Prompt: “Choose a product and tear it down to explore how it was made/constructed, its mechanics, its impact, and its UX. Create an exhibition poster describing your product and what you found.”
Role: Graphic Designer, Researcher
Responsibilities: UX Research, Audiological Analysis, Literature Review, Graphic Design
Organization(s): Brown University + Rhode Island School of Design
Graphic Designer + UX Researcher
Graphic Designer + UX Researcher
Graphic Designer + UX Researcher
As luck would have it, my supervisor also loves comedy which meant I was able to explore, arguably, the best stand-up bit of the Trump-era: John Mulaney’s, “Horse in a Hospital”. So while my colleagues were taking apart cameras and printers to understand the materials used and how the pieces fit together, I watched and rewatched (several times) this 5-minute bit and studied the anatomy (structure) and physiology (mechanics) of a joke to understand why this one was so special.
Research
My research started with exploring stand-up comedy in a way that I never have before - academically. I had reflected on and talked to friends about the rhythm and word choices of iconic bits like George Carlin’s “7 words you can never say on television” or Richard Pryor describing his freebasing trip. However, here, I started with Virginia Adams article describing the different types of jokes and how they are uniquely structured. After this, I read Jerry Seinfeld’s book where he goes into detail describing the uniqueness of stand-up within the art of comedy and why the composition of a joke is so much more important than where the material came from. Also, if you haven’t read Norm Macdonald’s “Based on a True Story”, I highly recommend it!
This is an excerpt of the Horse in a Hospital transcript from John Mulaney’s comedy special, Kid Gorgeous at Radio City. I analyzed the special’s entire transcript to understand the joke-types most common in John Mulaney’s comedic style and how he transitions between bits. With this, I was able to see how the Horse in a Hospital bit incorporated almost every joke-type while also including the most imagery of any of the bits in the special.
After categorizing the jokes, I analyzed the decibel (dB) ratios of the 2-seconds following Mulaney’s delivery of joke. This time interval was based on the amount of time Mulaney allowed for audience response to the joke he delivered. The audience’s decibel ratio during this time interval was an indicator for whether or not he would continue with that joke or transition to the next one. An interesting finding was that Mulaney’s filler jokes generated the best immediate audience dB-ratio, however, he would continue with the bit in the middle of the audience response to continue with the narrative and get to the overall punchline.
Graphic Design
Typography
Hierarchy established with font size and weight by separating content-types between titles, quotes, and description. Delirium NCV font used to mirror design of marketing material from comedy special.
Style
Mulaney is animated, silly, and uses vulgar language. He is also wearing a tuxedo and performing at the beautiful Radio City Music Hall in New York. Darkness was used to communicate the formality of the space and it was paired with whimsical language to represent the bit, stylistically.
Layout
Individual jokes represented in chronological order of the bit’s narrative arc. Layout of posters designed to represent the arc of the story, as well as the high-points of audience response to the jokes.
Imagery
Screenshots of John Mulaney delivering each joke of the bit incorporated into the description of the joke. This was juxtaposed against the background image that shows the direct UX of the audience as the comedian is facing them.
Colour
Dark hues were used that absorb light away so that typography is the focal point. Golden-yellow (#FFBB4D) used to show what is being analyzed (comedian and bit-title) and White (#FFFFFF) used everywhere else.
Elements
Iconography used to represent types of jokes but kept relatively muted to keep focus on typography. Navigation graphs used in second poster to help orient poster audience on the information being presented.