Happy eclipse day. Are you planning on checking it out?
I over-bought eclipse glasses, so I gave some to our doorman in case anyone in the building needs them.
Both the kids have special eclipse-related field trips today.
I found that I’m actually *so anxious* about them using those disposable eclipse glasses.
I looked up how to tell counterfeit glasses apart from real ones.
I even tested the ones I bought…everything was completely black apart from the sun, which was a mellow little yellow ball…but I still got so startled by seeing it, yelped a bit, looked away immediately, took the glasses off.
I find this to be so interesting.
When I was a child, you were only allowed to use the “pinhole projector” method of observing an eclipse.
But now, it’s possible to easily directly observe the sun with cardboard glasses delivered to you in 24 hours or less.
Huh.
For my kids, this is normal. For me it’s a new thing I need to unlearn and relearn…”Don’t look at the sun. UNLESS you have proper protection, which is now stupidly easy to acquire.”
Anyways, all this made me think about how so much of digital design and related creative endeavors involves keeping up with latest technology and trends.
How there’s been SO MANY moments like that in the history of digital design.
“Don’t try to layer transparent graphics over each other. UNLESS you are using the .PNG format, which is now everywhere.”
“Don’t use video that’s over 1024x768. UNLESS you can be sure that the user’s processor can handle it, which is now child’s play for most computers and mobile devices.”
Etc., etc.
For me, it’s a good reminder to never get too attached to a particular technology. In five years, it’s going to be old fashioned. Technology ages rapidly, and some things age worse than others (hello, Flash).
But the fact that you remember how do it that original way is going to give you some creative juices that your cohorts may not have seen before, and that are valuable. So I always remember that, too. Knowing how GIFs work to compress images, for instance, has come in handy so many times that I can't even count. It's so weird how that's the one file format that seems un-killable 🤷♀️.
Anyways that is more than enough for a Monday!
TTFN,
Cathy