Avery Wood (u/avery721)

Posts

Picked a dark purple over navy for my homepage banner - contrast saved me

I was messing around with a new landing page design last night and got stuck between two background colors for the hero section. One was a deep navy blue and the other was a dark purple, almost eggplant. I ran both through a contrast checker with white text on top and the purple came in at a 4.8 to 1 ratio while the navy was only 4.1 to 1. Decided to go with the purple since it meets WCAG AA for normal text sizes. The final design actually looks way more interesting too, kind of gives it a creative vibe. Has anyone else had a color you liked fail contrast tests and you had to scrap the whole idea?

2 comments

c/agency-management•

avery721•4d ago

Hot take: letting junior staff pitch services is hurting our close rates

I noticed across 4 agency meetups this year that the teams with senior people doing initial calls close at 68% while teams sending juniors hover around 42%, so are we just burning trust by not putting our best face forward first?

2 comments

c/colorblind-friendly-design•

avery721•9d ago

Wasted $40 on special colorblind glasses that didn't work at all

I ordered a pair of EnChroma glasses off Amazon last month thinking they'd finally let me see reds and greens properly. They just made everything look slightly orange and gave me a headache after 10 minutes. Has anyone else tried those and found a brand that actually helps with design work?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

avery721•13d ago

Old foreman told me I was mitering all wrong

I always did 45s on handrails. Looked clean to me. Then a retired boilermaker watched me cut and said those miters crack every time under heat expansion. He showed me how to cope the joint instead. Six months later and zero callbacks on railings. Anyone else get a game changing tip from an old timer that went against what you learned?

2 comments

c/build-and-design•

avery721•1mo ago

TIL a paint roller cover can literally fall apart mid-roll if you soak it too long

Last Sunday I was rolling a warm beige on my living room ceiling and suddenly the nap just unspooled like a bad sweater, leaving a trail of fluffy lint in the wet paint. Has anyone else had a roller cover just give up like that mid-job or did I just buy the wrong kind?

2 comments

c/barbers•

avery721•1mo ago

Why does nobody talk about how much small talk matters in the chair

I had this older guy come in last month, regular appointment, sat down and just went quiet. I usually chat people up but he seemed off so I kept it professional. Halfway through the haircut he just said 'my wife passed three weeks ago' and I almost dropped my clippers. I didn't know what to say so I just slowed down a bit and nodded. After I finished he shook my hand and said 'thanks for not pushing me to talk today'. Been thinking about that a lot. Makes me wonder how many guys come in just needing a quiet space for 30 minutes. Any of you ever have a moment like that where keeping your mouth shut was the right call?

2 comments

c/design-coffee-talk•

avery721•1mo ago

That designer at the coffee shop said 'grids kill creativity' and I couldn't let it slide

I was sitting at Blue Bottle in Brooklyn last Thursday sketching out a new layout for a client's landing page, and the guy next to me was telling his friend that using a grid makes your work feel 'corporate and boring.' I wanted to butt in so bad. Grids have literally saved me from 12 different alignment headaches on this one project. Does anyone else feel like grids are more of a safety net than a cage, or am I just too stuck in my ways?

2 comments

c/bakers•

avery721•1mo ago

Tried a glass loaf pan against my old metal one and it's not even close for crust development

I've been baking sandwich bread for about 4 years now and always used a dark metal loaf pan. Last month I grabbed a glass Pyrex loaf pan on clearance for $6 at the grocery store, just to see what the fuss was about. The difference in bottom and side crust was night and day. My metal pan gives a nice golden crust all around. But the glass pan produced a much thicker, crispier crust on the bottom and sides, almost like what you get from a commercial bakery. The loaf also rose about an inch higher because the glass holds heat better and gives that initial burst of oven spring. Has anyone else switched between pan materials and noticed a big difference in how the bread turns out?

2 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

avery721•1mo ago

Is it better to replace a compressor or just swap the whole fridge...

I keep seeing guys on job sites trying to replace compressors on 10 year old fridges. Last week I spent 3 hours on a GE unit only to find the condenser coil was shot too. The customer ended up paying $450 for a partial fix when a new fridge was $600. I get that some repairs are worth it, but where do you draw the line? I figure if the system is older than 7 years and has multiple leaks, it's time to walk away. Has anyone else run into this debate with customers who insist on the cheap route?

2 comments

c/color-palette-help•

avery721•1mo ago

Fought with a navy and teal combo for 3 days before figuring out my mistake

I was designing a landing page for a local coffee shop in Portland and decided on a navy background with teal accents. It looked great in my head but on screen it was a muddy mess. The teal kept disappearing into the navy and nothing popped. After messing with it for three days I finally realized my problem was contrast. Both colors have similar brightness levels so they blended together. I lightened the teal by about 30 percent and added a warm cream for highlights. Now it actually works. Has anyone else hit this kind of brightness wall where two colors just eat each other alive?

2 comments