Category: Automattic

Howdy, Loom Block

Desiree Zamora GarciaLeave a comment

Did you know you can now embed looms on your site? Meet the new Loom block 🤭:

All you fast learners and busy people, play me at 1.5x!

How to embed a loom in three drama-free steps:

  1. Insert a Loom block onto your page or post:

2. Copy your loom video’s link:

3. Paste the link into the block’s URL field and hit Embed:

Because all your video’s sharing settings, bells, and whistles, are handled on its own page, you don’t have to fiddle with anything else here on your blog or website. The video is yours, and if you edit it, make it more private, or move it around–you don’t have to worry about managing every other place it lives.

Honestly, it took way longer to write this post than to create and embed that video (and I am a camera-shy writing person). But it’s all good. Now you just have more methods of communication to pick from so you can get on with your life.

Get Loom for you and yours

Centenario

Desiree Zamora Garcia

Automattic Design released the Bauhaus Centenary block today. The first of its kind, it is not a utilitarian block, but it’s not a purely decorative one either. The block, available as a plugin, will deposit one of three things onto your canvas: forms, lines, or characters. You can alter each element’s color and size, plus anything else that Gutenberg blocks might let you do to come up with something unique. You could find yourself playing again.

“The Bauhaus was indeed a platform where all disciplines and possibilities could collide, a time and space for creative openness. The Bauhaus Block is the intent to intersect two distinct platforms such as the school’s and that of WordPress.”

Yes, that’s what the block does. No, it doesn’t do anything else. As frivolous as it may seem, I think these sorts of things are very valuable, because they help break the walls between design communities. The entire foundation of my design career was web community-based. When I was working in DC, I was part of this AIGA mentorship progrram, where I met Michael Bierut–and I didn’t know who he was. Or why he couldn’t shut up about this Massimo Vignelli guy. Then when I moved out to Austin and started working at IBM, got to study Paul Rand’s work for the first time, and things started to click in a way that no web design trends or even standards ever did. I didn’t realize how much of a Swiss poser I was because I didn’t even know what Swiss was. (I am no longer an active parishioner of Saint Helvetica).

The studio had hired people with a formal background to revive IBM’s design heritage, and I learned a lot from them. But it was no us-vs-them culture. Designing for the browser did not come naturally to a lot of them, and they didn’t know the web history and context around the way a lot of things were built, to so they were able to learn from me, too.

The first thing that came into my mind when I saw this block was the Mexican Centenario. Like the coin, the block is a commemorative experiment and celebration.

Centenarios mark something historic and feature the work of a significant artist or designer. They are made out of solid gold, but their value is limited to a few bucks. To use the coin as money would be missing the point.

The Bauhaus turned 100 years old this year. So go get a copy of the block, hold onto it, and just appreciate it, damnit.