Substitute a description for an object or concept.

In this trick, the designer uses text describing the design concept as the design itself. The trick’s recursive nature makes it the ultimate conceptual ploy. And the example below is a classic version of a classic trick. Created by the group Hipgnosis (also responsible for Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy and T.Rex’s Electric Warrior), it cleverly describes exactly what a record cover is supposed to do (while doing it). The album being sold is XTC’s Go 2—a post-punk collection of short, smart, frenetic songs perfectly suited to the design.

Cover design for XTC’s Go 2. Hipgnosis, 1978

Highlight from cover design for XTC’s Go 2. Hipgnosis, 1978

Here’s a more recent example of literalizing—Paul Sahre’s design for the call for entries for the Type Directors Club TDC56 typography competition. The designer has substituted text describing “typical” winning entries in place of images.

Detail from TDC Call for Entries. Paul Sahre, 2009.

Increase the size of an object.

Take something small and making it bigger is a fundamental design trick. It’s most effective when the elargement defies or exceeds the viewer’s expectations. An object that appears 100 times normal size is much more dramatic than one that’s just a little bit bigger than normal. Because it’s so fundamental to design, it appears countless times throughout design history. Here are a few choice examples.

Robert Hooke (1635–1703) was an early master of enlargment. His book Micrographia, published in 1665, contains exquisite engravings made after observations through a microscope. My favorite is the flea, which not only fills the page, but is large enough to require a fold out.

Engraving of a flea from Micrographia. Robert Hooke, 1665. (from The Visual Telling of Stories)

Here’s a more contemporary example: a street number for 9 West 57th Street in Manhattan.It’s large, it’s red, and it sits in the middle of the sidewalk. Created by Chermayeff & Geismar in 1972, it still manages to surprise and entertain more than three decades later.

9 West 57th Street. Chermayeff & Geismar, 1972.

Reduce an object in all dimensions.

Making an object smaller implies cuteness, vulnerability, weakness, insignificance, and/or isolation. As with enlargement, the bigger the scale shift, the bigger the drama. I immediately think of a miniaturized Statue of Liberty or a tiny Eiffel Tower—souvenirs that allow us to own and transport massive, iconic structures. And then there’s the comedy version of this trick: Man gets into cab and barks to the hack, “take me to the Empire State Building, and step on it!”

At a time when most cars (and cabs) in America were hulking machines, and auto advertisements featured large, full-color photos and illustrations of the latest models, the advertising firm of Doyle Dane Bernbach thwarted expectation. By dramatically reducing the image of the Volkswagen in their famous “Think small” ad, they made the car look cute and non-threatening, but also singular and independent. The text of the ad further shaped the message—extolling the virtues of a small car while singing the praises of Volkswagen’s remarkable reliability.

Volkswagen “Think Small” advertisement. Doyle Dane Bernbach, 1959.