Even if you don’t realise it, you’ve seen loads of memes and probably even shared a few. Memes have become a way for people to express ideas and opinions online. They’re easy to make, often funny, and people often continue sharing a good meme for years.
But memes aren’t necessarily just silly or frivolous. They can be used to make a political point or endorse/criticise celebrities and teams. Forward-thinking teachers even use them in class to make concepts easier to understand. In fact, we were using memes before there was even an Internet in the form of cartoons and print images. Only in the past few years, making and sending memes digitally has become much easier and more acceptable.
So now we know that memes aren’t just for teens and angsty introverts, let’s learn more about what memes are and how to create your own.
What is a meme?
Memes can come in different formats, including video. But below is an example of the most common type of meme:
Quite simply, it takes an image and adds a relatable message. Most good memes are satire, using humour to express a view or clever observation. Sometimes, they remix popular culture. The above image uses a still from the Lord Of The Rings movies, in which actor Sean Bean’s character says, “One does not simply walk into Mordor,” the fictional land where the big villain resides.
The idea is to use the famous catch phrase from the movie in different contexts. For example, “One does not simply bake a cake” or “One does not simply get a doctor's appointment.”
Some memes become iconic. The original Sean Bean one will long be known as the “One does not simply” meme. There are other staples, such as “Drake Yes/No”, “Not Sure If”, “Distracted boyfriend” and “Change my mind”.
In short, a meme can be any combination of image and text that uses humour and visual metaphors to tell the viewer something. The concept was first coined by the biologist Richard Dawkins back in the 1970s as “the cultural parallel to biological genes”. Yup, long-time SA newspaper cartoonists Zapiro and Rico were making memes long before the digital era! And if you want to go much further back, the first popular political cartoons in the UK and USA appeared in the mid-18th century.
Different uses for memes
Memes are a great way of expressing an opinion and you can find them relating to a huge range of topics. For example:
World history:
Marketing campaigns:
Sports:
Science:
A meme works when the audience understands the picture-and-image combination. Sometimes that requires some knowledge, but you don’t always need to understand the background to grasp a good meme. Memes can be about almost anything – and anyone can make them.
How to make a meme
To make a meme is simple: just combine an image and words. And don’t worry if you don't have access to photo-editing software or the know-how to quickly insert the right words in the correct font onto an image. Luckily, there are several online tools for this purpose:
Imgur is one of the prime spots for online memes. It has a nifty meme creator where you can select a popular meme or upload your own image. Then type in the message, move your image and words around a little, and publish.
The web and app image creator Canva has a lot of free meme templates that are easy to change. Technically, many memes use copyrighted images, so Canva provides royalty-free alternatives that are perfect for marketers. But anyone can use the site’s intuitive tools and create memes in no time.
Imgflip has a very straightforward meme creator with tons of templates to choose from. The only downside is that using the free version will insert an Imgflip watermark on the image. But that's not a big deal if you’re only sharing for fun.
Make a Meme also adds a small watermark, and all your memes will be publicly visible. But it’s effortless to use, has templates for all the famous memes and is free.
If you have an idea or a thought you want to express but don’t think you have the talent or skill to draw or design it, the above sites are for you! Start today and create your own conversation using the visual language of the Internet era.
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