You know how, when a server says, “Watch out, these plates are hot,” the first thing everyone does is touch the plate? Something similar happens when I tell a client, “This hasn’t been designed yet, so ignore how it looks and focus on what it says.” Invariably, the client points to a spot on the page and says, “Is this how it’s going to look?”
So for a recent presentation, I created the above-pictured stamp and made sure it was prominently displayed right on the copy.
It worked.
—Steve Cuno