Boards do not fail at arithmetic so often as they fail at looking. A plate with two axes, a pictorial barrel, and a slogan in the title will be nodded at and not used. We draw for the nod that stops.
One question per plate
If you need occupancy and cost per night, that is two plates. If you need three harvests and a frost year, the frost is a break mark, not a third colour that means “mood.” Levan will send a pencil layout that looks sparse. That sparseness is the work.
The neighbour must be visible without a legend hunt
A comparison chart in which the client’s series is a thick line and the neighbour is a pale wash will be read as decoration. We keep both series in the same ink weight, distinguished by a dashed line or by a simple mark. The caption names both.
Source lines that survive the photocopier
A plate without a source is a rumour with a scale. We put the source under the chart, not in a back page the printer might drop. If a cooperative shared a book on condition of anonymity, the source says “Imereti cooperative of similar hectare, unpublished, held on file.” That sentence has ended more arguments than a logo would.
What we will not draw
Pictorial charts in which the height of a grape no longer matches the litres. Dual axes that let a small change look like a collapse. Ranked bars of our other clients. If a chairperson asks for a “more striking” version after the proof, we offer a larger type size, not a different truth.
Bring the sentence the plate must support. If you cannot write that sentence, you are not ready for a commission; you may still be ready for a study.