#rounded corners

It wasn't always this way. Windows XP through 7 use rounded corners extensively, and I think they still look nice. But things have changed.

Here is a quote I found online at Designmodo that sums up industry design philosophy on the element:

As children, we were trained to stay away from knives and sharp objects because they can hurt us... Rounded corners evoke warmth and trust.

In the past I would have agreed. But over the years, I've grown to associate rounded corners, more and more, with manipulation, deceit, and control.

I don't think that rounded rectangles are a CIA conspiracy or w/e. But I do think that years of use by companies that don't trust their users—famously Apple—now mean "if a company has chosen its whole branding to say 'trust me', you probably shouldn't."

To me, sharp corners in 2025 mean one of two things about software: professional and polished, or just purely functional without care for aesthetics. Neither of those is a problem.

Designs? applied.

Corners? rounded.

Long time no see. I am back again with how to use a corner punch and how to get rounded edges. You’re gonna need a corner punch and some nail files.

When punching out pages only do three or four pages at a time. Because if you do too much, it’ll be more difficult to punch evenly smoothly through the pages. The rounded corners can be used for a paperback as well as just a text block.

If you are a small business owner (like working on selling things from home on Etsy or in a small mom/pop store) you probably have a budget - a Reaallllyyyy tight budget, and that tight budget is being stretched too thin by spending on all the extra little upcharges from your printing supplier (things like rounded corners or a retail hole punch)

so listen up because Cryptids Don't Gatekeep - especially tips and tricks that can help out our other small business colleagues!

so go from this: a standard card you can get from a printing company (Vistaprint is common, though this is from Uprint) and go to this instead;

Beautiful rounded corners and a professional retail peg hole punch - perfect for actually being in retail stores or on a nice display at your local market or convention!

Don't wanna pay the absurd upcharge fees every time? Good, you don't have to! Buy the freaking punches/cutters online and do it yourself! It's a (much cheaper) one time purchase and then you can do it whenever! I got mine from Amazon as that was the best option available to me, but you can check out other specialty/stationary stores too!

Here's the little contraption that rounds out those pesky sharp corners (it has 3 different size options too!)

and here's a close up of that nice perfect rounded edge! Took a fraction of a second!

Here's the cool specialty retail hole punch thing-a-ma-jig

and for bonus tips here's the little adhesive tape thingy I use to stick my products onto the hanging cards (I kinda like this one, but I might try other ones in the future to see if any are better - sometimes the glue stuff has trouble rolling out and I have to re-do a section to get it to work)

And voila! You did it! You're ready to have the best display at your convention or hit the big leagues and provide professional merch at physical stores.

Go forth! Make things! Save money! Make money! Drool over rounded corners!

love,