Since 2008, our family has been creating short videos to celebrate the start of a new year. Each video is crafted from household items and usually includes some form of typographical optical illusion. Today, we share our sixteenth, and final video—a deceptively simple visual trick transforming 2024 into 2025.

So, for one last time… our latest video: A New Beginning

How was this done?

The idea is simple, recognizing that 2 and 5 if written the right way are mirror images of each other. The animation was created in Keynote and played on a large screen monitor which was in turn filmed using an iPhone on a tripod. While it was being filmed we manually brought a mirror to the monitor between the 2 and the 4 – effectively hiding the 4 and revealing a reflected 5 – converting 2024 into 2025!

The music was created using Suno.com (an AI music composition tool), and the “digital clock” font was created from scratch, inspired by a font available in the royalty-free font library: 1001fonts.com. The final video was edited in Adobe Premiere.

The art of simple things: A 16-year journey through typographical illusions

It started as a way to keep the kids occupied on a cold winter’s day in Michigan – just something we could do to pass time. Shreya and Soham were just 9 and 12 then; they’re 25 and 28 now. We could never have imagined that this impromptu activity would turn into a 16-year tradition, each year challenging ourselves to outdo what we had done before.

As our ambitions grew, so did our exploration of visual illusions. From anamorphic art that only makes sense from one specific angle, to cubes that dance in weird ways, from moiré patterns that create motion from stillness, to trompe l’oeil that fool the eye into seeing three dimensions in flat surfaces. We created light paintings that capture time and shadows that create words. We have created objects that challenge our perception of reality and words that change meaning when rotated. We’ve played with physics (using water refraction to transform numbers), and mathematics (converting Cartesian to polar coordinates). In each case we explored the psychology of perception—how our brains make sense of what our eyes see. In the process, we have repurposed everything from lazy Susans to chrome sink tubes, from skateboards to wine glasses, all while keeping each video under $10!

Each video holds within it a world of memories: late-night arguments about camera angles, excited discoveries when an illusion finally worked, debates about music choices, and triumphant moments when the final edit came together. But most of all are the memories of the fun we all had. Together.

Sometimes the most meaningful things we create are born from the simplest materials: some household items, a shared puzzle to solve, and time spent together trying to make something special. Time does fly… and all things must come to an end. And we close with an illusion that, in its simplicity, feels exactly right – a mirror that turns 2 into 5, transforming 2024 into 2025.

Before we close this chapter, I must acknowledge someone who has been part of every video except this last one. Kevin MacLeod, an American composer and music producer, has generously provided the soundtrack to our journey through his amazing royalty-free library (at incompetech.com). Perhaps it’s fitting that in this final video, as one era ends and another begins, the music comes from AI instead.

And with this video we call an end to this series. It has been a great run, something that has given us countless hours of joy as we created together, as a family. These videos will always serve as markers of time – not just of the years they welcomed, but of the moments we shared making them. And like every ending, this too marks a new beginning.

You can view all the videos in this series (in reverse chronological order) on this page.