Q & A with "Kawaii Not"

Kawaii Not is a webcomic about, in its own words, "cute gone bad." Each comic usually features an every day object with a face, saying something funny or shocking. I recently asked its creator, Meghan Murphy, a few questions about the relationship between cuteness and irony, a common topic on recent entries on this blog.


Design Benign: What do you find compelling about the juxtaposition of cuteness with not-so-cute or questionable elements?

Meghan Murphy: That juxtaposition adds levels of interest/fascination for me, and gives the art more options. Cute things are cute, it's true, but at a certain point plain cuteness has no where else to go. Add a dash of darkness, or oddness, or naughtiness - and all of a sudden there are so many more directions in which to take off.


DB: How do you find a balance between just the amount of cuteness and the right amount of dark humor? Was there a time when you thought it went too far on the dark humor side?

MM: I'm still figuring that out with every strip. Kawaii Not has been a kind of exploration of cute for me, both the love and the hate. I don't think Kawaii Not has ever gone too far to the dark side, but of course that is completely subjective. What I find still adorable might push all the wrong buttons for some one else. That is probably part of the reason "cute" is so hard to define.


DB: Do people tend to come to your comic first for the cute, or for the humor/weirdness of it?

MM: It probably depends on the individual reader. Some people react more to the visual side (which tends to be the "cute" part) while others zero in more on the words/action/situation (the "weird" side of the equation.) But of course, like peanut butter and chocolate I feel one really only gets the full taste if they are devoured together.


DB: "Ironic cute" - or as your comic states, "cute gone bad" - seems to be an increasingly popular subject for artists and illustrators.
MM: Have you noticed any trends?
Oh sure, but it's only a natural reaction to such a strong and persuasive style such as kawaii/cute. Artists are often inspired by a style, but then want to start pushing it in different directions to see where it can take them. And irony is one of those directions.


DB: Many of your illustrations feature inanimate objects with faces. Why do you think such a simple device can instantaneously make anything cute?

MM:It must be how we as humans are hard-wired. We see a face, and tend to immediately empathize with it. Even if that face is on something we know is inanimate. That's some pretty deep biological programming.


DB: What do you think makes something cute?

MM: That is a tough question. I could say a smiley face, big eyes, round features -- but those are just visual elements. It's also part contextual. If you put a simple smiling face on a picture of the sun, then add the caption "I love sunny days!" it'll probably be perceived as cute. Take that same smiling sun and add the caption "I can smell you burning" -- cute might not be the first word that come to mind.

Trading Stocks with Subversive Cute

Above is a commercial from the popular E-Trade "talking babies" advertising campaign. Each commercial centers around an infant, sometimes joined by other babies, talking about how easy the E-Trade web site is to use to trade stock. The overall message of the campaign is that "it's so easy even a baby can do it" (to partially paraphrase another famous ad campaign).

But what caught my attention most about the campaign was its use of cuteness for a usually cute-free industry: stock trading. The "talking babies" advertising campaign, however, still falls into the conventional "ironic cute" style that I have discussed before on this blog. Though the baby is cute, his dubbed voice is that of a man in his thirties or forties. This gives the character an air of authority (important when talking about a subject like stocks), and the contrast between the infant and the mature voice provides humor.

There are numerous examples of juxtaposing infantile characters with seemingly adult items or situations: Happy Bunny, Smorkin' Labbits, and Gloomy Bear, to name a few. It's interesting that this device would be used for a traditionally conservative institution like stock trading.

Cuteness in Vancouver

With the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver coming up, let's take a look at the mascots for this year's games.



Based on mythological creature, Miga (a sea bear), Quatchi (a sasquatch), and Sumi (a Thunderbird). A fourth mascot, a marmot named Mukmuk, will only appear on the mascots' official web site. The characters were designed by the Vancouver- and Los Angeles-based design team Meomi.



So far, the mascots have appeared in a series of flash videos posted to the web, and some of the usual merchandise like plush toys and pins. I will be interested in seeing how they are used throughout the Olympic, and will keep tabs of that here during the games.

The Non-Evolution of Hello Kitty

2009 was a pretty crazy year for me: I held five different jobs, and headed the rebranding of the Anime Boston convention. This resulted in sparse updates. But now that it is 2010 and things have finally settled down a bit, I can resume regular posting about cuteness research. I'm planning on having one or two posts per week, so check back regularly!

So without further ado...



The above video depicts the Japanese cuteness icon Hello Kitty traveling through various scenes while the date progresses from 1974 to 2009. It was created by the character goods company Sanrio to showcase the "evolution" of the design of Hello Kitty since her creation 35 years ago by Yuko Shimizu.



It is common for cartoon characters to go through re-designs in the years after their introductions, as a way to keep people's interest as times and tastes change. Sometimes it works well (Mickey Mouse's design has been changed to make him cuter and more baby-like); other times it inspires ire (Strawberry Shortcake, Dora the Explorer). As the video above shows, Hello Kitty remains unaltered. Outfits and backgrounds are updated to fit fashion trends, but the feline retains the same proportions, small round eyes, red bow and - notably - no mouth. (Hello Kitty was given a mouth in her animated adaptations.)



A possible reason for Hello Kitty's lack of evolution is the place of nostalgia in Japanese culture. In Western culture, as I have written about before, adolescence is typically fodder for nostalgia. But in Japan it is childhood, a time when one is free of obligations and responsibilities. Many people who consumed Hello Kitty products as children and teenagers likely continue to do so into adulthood. Hello Kitty's unaltered design is appealing, bringing people back to their childhood when they used their allowances to purchase stationary and coin purses adorned with the iconic feline.

Hello Kitty's simple, iconic design is also versatile. The character can adorn anything from plush toys to high-fashion make-up. While other cartoon characters are usually re-vamped to appeal to different audiences, Hello Kitty is the same for children, teenagers and adults, from low culture to high culture.

Cute Advent Calendar

click to enlarge

Regular posting, with new articles and musings, will resume on the new year! Sorry for the radio silence and sporadic updates these past months, but I'm going to get back on board.

May you all have a safe, happy and adorable holiday season.

Adorable Inglourious Basterds

Click to enlarge

An experiment in making something not cute (or shouldn't be cute), cute.

Also viewable at my Flickr.

This and Ponyo are my favorite movies to have come out this year, whut.

Assuaging Privacy Fears with Cute

Above is a video created for Google Maps in Japan. It depicts a man with a security camera for a head, going about the daily business of snapping photos of streets and scanning them into a computer for the street view of Google Maps.

The street view function on Google Maps in Japan has received a lot of criticism about invasion of privacy- showing people's faces, mailbox address, license plate numbers, etc. The character in the video is shown erasing this troubling information from the photos, and updating older photos once complaints are received- all in a cute, fun and friendly way.

Car "Faces": Cute vs. Angry

Some employment promotion first: I am currently available for any freelance design writing (anywhere), or graphic design work (Boston area). I work hard and don't complain, and I'm comfortable with tight deadlines. If interested, please send an e-mail to design.benign at gmail.

Writing Samples: Cuteness and Green Design for a Brighter, Cuter Future / A Letter to President-Elect Obama from a Young Designer

Graphic Design Portfolio: link

Now, onto the post!




An interesting post on Boing Boing about how cars are designed to have "angry" faces, i.e. the headlights and grill on the front of the vehicle are arranged to appear intimidating.

A famous exception to this trend is the Volkswagen Beetle, which I've mentioned before has similar proportions to a baby's face: a high forehead, low-set eyes and mouth, and lots of soft, fat curves.

Cute for Crystals

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been busy at my job, and currently searching for a new job. If anyone is looking for a designer/design writer in the Boston area, send an e-mail my way!

Now onto some new cute news...

Following Louis Vuitton's example, Swarovski recently commissioned an animated piece featuring cute cats to promote their latest crystal collection.

House of Cats from Courtland Lomax on Vimeo.

I am looking forward to more cute + high fashion collaborations.

Photos from Anime Boston 2009

Some pictures of my presentation, "Kawaii Culture: Cuteness in Japan." It was a very fun panel. I even had a full room!







There may also be video footage of this presentation uploaded to Youtube soon. I will post links when that happens.

Breaking News: Cuteness Can Help Your Hand-Eye Coordination

"The secret to better performance: kittens" (Scroll down to the last article on the page.)

"A study at the University of Virginia suggests that experiencing cuteness can actually change how we behave. Students who watched a slideshow with pictures of puppies and kittens scored higher in the board game "Operation" - which requires manual precision - than students who watched a slideshow with pictures of mature cats and dogs."

Photos from my presentation at Anime Boston are coming. And thank you to the young woman who attended who pointed out this study to me.

Design Benign at Anime Boston, May 22-24

Three days until Anime Boston! Just a reminder that I will presenting two panels at the convention, which takes place May 22-24 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA.



Friday, May 22 at 6:00pm in Panel Room 207
Kawaii Culture: Cuteness in Japan
A presentation on Japan's favorite cute mascots - from Hello Kitty to "Pipo-kun" - and why cuteness is so prevalent in Japanese culture.

Friday, May 22 at 8:00pm in the Constitution Ballroom, Sheraton Hotel
Akiba Empire: The Otaku Influence
Presented with Alex Leavitt, a discussion on how anime and manga fans in Japan have influenced that country's economics, politics and mainstream culture, and what this could mean for worldwide anime fans. But mostly I'm going to talk about moe rice, Vocaloid and K-On.

If you're planning on going, please come by and say hi!

"Hating you makes me all warm inside." - Happy Bunny

Image from Kawaii Not

Japanese cute has crashed onto American shores like a tsunami. Target and Wal-Mart are filling up with Hello Kitty and Domo-kun merchandise. The Japanese cute pop aesthetic is inspiring many American artists, who put their own dark twist on the innocent, childlike aesthetic.

As popular as cute characters like Bob the Builder and Elmo are in the United States, there seems to be an underlying distrust of cuteness in American culture. Cuteness, associated with childhood, carries connotations of helplessness and neediness, undesirable traits in America's individualistic, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps culture. Japan's collectivist mentality fosters interdependency, having a greater tolerance for childish helplessness (called "amae").

Thus, when Japanese cuteness is adopted into American culture for consumption by teenagers and young adults, it's given an ironic twist. Characters like Happy Bunny and the Kawaii Not series demonstrate this trend: cute smiling, seemingly-innocuous characters spouting expletives and malice, giving an adult-like wink behind their childlike facade. Web sites like Hello Kitty Hell seek - in a tongue-in-cheek way - to expose the darker side of Japan's favorite commercial character. Violent cute characters like Gloomy Bear do exist in Japan, but they're in the minority of the greater Cute Commercial Complex.

"Cuteness and Green Design for a Brighter, Cuter Future" on Design Taxi

My article "Cuteness and Green Design for a Brighter, Cuter Future", originally written for Speak Up, is now also published on Design Taxi.

Acceptance and Rebellion: The Two Faces of Cute in Japan

One of the central themes in my lecture "Kawaii Culture: Cuteness in Japan" is the polarity of cuteness in contemporary Japanese culture. On one end, cute mascots prance around the military, major corporations and the police force. On the other end, young people utilize cuteness as a way to stave off entry into the adult world.

Childish mascots give an endearing, welcoming face to the stressful, rule-filled, work-a-day nature of modern Japanese life. They adorn the logos of corporations where salarymen spend the majority of the day at their desks. These characters represent the ideal characteristics of the modern worker: loyalty, working hard, and deference to authority. They fit perfectly into the obsession with "saving face", always acting polite and courteous, and willing to do what's best for the group.

But young people in Japan are increasingly resisting this way of life. They see the stress on their fathers' faces coming home late after working all day at a job they hate (followed by drinks with the boss), and don't want that to be them in 20 years. Rather than be chained to their parents' expectations, and with the Japanese economy in a decade-long recession (meaning lifetime employment at a company is no longer the norm), they want to follow their own pursuits. With the age of marriage in Japan rising (as well as the number of people just not marrying at all), and the plummeting birthrate, this individualistic zeitgeist is taking hold- and their flag of rebellion is cuteness. Teens and young, unmarried women adopt signifiers of cuteness and childhood - reading children's manga, wearing "childish" fashion styles and carrying Hello Kitty-bedecked cellphones, indulging in cakes and creamy pastries - as a way to proclaim, "I am not mature enough for the adult world."

Childhood, rather than adolescence, is viewed as the time for freedom. As movies like Freaky Friday and 17 Again demonstrate, in Western culture adolescence is the desired time to return to in one's life: one begins to gain independence from their parents, can earn a drivers license, take on a part time job. In Japan, as a child enters secondary education, the responsibilities of homework, cram school, entrance exams and preparing for the future take hold and can be crushing.

In Western culture, to rebel during adolescence is to act more adult: drink, smoke, stay out late at night, become sexually active, watch movies with swear words in them. For many young people in Japan, to rebel is to revert back to childhood, purposely remove oneself from the adult world and the responsibilities and obligations that come with it.

Further Reading
Cuties in Japan by Sharon Kinsella
Cute Inc. by Mary Roach at Wired.com
Inside Look at Japanese Cute Culture by Diana Lee

Experiments in Cute: Tweenbots

[Tweenbots], proof that even hurried, pushy New Yorkers are weak in the face of teh kwoot.

Check out that video!

We're All Pink Inside (Our Pants)

Jockey has reportedly seen a [boon in sales of pink underwear for men] (Note: Article has not-so-safe-for-work images) over the last six months. They attribute the rising popularity in colorful briefs to the sinking economy, and the need for men to privately cheer themselves up as their futures look grim. Apparently, in times of crisis, women purchase more lipstick, and men turn to flamboyant undies- Who knew?

I have noticed a trend in men wearing more pink lately. I obviously can not attest to what they wear under their clothes, but I have seen more pink dress shirts and ties out and about.

Cuties Take Over

A fun post from Print magazine editor Steven Heller on the trend of naming foods and other consumer goods "Cuties", and the confusion it can lead to: [link]

Lecture Nibbles: Western Characters vs. Japanese Characters

One of the things I will be discussing at my lecture "Kawaii Culture: Cuteness in Japan" is the difference in design between the majority of Western cartoon characters and the majority of Japanese cartoon characters.

As the chart above shows, while both sets of mascots are cute, Japanese characters tend to have more infantile characteristics (bigger heads, rounder bodies), as well as characteristics that make them appear more helpless (lack of mouths, stubby limbs, lack of fingers). Even Western characters geared towards young children tend to be more "adolescent" in their designs: articulated limbs, lots of movement, loud/verbose.

As noted above, this affects how the character interacts with its audience- Japanese characters tend to more about the viewer projecting their emotions and desires onto the character; it's the opposite with Western characters. The creators of Hello Kitty have said [similar comments] when asked about Hello Kitty's lack of a mouth: "Hello Kitty speaks from her heart."

Ada Lovelace Day 2009: Susan Kare

[Ada Lovelace Day] is a worldwide blogging event to celebrate the contributions women have made to technology.

Talking about women and technology on a blog devoted to cute things, it's only natural that my post be about computer interface graphic designer Susan Kare.

Remember MS-DOS, a black screen on which you had to input white lines of text to run programs? That was in the days before graphic computer interfaces. Then the Apple Macintosh's classic Mac OS came along and changed all of that, making computers easier to use by replacing command lines with cute, clickable icons.

Those early examples of pixel art were designed by Susan Kare: the "Happy Mac" icon, the Chicago screen typeface, the command symbol, and many of the tool icons still seen in graphics programs such as Photoshop. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and New York University, Kare worked at Apple as a Creative Director from 1982 to 1985. She went on to do work for other computer companies such as NeXT, IBM and Microsoft (where she designed the graphics for Window 3.0's solitaire game). Currently she is helping to develop the Chumby computer, and has done some icon work for Facebook.

Apple's reputation for cute, nonthreatening computers owes a lot to her pioneering graphic work, and that's why she's my pick for Ada Lovelace Day.

[Susan Kare's Portfolio Site]
[Wiki entry]
[Interview with Susan Kare]