Gonna disagree a bit here. A well made banner with welded hems and a clean pole pocket can be just as durable as one with a million grommets. The real issue is matching the hardware to the install spot, not just adding metal everywhere. Grommets fail too, they rip out in high wind if the banner is oversized or the rope is too tight. I’ve hung plenty of clean edge banners in gusty spots using ratchet straps through slit pockets or a full width sleeve on a pipe, and they hold up fine all season. Design choice isn’t lazy, it’s just another way to solve a problem. The trick is asking the install question up front, like you said, but not assuming grommets are the only answer.

The 45 degree angle is where I bet it went sideways. Wet hair cuts with a razor need way less tension than you'd think, if you pull the section too tight the blade digs in and shreds the cuticle. Blades matter but honestly I'd tell your mentor to demo on a mannequin head first so you can feel the exact pressure and speed before risking another client.

My buddy was rebuilding his portfolio site and bragged about shipping it with zero media queries, then his client opened it on a foldable phone and the nav just wrapped weird, so he quietly added one breakpoint back. He still swears by the grid approach though, just says "the browser handles 90% of it now.

My gram tried to get me to go no-scale with my brisket rub and I ended up with enough salt to preserve a small animal. The thing is, my flour sits in a humid apartment, her flour lives in a dry mountain house. We are not baking in the same universe. Scales are just a way to stop fighting with the air around you. I trust my hands for shaping dough, but I trust the scale for the math part. People who bake by feel have baked the same recipe in the same kitchen for thirty years. That's not instinct, that's a memory card.

Spacers are like training wheels, most devs end up using margin utilities or gap once they get comfortable, but the spacer trick makes the structure obvious when you're still learning. It's actually not a bad habit to keep around since it forces you to think about the spacing as part of the layout, not an afterthought.