Dominoes Aren’t Just Game Pieces
Dominoes are small, rectangular blocks that are used as gaming objects. Depending on their design, they may be marked with an arrangement of spots, like those on a die, or blank. When you play domino, you set them up in a straight or curved line, and then flip one to cause the rest to fall. The thrill of watching a whole lineup of hundreds or thousands of dominoes fall with the nudge of just one is mesmerizing. It’s even more impressive when a domino artist creates mind-blowing domino setups that take several nail-biting minutes to complete.
Lily Hevesh, a domino artist with millions of YouTube subscribers, has created dazzling domino art for movies, TV shows, and events—including an album launch for pop star Katy Perry. Her largest installations require the use of more than 300,000 dominoes and have taken her years to plan and build. Hevesh follows a version of the engineering-design process to construct her creations, and she has learned that even the most precise domino set-ups are subject to unpredictable forces, such as gravity and air pressure.
The best domino artists aren’t just physics geniuses—they’re also masters of storytelling. When a domino artist creates a sequence of dominoes that takes viewers on a thrilling ride, they tell a story with each piece’s placement, the tempo of its movement, and its interaction with other pieces. They make it look easy, but they know that there’s a lot of work and science behind each domino effect.
For Domino’s, a pizza chain in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the most recent pandemic provided another opportunity to grow their business and keep their customers happy. The company’s employees worked hard during the pandemic, and management listened closely to what their customers had to say. For example, they relaxed the company’s dress code and implemented new leadership training programs for employees. They also placed more stores near college campuses to attract younger customers.
As a result, Domino’s was able to deliver a new generation of pizza lovers while retaining its core customer base. And they continued to focus on enhancing their technology, which helped them continue to offer innovative options for ordering food delivery.
In the world of writing, we often talk about “domino actions.” These are high leverage actions that can trigger a series of follow-up actions. They’re like scripts in coding, or the smallest action that can cause a huge reaction. For example, making your bed every morning is a domino action that can help you have a productive day.