Illusion of Shrinking Munchkins

munchkins-optical-illusion

Check out this twisted picture above! I have no clue whatsoever, what should these little figures stand for. They are probably munchkins of kind, or some strange fertility symbols of once great civilization. But the best part is that this doesn’t concern us at all! The strange illusion that comes into play, has much to do with relative sizes. Apparently, if you look at the above photo from left to right, you’ll get impression that the slimmest figure on the left is taller in size than the fattest figure on the right. I hope this will work for you, as it has worked for me!

fshareThose of you who got to know me by time, probably noticed how great deal of my concentration is orientated towards graphic design of this blog. It takes more struggle than you think to keep the visual minimalism, while in the same time staying in race with internet trends, providing more and more additional features for you to play with (rating widgets, share buttons, comments, links, etc.). Often I rule out some hefty features that could help push our traffic sky-high, just because they would hurt our graphical zen. I’m talking about “Digg this” and “Retweet” counters. Somehow I find blogs cluttered with share widgets – annoying at best.

But yesterday, though, I have found acceptable and non-intrusive solution to implement “Share on Facebook” option. I’m sure you’ll agree with me how discreet this new button really is. In fact, if I didn’t point it to you, I’m certain you wouldn’t even notice it. It’s located just beneath the title of each article, and if you click it, a new pop-up window appears where you can easily share the current optical illusion with your Facebook friends. I hope you’ll get accustomed to this new feature, and I would maximally appreciate if you tested it for me, and then shared your experience.

18 Replies to “Illusion of Shrinking Munchkins”

  1. That is a statue of a Japanese raccoon dog also known as tanuki. These animals have unusually large testicles, and the Japanese exaggerate this trait in their depictions of it.

  2. Hi

    Re: The munchkins illusions.

    I only found the effect to be quite subtle but I could see it. The skinny munchkin looks taller when held in my peripheral vision.

  3. It’s a tanuki, a Japanese raccoon dog. This is the mythological version; Tanuki is mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absent-minded.

  4. What kind of diet were they on? I sure could use it. Neat illusion and thanx to the other responders for broadening my knowlege base. It’s great to learn new things. I’ll have to “google” it and learn more.

  5. a little too much info there james barron…

    and i didnt even notice the facebook button until after i finished reading the article!

  6. Along with being well endowed, the tanuki is was (and is) used in front of store to promote good busness and sucess. Just wanted to put my two cents in.

  7. Tanuki in Japan were also used to Hide Money and Treasure in the Olden Days. If you were to stumble upon a statue of a Tanuki in the Forest, it is said that Were you to Break it Open, there would be Hidden Coins inside of it. In the Mario Games on the Nintendo NES and SNES and Later Game Boy Color and so on you can “DON” a TANUKI suit to gain the ability to “FLY” and get Hidden Coins otherwise unreachable…

  8. I didn’t really see the illusion at first, probably because the text around it makes it look so square. But its still cool.

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