Monday Morning Inspiration: Garfield on mute

Garfield © 2006 Paws Inc.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s famous design edict is that less is more. With that in mind, it’s interesting to see people creating minimalist remixes of Garfield comics by removing all of the famous fat cat’s dialogue. The result is that a tired, well-past-its-prime comic strip about a wise cracking cat suddenly becomes a poignant meditation on the pathos of a sad man who wanders around his house all day talking to his cat.

Thinking about this reminded me of something that I heard Mary Thornton – one of Canada’s greatest and most prolific, but least recognized puppet designers – point out many times; great puppetry is sometimes less about knowing how to move and more about knowing when not to move.

Often, less really is more.