a few rules to keep in mind.
- Don’t use too many words; text should be brief and pointed.
- Don’t cover the image up with the text.
- Don’t make the text a similar color as the picture behind it; this will render it unreadable.
Trouble is, a startling percentage of MRA/antifeminist memes somehow manage to break these simple rules – sometimes all at the same time.
So let’s take a look at some antifeminist/MRA memes I recently ran across and give them each a quick critique. (Note: I’m not bothering with the content of the memes, such as it it; I’m just looking at the design.)
Too many words! You’re covering up half the face! Wait, is that an EYE PATCH? I’d rather hear about that than about your dumb son.
You’ve covered up the entire face! Some of your text is almost the same color as the background, rendering it almost unreadable!
You covered up the whole picture, what are you thinking!? Why is there a giant white fuzzy thing coming from your mouth like some furry version of ectoplasm?
Too much text! Badly arranged! And a good chunk if it is almost the same color as the background. Unreadable!
What the holy fuck is this background? Great job putting white text over a light blue background with a distracting pattern on it. Also if this is a quote who is it from? You get an A+ in suck.
Hey it’s Karen Straughan from the Honey Badgers. With two blonde women who might be the same woman? Fantastic job here. Not that much text, but it covers up a lot of the images. Also, I’m giving this meme the GOLD MEDAL in Having Text in Almost the Same Color of the Background.
I know, It’s not a meme, it’s just a picture of my cats when they were kittens! I thought they looked cute!
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Sarah_Kay_Gee,
Remember this legendary moment?
@Surplus to Requirements:
English is the one language reputed for following others into dark alleys and mugging them. It’s probably quite capable of some form of self-defense.
And U.S. English not only continues the tradition of piracy and highway robbery, but has no compunctions about ransacking its dear old mum’s purse as she sprawls passed-out on the sofa.
(There’s a new apartment complex in my area, set in the sort of shopping center that aspires to be an artificial Town Square, laconically called The Flats. The “Merrie Olde Forest Primeval Manor Estates” school of naming is so last century’s approach to faux old-world aristocratic pretentiousness; ironic understatement is the way to go now. It’s the linguistic equivalent of your two perfect white shirts, one perfect black blazer, and one perfect pair of skinny jeans.)
Why are they bad at memes?
They’re bad at everything – memes are no different. You don’t become an MRA, you fail your way into it.
They get points for consistancy though.
Buried lede: Your cats.
Do they like each other? We now have the only two cats we’ve had who’ve really liked each other, and we got them both at the same time, which would roughly be the case for two got as kittens.
Maybe they’re afraid that good design would make them look as if they cared about good design, in their world==gay?
All but one of these aren’t even memes
Yes acid. Good job. You finally figured out how incompetent your movement is.