Ending a client meeting at the perfect time, according to Paula Scher

It’s all about how people perceive and accept things.

Sharing a scene from Abstract that agatha kim sent my way recently. On episode 6 of the series, graphic designer Paula Scher demonstrates the perfect moment a meeting should end.

According to her, there’s a sweet spot between clients giving you feedback about your work, and you losing control of the numerous comments people are going to make that are going to eventually make your work weaker.

“The design of the logo is never really the hard part of the job. It is persuading a million people to use it.”

Transcript below:

“You are giving a presentation. This line is the line of the reasonable level of expectation that everyone has when you walk into the room.

You begin to present, and you come above the reasonable level of expectation; everybody gets enthusiastic, people begin to start asking you questions.

And about right here you reach the highest appreciation you’re going to get for this presentation.

At this point, somebody is going to make a rebuttal to your presentation. You’re gonna sink a little below that line of expectation. You grab it back, and you make some concessions. And you get up to about here. At this point, this is as high as you are ever going to get. It’s not as high as it was before, but it’s good.

The meeting must end here. Because what will happen is a counter-rebuttal to your offer. It will go down below the reasonable level of expectation, and then come back only nearly above it, and will continue on, until you reach sudden death.

They want proof that this is really really going to work. The problem is: there isn’t proof. It’s how do people see and perceive and accept things.”