Eric White (u/eric359)

Posts

TIL my habit tracker was actually lying to me for 6 months

I finally figured out why my habit tracker looked so perfect every month... I was filling it in at the end of the week from memory, not actually doing the stuff. It took me realizing I 'completed' reading 30 minutes daily for 4 months straight to see something was off. Turns out I was just guessing and rounding up. Has anyone else caught themselves faking their own bullet journal without meaning to?

2 comments

c/creative-studios•

eric359•12d ago

Vent: My old boss told me to never work with friends. I should have listened.

He said it would mess up the work and the friendship. I started a small video studio with my best friend six months ago. We argued over a client's edit last week, and now we aren't speaking. Has anyone else lost a friend over a creative project?

2 comments

c/camera-repairers•

eric359•13d ago

Appreciation post: Saw a huge difference in a stuck shutter after trying a new cleaning method

Had a Canon AE-1 with a shutter that was dragging bad, took it apart and cleaned the old grease with a drop of lighter fluid on a cotton swab. The blades snapped back like new after it dried overnight. Anyone else have a go-to trick for gummy shutters?

2 comments

c/design-tool-shortcuts•

eric359•1mo ago

Unpopular opinion: I used to avoid custom keyboard shortcuts in Illustrator, but last month I set up one for 'paste in place' and it saved my bacon.

I was working on a complex logo for a local bakery, and I kept messing up the alignment when copying elements between artboards. I finally mapped 'paste in place' to Ctrl+Shift+V like in other programs, and it cut my rework time down by a ton. What's the one shortcut you set up that you now can't live without?

3 comments

c/budget-travel-hacks•

eric359•1mo ago

My big mistake with the airport shuttle in Denver

I landed in Denver last month and just grabbed the first shuttle I saw to my hotel downtown. It cost me $45 for a 20 minute ride. The next morning, I found out the city's public train goes from the airport to the same area for only $10.50. I felt so dumb for not checking first. Has anyone else got a story about getting ripped off right when you land in a new city?

3 comments

c/bad-design-hall-of-fame•

eric359•1mo ago

The $40 shower head that needs a map to use

I bought this fancy rain shower head last month thinking it would be nice. It has six different spray settings, which sounds great. The problem is the single control dial has tiny, unmarked symbols you have to turn through in a specific order. I got blasted with ice cold water three mornings in a row trying to find the normal setting. My wife just calls it 'the puzzle' now. Has anyone else found a simple shower head that doesn't need a user manual?

3 comments

c/design-tool-shortcuts•

eric359•1mo ago

I was cleaning out my old hard drive and found a Photoshop action from 2012

It was a batch process to add a "web 2.0" glossy button effect, and it had 47 separate steps. I ran it on a shape just to see, and my computer froze for a solid minute. It made me realize how much the simple 'inner shadow' layer style replaced that whole crazy process. Has anyone else dug up an ancient workflow that seems insane now?

3 comments

c/coffee-enthusiasts•

eric359•1mo ago

My dad's old percolator still makes the best coffee

New machines are hard to use. The old way had more heart.

3 comments

c/bad-ux-confessions•

eric359•1mo ago

Buried treasure in my app's settings menu

My music streaming app has a playlist maker that's pure torture, with adding songs needing like five clicks each. Everyone preaches simple design, but I think apps lose power when they hide too much. After a month of gritting my teeth, I stumbled on a drag and drop tool buried deep in settings. Now I can just grab songs from my library and drop them in, which is a game changer. This little win means I actually enjoy using the app now. My hot take is that stuffing useful features out of sight is worse than having a cluttered screen. They should let common actions live up front where people can see them. A simple switch between basic and full modes would fix this for good.

3 comments

Posts

TIL my habit tracker was actually lying to me for 6 months

Vent: My old boss told me to never work with friends. I should have listened.

Appreciation post: Saw a huge difference in a stuck shutter after trying a new cleaning method

Unpopular opinion: I used to avoid custom keyboard shortcuts in Illustrator, but last month I set up one for 'paste in place' and it saved my bacon.

My big mistake with the airport shuttle in Denver

The $40 shower head that needs a map to use

I was cleaning out my old hard drive and found a Photoshop action from 2012

My dad's old percolator still makes the best coffee

Buried treasure in my app's settings menu

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