The Absurd as a way to design (and live)
A love letter to vulnerability and weirdness
The idea for this article started at a cafe, about four years ago, when I caught myself admiring my Pinterest folder of “Absurd illustrations”. This was surprising to me as my taste in art has been rather classical — I love a nice Van Gogh floral. Even though “Absurd” cannot be precisely defined, I found the contrast between them and the visuals I see at my daily job (UX design) fascinating. So, I took time to explore the Absurd and its appeal and then, presented my ideas to a few design events, most notably Webinale 2020. With this post, I hope you feel empowered to embrace your weirder self, both at work and life :).
The Flatland
As UX-, web- designers, photographers and illustrators, we have to consider our role as the main architects in the most prevalent landscape in the world right now: the screens of our electronic devices! The places where we daily lay our eyes to connect, work, shop and perform our tasks are becoming increasingly standardised — through approaches such as design systems, icons with global meaning (eg home icon), material design, etc. There is a clear advantage in design consistency: the user knows what to expect and thus, can perform their tasks efficiently. An interface that meets users’ expectations is called user-friendly. The concept of user-friendliness has been extensively studied, but let me offer another perspective:
User-friendly design brings the needs of the user forward, often in a flattering way, while making the background mechanisms, the intents, the character and the expectations of the technology provider disappear in the background, in the form of a friendly slave catering to your needs.
And thus, the art that we most frequently come in contact with while being online, mostly (stock) photography and illustrations, portrays a world of convenience and happiness. And this prompts us to ask:
Isn’t an ideal and flawless world what we want? And isn’t the fate of our darkest, imperfect, weird side to be abandoned in eternal shade?
Absurdism in Literature, Theatre and Philosophy
Absurdism here comes to the rescue. And there’s a long history around it to support the notion that our weird ideas have a place in the light.
After the first world war, many artists all over the world wanted to free themselves from the burden of aesthetics and focus on expressing the fear and horror of the war in their work. The Dada movement was officially founded in the Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich in 1916 but dada-esque art broke out almost simultaneously in many cities around the world. The “Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp, a store-bought porcelain urinal, signed by the artist, is perhaps one of the most representative Dada artworks. Marcel Duchamp was an excellent painter, but revolted to the idea that his work aim was to please the audience.
In the 50’s and 60’s, many dramaturgists in Europe and America wrote plays exploring this idea, that life is essentially absurd, devoid of purpose. Samuel Beckett’ play “Waiting for Godot” has a plot that is practically non-existent. Characters do not get introduced to the audience; they don’t move and they have purposeless dialogues. There is no reason in what is happening. Samuel Becket violated all dramatic conventions in order to gift the experience of futility to his audience. His along with Pinter’s and Ionesco’s plays continue to impact audiences around the world.
The movie “Big Lebowski” (1998) is another example of Absurdism: the hero, who is simply called the dude, drops off a million dollars to strangers just to keep his insignificant rug, and acts as if it’s logical. All characters live their life nonchalantly and when their friend dies, they shrug it off as if nothing happened. Twenty plus years after its release, the movie has risen to an iconic status with tributes and festivals dedicated to it.
In a nutshell, “the Absurd” as a philosophical and artistic movement remind us that life is (also) futile, irrational, full of conflict and imperfect and might not make sense at times. Thus, absurd art provides relief from our existential pains and a creative outlet to process and even idealise our imperfect experiences.
But how can we play with “Absurd” and how to identify its added value in our work?
Deconstructing the Absurd
The absurd as we saw above, is not an obedient form of art; does not work by pleasing our eyes but by showing us character. It does not fade in the background, it wants to come forward and sometimes annoy us. It’s about personality and vulnerability; exposure and a — paradoxical— idealisation of the imperfect. Below are some examples from the commercial sphere to inspire you.
Crossing boundaries
Fresh cow tongues and tilted handwritten notes was how Stefan Sagmeister, a prominent Austrian-born graphic designer, decided to portray the topic of “Fresh Dialogues” for an event of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) in 1996. The designer took a literal translation to the topic; dialogue happens through the movement of our tongues and mouth. The absurdity here lies in the fact our tongue is considered a vulgar body part, and exposing it in public is deemed rather inappropriate. Stefan is taking a bold approach communicating his topic in an obvious but socially challenging way, risking rejection (and indeed, some AIGA members criticised the design). His approach, speaks directly not only about the topic but also about the designer himself, which invites an emotional connection with the viewer.
Defying expectations
Modern iconography depicts a world so positively skewed, that ends up desensitising us. Among a sea of perfectly-staged food ads, the Burger King ad below attempts to surprise the bystander showing rotten food. The advertisers don’t want to entice us, but attempt to make us think, by showing us the disgusting. The absurd here ignites an emotional reaction and engages us in an internal dialogue driven by curiosity.
Intentional Ugliness
South Park stands out as a a great example of intentional ugliness. While the script is remarkably sharp and packed with humour at every turn, the animation is deliberately crude, with simplistic character designs that border on the ugly. Here the low aesthetic bar not only reduces the production costs but serves the satire.
Intentional ugliness can speak to us louder than beauty. It appears truthful and authentic as it converses with us, as an equal partner, on our level of a daily flawed reality and not from a standpoint of unattainable perfection.
On our way to work, we see dirty pavements and ugly buildings; our rooms are untidy; our lives and bodies do not belong in the pages of a glossy magazine and we face clumsiness and frustration more often than we’d like to admit.
Form distortion or Unusual Palette
Absurd doesn’t need to be provocative or ugly, it can also be visually dissonant. Billie Eilish is a great example of creating a distinct visual identity, with her — almost exclusive — use of fluorescent green and extremely voluminous and disproportionate clothes.
From standard to absurd there’s a long way
In the examples above, I attempted to deconstruct absurdity, but there are a lot of things left unsaid. The Absurd, just like the Dada artists, do not want to be fully understood or predicted. And my intention with the analysis was to invite us to think differently; not to become absurd on demand and without reflection. User-friendliness and visual standardisation is not expected to to fall out of fashion in the next millenium. And for a good reason: it has served us all a good deal by minimising our efforts and helping us feel comfortable, at least in our digital life.
I am instead inviting you to picture a gauge from 1 to 100, 1 being standardised, idealistic and 100 representing the utterly absurd; and then, have a look at your own work/ life/ design and evaluate where you stand on this scale. The closest you are to 1, the more you are blending into a sea of similar messages, pointing towards ideals: perfect experiences, success only, joyful, good-looking people, forced positivity. Closer to 100, you deploy piercing authenticity and illuminate the unsung, imperfect sides of life. Where are you currently standing and where do you want to be?
To boil it down in a few words, this piece aims to remind you to not be boring; and to urge you to explore the absurd within you, even just for a short while.
The impact will be two-fold. First, by connecting with our absurd side, we will speak a more direct, honest language to our audience and this creates a deeper bond. And second, it’s healthier for us, personally and collectively, to recognise that the world, after all, is a beautiful gray; neither white nor black.
