The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or What makes a good meme GREAT?

Memes (images with added text) are a valuable tool in our info warfare arsenal. Not all memes are created equal, though. We'll pick apart meme examples and critique them, with the goal of raising our craft to the next level. You don't have to be an artist (but it helps); pithy verbiage alone can be a meme! We'll also delve into web apps and standalone tools that make meme crafting easier.

A meme is like the ultimate cluster munition. No blood loss, no damage to property, the only thing a meme can destroy is a narrative. It causes a brain not used to independent thought to begin mental exercise. A meme stimulates a mind to question that which is and begin to visualize that which could be. Unlike a cluster munition a meme can impact thousands in moments but have a residual effect whereby other minds encounter the meme later. A meme is the most dangerous of weapons, for it does not end, it creates a beginning.

Appropriate topics for this thread include:

Images

How to select an image.

Image modifications.

Size and shape to maximize exposure on social media.

Image formats, their pros and cons.

Tricks to vary a banned image to revive its life online

Can AI actually read the text on memes? Tricks to circumvent

Text, anyone?

How much text?

Where to find text ideas

Font selection

Making your text readable (if they can't read it, what good does it do?)

Hashtag on the meme, or in the Tweet, or both?

Selecting a Twitter #hashtag. For Twitter campaigns: if we #hashtag together, our trends can expand exponentially

Does repetition really help?

Meme strategies

Do you confront and punish, or get inside the viewer's head to tease, delight, or inspire?

Does it present an idea from viewer's point of view like marketers do?

Does it get deleted and not forwarded because it insults the viewer?

What about foul language? There's a time and a place for it…and it's a turnoff for some viewer segments.

Will it go viral?

Is it funny? Wry? Sarcastic? Surprising? Emotional? Beautiful? Elevating? Memorable? Insulting? Provocative? Boring?

What target audience do you have in mind?

Where to Post Memes

Symbolism and Subliminals

Is there a place for subtle (below-conscious-awareness) imagery on memes? Is it ethical? How to do it…

Existing Meme Archives

Yes! Tens of thousands of Truth Memes are already made and archived.

I could probably write a book on these topics. But I'll let you speak first…

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Absolutely no shitposting in this thread. Off-topic posts will be deleted.

This is not a general meme depository thread.

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Memers sometimes distort faces. Usually that's not something I favor; we can usually find a truthful image of a person with a fleeting expression or gesture matching our meme concept.

1. But in this instance the face isn't distorted, it's simply rendered in a sepia color suitable for a WANTED handbill with a 19th century Wild West look. Beautiful work. It's a truthful portrayal that exposes reprehensible behavior (liberal Governors sending COVID-diagnosed patients to nursing homes where they may have exposed vulnerable elders to life-threatening illness.)

1. Mourning Joe

Fantastic concept

Graphical execution is a bit flawed - tilted wooden frame, text overlaid on people

Puns are awesome

You never know which meme will take off - this one might

1. SUPERB! Makes you think. Simple format. The IMPACT CONDENSED ALL CAPS works great in this situation. Looks very 'organic', 'grass-roots'. Really gets the point across.

A pet peeve.

(1) Distorted aspect ratio is not a good look. It looks unprofessional. It look like crap.

How to fix:

When fitting a graphic into a shape,

ensure that aspect ratio is locked.

(2) If using gimp, Scale tool is how you resize a layer or image. Circled the "lock" widget. When locked, changing either X or Y dimension of the image automatically changes the other too, so the aspect ratio remains fixed and the proportions are not changed.

If you click the "lock" widget to unlock X and Y, then you can s-t-r-e-t-c-h the graphic either horizontally or vertically.

LESSON: Be aware of aspect ratio. Do not accidentally stretch a person's face or body vertically or horizontally. Learn to control your graphic editor's scale tool.

Here's a brutal meme.

Is it OK to meme somebody's trademark?

Is it?

Well if they don't like it, they will let us know, right?

It's brutal because there's a lot of truth and humor in it.

Has Nike earned criticism because of how they promote ridiculous footwear fashions that people kill one another for?

Has Nike earned criticism because of their alleged use of slave labor in communist countries? (China, cough cough)

I have no problem with a meme like this.

If making images for Twitter, shape matters.

The square ones get truncated and Twitter will show only the BOTTOM PORTION in the Timeline View. This limits the value of square memes.

The solution is to make them landscape shaped, 2x1 – twice as wide as they are high. Sometimes that requires putting the image on a 1024 x 512 pixel canvas. 1066 x 600 and 1200 x 675 are also suitable.

Example 1, how we hope a square meme will look.

Example 2, how a square image REALLY looks in timeline view (as seen by most people).

Example 3, how to fix it. The memefag put it on a rectangular canvas. Now it looks great in timeline view.

LESSON: For maximum impact, ensure that images for Twitter are 2x1 shape.

Here's a meme filled with a TON of GREAT INFO.

But unfortunately that's simply too much text for a single meme.

Such a great concept though.

A meme is a sound-bite, no more.

You have under a second to present your idea via meme.

How to fix:

Break it down into a series of memes, each with a subset of the text. Bonus: Less text means more space for impactful graphics.

LESSON: Too much text is bad.

Better to make a series of memes with shorter text.

>>861

>>862

Confirmed. Fixing >>766