Designer Chip Kidd reads Pslalms 23 in the voice of the Wicked Witch of the West as one of his 5 Experiments in Form and Contrast.

Garfield Minus Garfield served as Monday Morning Inspiration here a few years ago (see previous post). It’s a web comic that “remixes” Garfield comics by removing Garfield and his thought bubble quips, leaving his owner, Jon, talking to himself. By simply changing the context in which Jon’s lines are delivered the strip creates an entirely different story, a “journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb”.

The Lasagna Cat videos take the “Garfield Minus Garfield” concept one step further, re-enacting Garfield comics as live action, which in turn becomes a surreal music video. On a similar note, designer Chip Kidd – probably most famous for creating the cover of Jurassic Park – created a video on YouTube called 5 Experiments in Form & Contrast where he reads a famous piece of prose in the voice of a completely different character.

You can find lots of other examples of “form and contrast experiments” all over the web (another of my favourites is Jonathan Coulton’s folk music cover of Baby Got Back). Isn’t it interesting how you can completely reinvent something by simply changing the way it’s presented to an audience?