Overview

Memes and Politics

Meme culture and humor are growing in the political arena of the United States with the potential to influence human decision-making. The project proposes a solution to test the waters and educate American teenagers in the process. Although intended to be in anonymous mode, the project was published on Snapchat and viewed 27M+ times and shared 1M+ times!

Opportunity

Memes have the power to influence 40 million American teenagers

In February 2016, the Washington Post characterized the presidential primaries as 'the most-memed election in U.S. history.' Thanks to their subversive nature, memes possess the power to influence first-time American voters.

Goals

Awareness about the relevance of memes in U.S. Politics

Outcome

Snapchat AR face filters to express political opinions anonymously and experience the relevance of memes in U.S. politics

This is a prototype for an app geared for teenagers, introducing an Off the Record mode in Snapchat. The teenagers can go anonymous using political meme-faced filters to freely express their political beliefs. This feature will showcase the relevance and evolution of memes in U.S. politics while also being a conversation starter.

Success

27,000,000+ views and 1,000,000+ shares

Although the original intent was to express opinions in an anonymous mode, I used the existing Snapchat app and published the newly created lenses or meme filter as I like to call them. To my surprise, the meme filters were viewed, played and shared multiple times on Snapchat. This suggests how memes thrive on humor, anonymity and self-expression and have an impact on how we see and talk about politics.

Process

From authorship to memes

As part of my MFA Thesis, I started with "All art is original" as my problem statement. This led me to the concept of authorship -> reproduction -> appropriation -> remix -> memes! I then worked on multiple sub-challenges in an attempt to explore and understand the nature and use of memes in our daily lives and in the U.S. Politics.

View entire process

Research Question

How do memes have the potency to alter the discourse around U.S. Politics?

Target Audience

American teenagers

First-time voters, the high school teenagers, are very impressionable, extensively involved on all social media platforms. It is vital to educate them to make an informed decision and make them comfortable to talk about politics.

Initial Failed Idea

Physical workshops for high-school Americans

My initial idea was to collaborate with the high-schools in New York and design a 2-day workshop discussing about the use of memes and humor and educating teenagers about how memes influence their decision making.

Why was it not a good idea?

1. The schools may not allow me to conduct a workshop, especially when minors are involved
2. I was biased that memes would influence high-schoolers in a negative way
3. I wouldn't be able to assess the results of my workshop
4. The workshop would not have a long-term impact

New Idea

Using a digital social medium like Snapchat

I soon realized that memes go viral because they are on the internet! Plus teenagers are very active on social media and this would be the best way to reach them. This will also allow me to track the impact and not be biased.

Sketches

Figuring out the app's new flow and features

I started by sketching out the user flow of the app to get an idea of how the flow will work in reality.

Low-fidelity Wireframes

Getting a real sense of the experience

I then focused my efforts on refining the sketches and trying out the app flow in the form of low-fidelity wireframes. I produced a prototype to interact with the app and get a real sense of the experience.

Meme Face Filters

Creating the magic with Lens Studio

I used Lens Studio to create, publish, and share 14 political meme lenses with Snapchatters across the globe.

Quick User testing

Positive feedback for the lenses

On publishing the lenses on Snapchat and sharing it with my friends, I received a positive feedback from them. They enjoyed expressing their political opinions without any fear.

Hi-fidelity Wireframes

Adding 2 new features and a few finishing touches

I further refined the low-fi wireframes adding a few new features like background music and voice modulation for complete anonymity

Learnings and Takeaways

Unexpected success: 27M+ views and 1M+ shares

As of 3 August, 2020, the Modi lens is at the top with 27M+ views and Barack Obama lens is the second highest with 2M+ views. Beto is the lowest viewed lens with 3K views.

Based on this, I believe this project will make its impact in the real world!