Tiny Design Rebellions: Bringing the Absurd into your UX/UI practice

As always, it started in a café, a few years ago. There I was, deep in a Pinterest rabbit hole, creating a board of “Absurd illustrations” collecting a bunch of bold, surreal, provocative visuals that felt miles away from my go-to aesthetic, which tends more toward geometry, harmony and balance. I love the classics : Mattisse, Miro, Monet, you name it! There I was, processing the tension I felt observing these "absurd illustrations". The colors weren't right, the perspective was weird, even I would call some of them utterly ugly. With the question "what is it that I am drawn to?" in my head, I started an exploration that led to a series of lectures and my Medium post The Absurd as a Way to Design (and Live). This article was my meditation on absurdism—on Dada, Duchamp, Beckett, The Big Lebowski—as a philosophical and artistic response to the contradictions, pardoxes, imperfections that rule our lives.

Now, I'm circling back to it. Not just to think about the absurd, but to design with it. To ask: what happens when we decide to design a bit bolder than usual?Why UX Needs the Absurd (and the Authentic)

As UX designers, we build the systems through which people see, touch, and navigate life online. We strive for consistency in visuals, processes, outputs. We build standards. We test and adapt our designs to help the end-users recognise everything and move through the tasks extra fast. And while this is awesome, it also often makes our work and our output flat. Our products, beautifully assimilated and similar to a sea of others, carry nothing from us, who we are.

Absurdism as a philosophy calls for the embrace of the friction and of differentiation, even at a risk of losing some of your audience in the way. In other words, it calls for more authenticity. I post the lecture below, if you would like to have a look:

Here’s what I’m currently playing with, as I explore how absurdist principles can show up in modern UX practice:

Get rid of stock images - use real pictures

Stock might be aesthetic, but it's boring—like canned soup. Make your own or hire someone. Even if you have to go out and make the pictures yourself and the quality isn't as high as you'd like it, this still gives a more honest picture of what you are trying to communicate. I personally see lack of originality in stock images, especially use in company websites to picture employees. It's simply obvious to me when it's a stock vs. real.

Make little surprises that cost nothing to UX

Of course, I know that our job can keep us really busy. But if you find some time, work towards small delightful moments that show personality and make the user pause.E.g. a button that changes its label. A playful copy. A sweet error message. Use metaphors (carefully) in your illustrations.

Design chatbots with personality

Let’s be honest. Most of us want to scream when faced with a chatbot.
We know why they exist (cost-saving efficiency) and this frustrates us even more. The experience often feels like talking to a brick wall that says “Hmm… I didn’t get that” on repeat. So why not give voice to the frustration?
“I know what you’re thinking — another bot. You’d rather talk to a human. Fair. If I don’t help you in the next minute, I’ll connect you to someone with a pulse. Now, what can I do for you?”
Sometimes, just naming the obvious can soften the edges. It can relieve a bit of the emotional tension the end-user is carrying, while staring helpless at our screens and thus, improve his experience.

So, these are a few ways I’m trying to let the absurd slip into the structure. To let design wobble a little. To leave space for surprise, personality, and the kind of weirdness that’s just another word for real.
Do you have other ideas? If yes, please, delight me.