Humour & Design Writing Criticism

A Research Project
by Ela Kosmaczewska

This is the supporting blog to my MA report in Humour and Design Writing Criticism. Over the next few months I am hoping to regularly add posts of my thoughts, research, unanticipated findings and fun things I find, hear or do, that relate to my chosen subject for analysis.

What I hope to achieve here, is an under-
standing of how humour can be used when writing about design issues. This is not an investigation in the use of humour to create design outcomes, although if something unique stands out, it may get some air time here.

My interest in humour has been a life long pleasure. Some of my most treasured childhood memories are of watching classic Hancock, Allen, Sellers. As I got older, this transformed into belly-shaking appreciation
for the UK alternative comedians, followed by Mortimer & Reeves, Hicks, anything touched
by the hand of Morris and Brooker as well as the Coen brothers. For those who haven’t yet seen it, I’d suggest setting an evening aside for Big Man Japan.

The MA DWC course gave me the excuse
I needed, to throw myself into reading all
sorts and styles of critical writing about
design. Perhaps unsurprisingly, due to my
early interest in it, I soon became aware that what I personally responded best to, leaned heavily on humour in its delivery.

This was further reinforced when the group
met with restaurant critic and author, Jay Rayner. His enigmatic, positive character left
a marked impression so I sought out his written work, alongside his peer’s, Charlie Brooker’s. Finding myself gripped by their writing styles and brusque, often cutting, witticisms, I felt there was something potent in the way in
which they used humour, that could also, potentially, be tapped into and brought to
the design community.

As many of us are now aware, funding within educational institutions is being severely cut at this time, and design subjects may yet feel the full brunt of this bizarre governmental decision. In order to counteract this to some small extent, perhaps garnering more awareness and interest around design issues amongst our wider communities could help to keep design alive and prioritised in all our minds.

My goal then, is to explore the potential for design issues to become more accessible
to the general public. Critical writing around design issues may not yet be part of mainstream news, but perhaps with the
helping hand of humour the design community might find itself a step closer. In my own experience, there certainly seems to be
a known clique of lauded design writers, making it hard to penetrate this field, but
I'm certain it's not impossible. With blogging communities now more prevalent than ever,
it's an exciting time to get involved.

Most, though not all, writing about design,
to date, uses a serious tone. Shaughnessy
and Heller certainly have their moments, and Poynor too, expressed his disdain about many subjects through the use of sarcasm on numerous occasions (eg. Obey the Giant).
But, this serious tone is most prevalent, and sadly, I often find my interest waning when
I read another article about the importance
that should be given to the consideration of materials and process. This should, in my mind, be a given.

When a colleague recommended Ralph Caplan’s Cracking the Whip, which uses gentle humour throughout, I realised that some writers have indeed dabbled with humour already. But this is a rarity. How large a part it would play within design writing criticism, would be for me to discover.

This is that journey.

Although it's not quite finished, there's some testing work that I've begun to pull together here.