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Humbug is a term infrequently used in design. It is an archaism straight out of the
19th century, meaning hoax or nonsense. The word has strong associations with Dickens’
Scrooge and the ultimate showman and hoaxer himself, P.T. Barnum. In this time of
cultural recycling, it is a word perhaps best used to describe Steampunk, a subculture
supposedly born out of a mash-up of DIY (do-it-yourself), Victoriana, punk, science fiction, Japanese
anime and the urge to re-skin one’s computer as 19th century bric-a-brac. If the number
of recent articles in the mainstream press is any reliable barometer (The New
York Times, Boston Globe, Paper, and Print all have featured the movement in the past
year), Steampunk is the next big thing. This appears to be the result of a fascination
with remixing historical and contemporary aesthetics, as if all eras can be collapsed into
the present. What is most interesting and disappointing about Steampunk is the odd
DIY design culture that it has engendered.