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DESIGN MEMES

50 dank memes about UX and design: a medieval edition

No practical advice — it’s all fun and jokes

Slava Shestopalov 🇺🇦

Published in

Design Bridges

5 min readMar 12, 2023

A collage of several memes based on medieval paintings and drawings. — Most images are taken from @WeirdMedieval and Wikipedia.

I adore three things: digital design, medieval art, and memes. But most of all — when they are combined. Enjoy!

A drawing from a medieval manuscript showing a warrior piercing the stomach of a king sitting on a throne with his hands up. A caption above the king says, “Designer”. A caption above the soldier, “Product Manager”. A comment from the soldier: “We don’t have the budget for that.” — #1

A fragment of an old painting in which a crocodile-like monster devours a man’s head. A caption next to the man, “Designer,” and next to the monster, “Perfectionism.” The monster says, “You’ll never finish your portfolio.” — #2

An illustration from an ancient manuscript shows a man sitting on a throne and a blindfolded woman with 12 hands in front of him. The inscription above the man, “Hiring manager” and above the woman, “Candidate.” The man’s remark: “We’re searching for a UX/UI/web product designer with a master’s degree in digital design and experience in 3D and motion graphics.” — #3

A medieval illustration of a naked man standing facing a tree and collecting the droppings of a bird defecating on a branch above. A rabbit is running nearby. A caption next to the man, “Designer”, near the bird, “User”, and near the rabbit, “Project team”. The bird’s droppings are labeled “Here’s what I think of your app…” — #4

#5

An ancient painting depicts St. Jerome taking a thorn from the paw of a lion. Jerome is signed as “Designer” and the lion as “User”. A reply of Jerome: “I guess I’ve found your pain point.” — #6

An ancient painting depicts St. Jonah running out of the mouth of a giant fish. Jonah is labeled “Designer,” and the fish is labeled “Web Accessibility.” Jonah is shouting: “A-a-a! Don’t touch my beautiful rectangles!” — #7

Want to learn more about accessibility? I’ve got something practical, too:

Designing Better Hyperlinks: A Detailed Guide;
Twitter Reminds Us About Alt Text, but How Good Are We at It?
Ever wondered how to make humor accessible for visually impaired people? Check the alt-text I wrote for all these memes.

A comic illustration from a medieval manuscript depicts a monkey in a robe sitting on a throne, holding a bag in his raised hand, and petting an owl with his other hand. The monkey is labeled “Business,” the bag has the caption “Profit,” and the owl is labeled “Designer.” — #8

The old oval painting depicts a man sharpening a feather with a knife and smiling ironically. Caption says, “Designer a second before getting into a discussion.” A replica of the designer: “Don’t name your layers in Figma, they said…” — #9

A medieval drawing depicts an angel in blue clothes and a naked man. The angel points to the open gates of hell, where someone is being roasted on fire while small monsters are watching. The caption next to the man: “Newbie,” and next to the angel, “Mentor”. A replica of the mentor: “Welcome to the wonderful world of digital design.” — #10

An ancient illustration of a skeleton crawling out of a stone tomb. A replica from the outside: “I know it’s Saturday, but could you please make several final urgent design changes?” The skeleton replies: “Fuck… Here we go again…” — #11

The old painting depicts two women. One points at a mysterious convex mirror, while the other looks at it with bewilderment and disbelief. The first woman is signed as “Designer,” the second as “Client,” and the mirror as “Prototype.” The bewildered woman says: “The magic mirror does all the work for you!” — #12

An ancient portrait of a cardinal in red clothes. The cardinal has a visual impairment, strabismus. A caption says: “Designer after working overnight,” and the designer’s words, “My eyes…” — #13

A medieval drawing of a stoned-looking owl walking. The owl is signed as “Designer”. The owl says: “It’s 2 AM in the evening, time to get some sleep…” — #14

An illustration from a medieval book depicts Satan and Jesus arguing, pointing their fingers at each other. The devil is labeled as “Product Manager” and Jesus as “Designer”. The devil says, “It will impact our GMV,” and Jesus replies, “But it’s better for usability.” — #15

An ancient painting depicts St. Anthony in the sky, attacked by winged monsters from all sides. St. Anthony is captioned “Senior Designer,” and the demons are labeled “Mentoring juniors,” “Writing a design knowledge base,” “Interviewing candidates,” and “Onboarding newcomers.” — #16

A bizarre medieval illustration depicts a giant bird spitting a series of round objects at a woman’s head. A caption next to the bird says, “Client,” and near the woman, “Designer.” The bird says, “And one more thing…” — #17

A medieval illustration depicts a man climbing a ladder to a lady’s balcony, and she puts a wreath of flowers on his head. The woman is credited as “Designer,” and the man as “Another designer.” The wreath has a line next to it: “Awesome! Love it! Nice colors! Great!” — #18

A medieval illustration of a man sitting at a table writing something, while a sad cat sits on the floor and looks at the man from behind. The caption next to the man: “Montserrat or Inter? Open Sans? Hmm…” The cat says: “He hasn’t fed me for three days.” — #19

An old painting depicts a dishonest card game between a woman and two cheaters. While the man is playing, his friend is standing behind the woman and looking at her cards, and the player is preparing to pull out a card hidden behind his belt. The caption next to the woman reads, “User,” and next to the player, “Megabytes of unneeded spying Javascript.” A line from the man looking at the cards: “Select ‘Allow all cookies’.” — #20

An ancient painting depicts St. Daniel sitting in a cave with lions, praying to God while looking up at the sky. The caption next to Daniel says, “User.” Captions near the lions are, “Sign up for our newsletter,” “Check our special offer,” “Enable location,” “We care about your privacy”, and “Follow us on social media.” — #21

A medieval drawing shows four men at a round table with several mugs of wine. Two men in the background are fighting, while the other two reach for the wine. Caption: “When a design workshop went wrong…” Fighting men have the following lines: “Your idea is stupid!” — “I’m the boss here!” — #22

Want to learn more about workshops? Jokes aside — here is some serious reading on this topic for you:

A medieval illustration shows a monk praying while lying in bed surrounded by black wild boars. The monk is signed as “Designer” and the boars as “Engineering team”. The boars say: “Is the design ready?” “Any layouts?” “Send the link!” — #23

A medieval painting depicts a saint being carried by the devil. The caption of the devil says, “Dark UI patterns”, and on the saint, “Designer”. The designer says, “It wouldn’t harm too much if I make the unsubscribe link a bit smaller, right?” — #24

A medieval drawing depicts naked Adam and Eve. Behind Eve stands Lilith, wearing a crown and a serpent’s tail, and stabs Adam’s heart with a spear from behind Eve. Adam is captioned as “Designer”, Eve as “Positive feedback”, and Lilith as “Negative feedback”. — #25

Medieval drawing of hell in the form of the mouth of a giant creature. The devil shoves a man in this mouth. A caption near the man says, “Designer right after a basic UX course”, and the hell is captioned as “The first real project.” — #26

Medieval illustration of a lady on a throne and a man who stars at the lady and has a wooden stake piercing his heart. A caption next to the lady is “Client”, and near the man — “Designer.” The lady says, “I like the design, but…” — #27

A medieval drawing of a saint falling down and being pulled in all directions by four little black devils. The saint is captioned as “Junior designer”, and the devils tell him: “Read books”, “Copy others’ designs”, “Practice a lot”, and “Create a portfolio”. — #28

A fragment of an ancient fresco depicts an old bearded man falling to the ground clutching his head, while another man tries to support him. The old man is signed as “Designer who spent over 700 euros of participation fees,” and the other man says: “Don’t worry… You will win this very important award next time…” — #29

An old painting shows a man sitting at a table with drawings and a woman entering the room and handing him a note. The drawings are captioned as “99% ready design”, and the woman says: “Look! The requirements have been changed.” — #30

In an old painting, a man and a woman sit at a table, looking thoughtfully at piles of coins and notes. The man is labeled “Startup owner,” and the woman is labeled “Designer.” The owner’s line, “Why do 99% of users unsubscribe?” The designer replies, “I told you not to write “By clicking ‘Continue’, you agree to give your soul to the devil forever…”” — #31

A medieval drawing depicts a man reading a book sitting on a barrel in front of another giant barrel. Books are laid out on the grass around him. The man is captioned as “Newbie designer,” and his line, “You are not the user”. Next to the books are inscriptions with the names of famous designers: Don Norman, Alan Cooper, Edward Tufte, Steve Krug, Brad Frost, and Kim Goodwin. — #32

In the Renaissance painting, two nearly identical women sit side by side, holding babies wrapped in red cloth. The caption at the top reads, “Which design is better?” The babies are labeled “Option A” and “Option B.” — #33

The medieval painting depicts a bishop on a bed surrounded by several people and an angel. A devil stands on the side of the bed with his hands raised in a menacing manner and his mouth open, looking at the bishop. The bishop is signed as “Designer” and says, “My job is done. Design is ready and approved.” And the devil screams, “Boo! Change request!” — #34

In the medieval illustration, a man stands and looks serenely ahead while several soldiers pierce him with swords from all sides, including one sword sticking out of his head. The wounded man is labeled “Designer,” and the attackers say, “Team sync meeting,” “Design critique,” “One-on-one meetings with managers,” “Development planning,” and “Project kick-off.” — #35

By the way, I’ve got a couple of useful articles on design leadership:

A fragment of an old painting where death in the form of a skeleton with a violin whispers something to a man. The man is signed as “Designer”. The designer’s line, “I cannot show anything in my portfolio because of goddamn NDAs…” And the death says, “Just blur the client logos.” — #36

In the circular medieval illustration, devils are boiling a man in a cauldron. The man is red and stands with his arms crossed over his chest. The man is credited as “Designers who used light-gray font.” The designer’s remark, “I’m fucked…” — #37

A medieval drawing of a devil with brown hair and a mouth on its belly and a bishop clamping the devil’s mouth with golden tongs. The devil is captioned as “Junior designer” and the bishop as “Senior designer.” The junior designer says, “I’ve just redrawn our corporate system in the Brutalism style. Look, how beautiful!” The senior designer replies, “Listen here, you little shit…” — #38

A fragment of a page from an old manuscript with music. Below the music is an illustration of a man defecating on the grass and a pig that sniffs the shit. The pig is labeled “Designers,” and the shit is labeled “New visual trends.” The man says, “What if we start making buttons triangular!” — #39

Two fragments of an ancient manuscript depict a monkey standing with a bow and a monkey squatting with an arrow up its ass, looking back at the first monkey. The monkey with the arrow in its ass is labeled “Designer,” and the monkey with the bow is labeled “Manager,” and the latter says to the designer, “How much time do you need for this task?” — #40

In a medieval drawing, a woman comes out of a house and nails a man’s head to the ground with a giant nail. The man looks sad. The woman is labeled as “Legal team” and says: “We’re obliged by law to show these 10 paragraphs of plain legal text to each new user…” The man is captioned as “Designer” and says: “Ouch, that hurts!” — #41

A medieval illustration shows a man sitting under a tree looking into a small lake, from which the face of another, similarly looking man looks back at him. The caption at the top reads, “Designer on a Zoom call”. The man says: “Let me share my screen.” And the man from the lake replies: “You are breaking up…” — #42

An ancient illustration of a Trojan horse with a side door open and soldiers hidden inside. Caption: “Modern e-commerce”. The horse’s line: “Unsubscribe whenever you want”. And the soldiers inside the horse say: “Early order cancellation fee is 90%.” — #43

A medieval image of two men in robes debating, with paragraphs of Gothic text flying around them. The caption at the bottom reads, “UX writers at the office”. One man says, ““You must register to leave comments” is lengthy and rude.” The other replies: “What about “Sign in to comment”?” — #44

A bizarre picture from a medieval manuscript shows two men sawing with a two-handed saw at the head of another man who is sitting on a bench with his arms crossed over his chest. Blood sprays from his head. The man on the bench is labeled “Designer.” One man with the saw says: “Make it pop and wow!” and the other man holding the saw says: “Make it minimalist and functional!” — #45

Just in case, here is some serious reading on usability. Save it for later:

#46

A funny medieval picture of two people preparing to fight in a spear fight while sitting on giant snails. A line from one of the characters, “Add new features!” The other says, “Improve the existing features!” — $47

An old painting depicts a man in a red robe sitting at a table with a mirror and coins on it. A man and a woman approach him from behind and look at him with questioning expressions. The man at the table is labeled “Designer,” the mirror is labeled “Figma prototype,” and the couple is labeled “Business stakeholders.” Stakeholders’ line is, “Amazing, now connect it to our customer database.” — #48

A fragment of an old painting depicting a monk weeping bitterly, wiping his tears with a white cloth. He says, “Good design is simple, they said…” — #49

#50

Let me know in the comments which meme you found especially hilarious. Share your ideas, and I might create a medieval meme based on it.

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Published in Design Bridges

Last published Oct 17, 2024

Practical articles on all aspects of design in the software world, plus dank memes

Written by Slava Shestopalov 🇺🇦

16.7K Followers

Design leader and somewhat of a travel blogger. Author of “Design Bridges” and “5 a.m. Magazine” · savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en

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