Over the last few weeks, Influx has been collecting some examples of playfulness in design. These examples are illustrative of play and interaction between the designer and the audience. Interestingly, they are less about the quality and style of design and much more about the "joke". It's a common argument between writers and designers, that design is not conceptual, but these examples break that rule.
What interests Influx is that in a world where design has invaded our mass-culture, is "design as joke" an ironic statement against that trend, a marketing ploy for designers looking to get their name out there or a signal of a new direction that mass design might pursue?