Orphan shadows

- We are such brilliant beings that occasionally, … we forget all that we take for granted. … Sometimes we give our intuition credit for things that … we just missed the signs for. … I think shadows are just such a sign, … and we really only pay attention to them … from a subconscious level. … An outdoor image with a short shadow tells us it's midday, … while a lack of or soft shadow signals it's overcast … without really looking up to the sky. … Whether a surface is rough or smooth … or how we navigate terrain … to avoid tripping over debris or a curb, … it's usually dependent on the lights and darks of a surface, … so it's no great mystery that, when as designers, … we're telling a story with an icon, … we rely on highlights and shadows … to define three-dimensional spatial interplay … in a two-dimensional image. … Even in a very subtle application, … we generally can pick up on that shadow … to give us more information. … This logo for the home service site called Thumbtack … is pretty clever. …