December 2, 2021 - On Muddy Colors we talk a lot about thumbnails (for example here and here and here) and we're usually talking about "thumbnails" as a word for quick compositional sketches that artists use to plan out their artwork. It's usually the first physical stage of a piece. That's a critical stage – but it's not the kind of thumbnail I'm talking about. I'm talking about a "thumbnail" that is a smaller representation of a larger thing, that you are enticed to look at more carefully. Now, that usage of thumbnail predates the digital age (think menus or tables of contents in magazines) but today thumbnails are almost always small digital versions of images that you need to click on to find out more about the thing it represents. It is how 99.9% of commerce through the…