How to Make a Meme:
5 Easy Steps to Become a Meme Master
You may have heard the word meme somewhere on the internet and wondered: “What is a meme?” Memes are those funny images or media clips you see online that tell a story. I love memes because of the odd feeling of connection you get when you resonate with what someone else has created or shared. They have a way of interrupting your workday in the best of ways, sending you into a fit of laughter or perfectly summing up a experience we all can relate to.
In this article, I'm going to teach you how to create your own memes, so you too can add a little laughter to the world. If you're feeling overwhelmed, don't panic. Once you understand one meme, you'll see the whole premise clearly, and I'll give you plenty of examples to clarify along the way.
Step 1: What Is a Meme?
You might not guess by the spelling, but meme rhymes with dream. Once you've got the pronunciation down, you're well on your way to meme mastery. To put it simply, a meme is usually a reused image with cleverly captioned words. However, a meme can appear as any combination of photos, videos, songs, GIFs, or words that spread virally on the internet. The image in a meme often provides significant context to any text, so much so that a meme might make no sense unless you're in on the joke and know the backstory.
Step 2: Do Your Research
Creating a meme is easy. Creating a funny meme is significantly less easy. The best way to get started is to look up the memes you don't understand as you come across them. Once you have a general knowledge of some common ones, creating your own will come more naturally.
Often you'll see the same photo used for numerous memes online. Take the popular meme Philosoraptor, for example, which is the image of a raptor scratching its chin as though pondering existential questions of the universe.
You may have also heard of a History Channel show called Ancient Aliens. Because of a severe lack of science and bias toward aliens being the answer to everything strange about the ancient pyramids, Ancient Aliens memes began circulating. The answer to this meme—featuring an interview with theorist Giorgio A. Tsoukalos—is almost always aliens, with some conspiracy theories, general mockery, and puns thrown into the mix.
For more inspiration, Tumblr, Facebook, and 9GAG (beware of obscene content) are all good places to look.
How to Make a Meme
There are about a million ( slight exaggeration) meme generators on the web and App Store, but my favorite method is to use an iPhone app called Meme Generator Free. It has the most free font customization options of any meme app I've tried.
To get started, download and open Meme Generator Free. You'll see a list of featured memes. Tap the three horizontal lines in the upper left corner to browse New, Popular, and Random Memes. If you have a meme in mind you'd like to find, swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal a search bar, and type in a phrase. Once you find the meme image you want to use, tap on it.
Tap Example at the bottom to see some examples of text that would fit the image. They aren't the most cleverly written captions, but it's a great springboard, particularly for beginners. Tap the text bars at the top to edit your caption.
You can tap the icons in the upper right corner to further customize your meme image and caption options. When you're satisfied with your meme, tap Save to store the meme in your iPhone Photos app or Share to distribute it via social media, Messages, or Mail.
Using Your Own Photo
Commonly used meme images are cool, but it's way more fun when you can create a meme from your own photo. All of the meme-maker apps I've tested out include the option to use your own picture. To do this with Meme Generator Free, tap the plus sign in the upper right corner of the screen. Choose Take Photo or Choose from Library. You'll be asked to give the app permission to access your photos or camera. Tap Ok. Select or take a picture and then follow the usual steps for adding a caption. At the end you'll have your very own original meme!
Truly, the meme craze has created a wonderful online community; when we find common joy in these popularized phrases, videos, and images, we're celebrating the silliness of the internet and life itself.