Origin Story

CornerPxl’s Story:

Meaning Behind the Pale Blue Dot

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.” In 1990, famed astronomer Carl Sagan urged us to look closer, closer, and still closer at a barely perceptible, fraction of a pixel on Voyager 1 spacecraft’s photo of earth. He also encouraged us to have some perspective. Finding your purpose on “the only home we’ve ever known” is a humanizing process.

Giving voice to that purpose, requires empathy. Having moved more than 4 billion miles beyond the earth’s atmosphere, Voyager captured the first “family portrait” of the solar system by turning around and looking back. We had to see the origin of our story to move forward. We had to empathize with where we came from before reaching for the stars.

The Pale Blue Dot is both mantra and yardstick. It’s a powerful reminder of what drives people to be the best versions of themselves and companies to reach competitive greatness.

Like many successful companies, we took the harder path. Time refined our process, and opposition defined and then redefined our purpose. Our story is not dissimilar to those of our clients. Ultimately, we formed partnerships to explore and achieve beyond our own limitations.

CornerPxl is the outcome of rethinking, repositioning, and otherwise remaking ourselves. We’re stronger for the journey.

The Unusual Story of Voyager 1

Valentine’s Day, 1990, NASA’s Voyager 1 sent us 60 historic images, prior to continuing on its way into interstellar space. Mission managers had earlier commanded the spacecraft to “look back” and photograph the world it was leaving behind forever.

But, the first “family portrait” of our solar system almost never happened.

The iconic photo session was the result of a monumental effort (8 years, 6 requests for approval) to convince the Voyager team of the images’ value. Despite the many risks, including limited resources and the very real danger of damaging the cameras by pointing them at the sun, the project prevailed. Planetary scientist and Pulitzer Prize winning author Carl Sagan (1934-1996) was chief advocate and architect of the idea to capture this unique perspective of Earth.

We occupy a very small place in the universe—in the photograph, less than a single pixel. Scattered light in the image, due to proximity to the sun, resemble beams of sunlight. That one of the rays of light intersected with Earth was an unexpected stroke of good luck. The resulting drama, a tiny mote of dust suspended in light, make this photo resonate with meaning.

The image is a contradiction: a reminder that we command little or no attention yet are still memorable for our uniqueness.

Working successfully with people necessitates a general humility about the interdependence of authenticity, transparency, and empathy. Organizations come to us because we’re good at what we do, but we’re only good at what we do when the relationship is reciprocal.