I miss my lung, Bob…
Winnipeg, Canada
These effective anti-smoking billboards are excellent examples of meme-usage in the design of visual communication. Although there is no direct reference to smoking or to the Marlboro cigarette brand, you understand the context of the message immediately, thanks to your meme-sensitivity; (images of cowboys riding under the open sky, in concert with the familiar typographic “voice” used in the centered headlines), conjure up the context.
What is a meme? A meme is an idea (or a behavior, style, symbol, or practice) that spreads from person to person within a culture—much like a virus does within a body. In this age of information and ideas, we are surrounded and saturated by memes…