A visual pun is an image that holds two or more meanings and may portray a single message with varied levels, or several messages. in 1969 Dan Reisinger's ideally represented the effectiveness of the visual put with 'Let My People Go' which he has made memorable through the clear message which on top of that provokes a level of understanding and an emotional connection. It enters the viewers consciousness through various windows of understanding.
Within the field of design there are two 'toys' for the designers, one being type and the other image, and even the most systematic designs and solutions derive from a form of 'play' within visual research. However, there are many very talented designers who are still unable to or lack the ability to transform a good verbal sense of humour into a visual one. The ones that work well are those that do not try and fit a previously tried and tested formulae, but those who invent new forms of visual humour.
There are some characteristics to humour within design that are common:
- an exaggerated or improper scale
- ironic relationships between different aspects of one design
- odd or unaccustomed juxtapositions
However, these are all traits that apply to what is called 'straight' design (not intended to be a pun or humorous design), but a big head on a small body isn't considered funny, which goes to show that humour in design cannot follow a set of rules, it has to be recreated and reinvented every time.
Stephen Heller, author of Design Humour: The Art Of Graphic Wit 2002 wrote that the visual pun "is as endemic to conceptual graphic design as the metaphor is to creative writing." Often visual puns will not be made obvious, particularly in logo design, because it makes the second or third meaning more illusive.
On of the most famous puns in a logo, FedEx logo designers managed to create an arrow between the uppercase 'E' and lowercase 'x' without changing it from the rest of the design.
This logo for Spartan Gold Club uses the exact same series of shapes, without altering position to make up two images that are still equally distinct: a golfer swinging his club, and a Spartan helmet. While this one is seemingly more obvious that the FedEx logo, it is easier to appreciate the impressive thought process that went into this design.
This Goodwill logo shows the smiling half face is the same shape as the G in the title.
More lesser known logo examples:
While most will argue that the pun is the lowest form of wit, Eli Kince, in Visual Puns In Design 1982, argues that "the pun is the conveyor of credible visual messages" and it has been argued by Mashall McLuhan that "the pun is smarter, more devious, than it looks", which may be much more applicable to the visual pun than to the verbal one.
Kince goes further in claiming that visual puns fall into two categories, ones with "humorous effect" and ones with "analytical effect", meaning that not all puns are intended to be funny but to provoke a comparison between one idea and another, through creating a mental jolt of recognition.
Another more complex pun, recognised for the fusion of letters and image, is Herb Lubalin's Families, where the 'ili' in the words are transformed to be recognisable as mother, father and son (similar to his Mother & Child logo, in which the ampersand is positioned over the letter 'o', suggestive of a foetus in a womb).
These are examples of puns that appear simple but the thought that had to go into the designs to make them effective and recognisable and the skill that went into some of the typographic changes would have to have been very sharp.
Puns that are mainly pictorial can appear easier than typographic ones, but again it is difficult to assume this is the case with any aspect of graphic design. There are suggestive puns that are made by combining two or more unrelated references, sometimes used as more of a substitution for a reference, which allows int to convey several meanings. Other puns will capitalise on triggering some sort of recognition for the viewer, be it a fond memory or an emotion.
2004 Olympics poster by Milton Glaser
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