There's lots of talk at the moment of redaction.
My Latin is a bit rusty these days, but redaction comes from 'the act of reducing' or more accurately compressing, or editing a work or an act. So you could have a redacted version of a piece of writing.
Or a redacted version of an official document, which is what's being causing all the grief at the moment.
For those not in the UK, MP's expenses have been published for the first time by Parliament, albeit heavily redacted. So redacted that it's almost impossible to glean any new information. Luckily we have the Fourth Estate to take care of that.
Anyway. We had some clients in the office the other day and before they arrived I spent 15 minutes redacting the office. You've all done similar things. You dash around hiding any scruffy old jumpers, putting the porn in a dark cupboard and taking down any revenue targets that may have been pinned to the wall. This is the kind of stuff that happens in every agency up and down the land. In this age of transparency and friendliness is this really necessary?
What's the worst thing a client could see? In fact, let's ask the listeners, what's the worst thing you've moved out of the view of a client?
I would definitely hide any sketches or concepts you don't want them to see. You don't want them seeing your second attempt at a logo that looks like monkeys balls and their response is: "Wow I love that logo lets use that for our next campaign! but change it to green and make it really big." So I think hiding any hideous sketch/concepts that you fear they may like is probably the best thing to throw in the bottom drawer.
Posted by: Matthew | Jun 25, 2009 at 07:00
you have PORN in your office?
Posted by: beeker | Jun 25, 2009 at 09:53
When I was 23 I went to a Nike meeting wearing adidas trainers. My boss put the fear in me and I spent the whole time leaping between objects like a ninja to make sure the client never saw my feet.
Posted by: andy | Jun 25, 2009 at 10:22
I wrote a book once about (strange) design company Smith & Milton. They had a good story about the company dog coming into the meeting room mid-meeting, squatting in a corner and doing a big poo. Bear in mind, this dog was an Airedale Terrier. They managed to shepherd the client out without them realising what was going on. In a strange twist, the client was actually a manufacturer of dog food.
Posted by: Nick Asbury | Jun 25, 2009 at 10:27
My cousin.
Posted by: John Dodds | Jun 25, 2009 at 11:12
The MD.
Posted by: Marcus | Jun 25, 2009 at 11:42
Clients!
You old show off.
Posted by: Paul H. Colman | Jun 25, 2009 at 12:57
A pink fluffy thong and 'bra'
Posted by: Graham.Creative | Jun 30, 2009 at 14:37