Went to a bullet journal meetup in Portland and nobody was using a ruler

I showed up at this cafe downtown thinking we'd all be swapping spread ideas and pen tests. Instead everyone just freehanded their boxes and lines like it was some kind of art rebellion. One person told me rulers make you stuck and kill your flow. I kept quiet but inside I was screaming because my weekly layout would look like a toddler drew it without a straight edge. They had these gorgeous pages but I bet they spend way more time fixing crooked lines than I do just using a ruler. It felt like a hipster thing where being messy equals being creative. Has anyone else run into this anti-ruler crowd or am I just hanging out with the wrong people?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan51228d ago

Read a thing recently that said the whole no-ruler thing started with people trying to copy those Instagram bullet journals that look like they're drawn by hand. But the thing is those people are probably using a ruler and just hiding it well. Saw this mechanic influencer once who talked about how he keeps a little ruler in his toolbox just to check if parts are straight and nobody calls him uncreative for it. A ruler is just a tool, same as a torque wrench. You don't win points for eyeballing it when a simple tool does the job better and faster.

bethj4428d ago

The anti-ruler thing is just part of a bigger pattern I keep seeing where people turn basic tools into some kind of creative test. It's like the people who brag about never using a recipe or the ones who refuse to follow furniture instructions because they "trust their gut." Sure, it looks more artsy and free, but half the time the end result is just sloppy and they spent twice as long trying to fix it. There's a weird pride in making things harder than they need to be, like suffering proves you're a real artist or something. A ruler is a tool, not a cage.