Simple Memes

Memes are already pretty simple (most of the time), but why not make them even simpler?  And by "even simpler," I really mean "so simple that they're abstract and therefore complex."  Take a simple image and turn it into a meme.  Sounds easy, right?  Not so fast.  The simpler the image, the harder it becomes to find something concrete (and meaningful) in it.

This exercise from the Steal Like An Artist Journal only went one step of the way:

If I were to convert this exercise to a digital form, I would want to add some complexity.  Rather than simply captioning shapes, I would want to turn shapes and other simple images into memes.  How much can you pull out of something as toneless as a square?

I'm not sure how I would pull something like this off.  It would take a lot of coding, I think, to create a meme editor.  There might be some way around it though, like making a Word template that gives a bunch of canvases with images that can be modified with text boxes and then turned into solid images.  It wouldn't be particularly pretty, but it would allow me to pursue this digital project without the need for code.  This idea would stretch the definition of "digital writing," but I think the creation of images, even if those images are just strategic two-dimensional shapes, should constitute a form of digital writing.

When you have a common meme image at your disposal, it isn't terribly difficult to come up with a passable meme.  But when life throws you a flat yellow ellipse, it can take some serious squeezing to get that nectar flowing.  Why not allow the challenge to have its go?