On the Language of Internet Memes

• Glitch as Design
• This image was grabbed from here on 10.25.2012:
  
• It is a collection of creatively designed 404 error messages.
• They have all been designed as responses to website visitors that for some reason or another click on a hyperlink that is no longer active or whose target has been removed.
• They are programmed responses for potential errant, glitchy behavior on the part of website visitors.
• It was glitched by randomly (and increasingly) inserting the phrase [GLITCH_AS_DESIGN] into its alphanumeric values:
  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

• An animated GIF was created to serve as centerpiece:
  

  Centerpiece for the Glitch as Design portrait

• A PDF file containing the intervened alphanumeric values of the images above was then converted into image files.
• The alphanumeric values for these images were themselves intervened by substituting specific characters with the word [Design]:
  
• The resulting images were then mixed in with the original files in order to create an animated GIF that served as the background:
  

  Animated GIF that served as background for the Glitch as Design portrait

Suggested follow up questions:

• Why must website designers account for errant behavior and incorporate error message within their site designs?
• As a website visitor, how is your experience altered by encountering a creatively designed error message instead of a generic-looking one?
• How do you react to the idea of “designing an error”?