Humour in Web Design

24th August, 2009
Tom Kenny
Articles

Web design is a serious business so it is nice to come across some humour now and again. Sure as designers and developers we generally enjoy our work but I don’t think there is enough comedy in the web design and development industries these days so I decided to do some research and see what is currently out there.

This is a look at the lighter side of web design, if you spot anything you find funny that isn’t here, please let us know in the comments.

Web Design Comics

Online web comics are a great way to kill a few minutes when bored or if you’re just in the need of a laugh. Here are a few web design related ones:

The Brads

The Brads is definitely one of the best comics on the web.

OK/Cancel

OK/Cancel is a comic focused on interface design.

Kopozky

Freelance Freedom

A comic based around the life of a freelance designer.

CSSquirrel

Business Guys on Business Trips

Very simplistic drawing style but points out surprisingly accurate scenarios. Good for a chuckle.

Funny 404 Pages

Error messages are usually boring, lifeless pages. Users get frustrated by errors so a good way to reduce a user’s frustration is to make the the 404 error page more interesting with the aid of comedy.

Design Bump

Design Bump’s 404 page lists 101 funny ways to annoy people. Almost makes you glad that you found a missing page!

Astuteo

A nice visual design of a simple Simpson’s reference. (Talking of Simpson’s references, I’ve sneaked one in a few places. If you spot it, let me know in the comments!)

Frye / Wiles

Illustration as a way of indicating a 404 error.

Tee Times

Tee Times, a golf related site, have used a golfing term as a pun for their 404 page.

Dawdle

Dawdle is a site for buying and selling video games so they’ve used a classic scene from Mario as their 404 page.

Client Quotes

Clients asking about design related issues can often, unintentionally, come up with pure comedy gold.

Here is one request I’ve had:

“Can we use a lighter shade of black?”

So you mean grey? I was tempted to ask if they wanted a darker shade of white too… Luckily it was in writing because I couldn’t help myself from laughing!

Another classic a designer friend told me about: