HokumB

HokumB is a term used in media theory and design discourse to describe a class of interactive media that deliberately incorporates humorous, incongruous, or nonsensical elements into the user experience as a central design feature. In HokumB works, surprise, misdirection, and playful parody are not incidental but are used to provoke reflection on how users interact with systems and interfaces.

The term combines hokum, meaning deceptive or sentimental nonsense, with the letter B to indicate a category or binary class within digital aesthetics. It emerged in online design essays and experimental art writing during the late 2010s, though references remain scattered and debated among scholars and practitioners.

Common characteristics include staged or self-referential errors, deliberate mislabeling of controls, nonstandard visual grammar, and audio or haptic cues that disrupt conventional expectations. HokumB works often invite user participation to co-create meaning, relying on parody, ritualized gesture, and meta-commentary about interface culture.

Applications appear in experimental web art, indie games, multimedia installations, and academic prototypes that explore accessibility, autonomy, and trust in interactive systems. HokumB is typically presented as art or critique rather than a practical software pattern, though some designers adapt its tension between form and function to critique real-world UX biases.

Reception is mixed: supporters view HokumB as a provocative tool for critiquing normative UX practices and stimulating creativity, whereas critics warn that excessive ambiguity or deceptive cues can frustrate users and erode trust.

See also: humor in interface design, usable nonsense, experimental interface, design ethics.