Observation
Dodge & Burn — refining the draft
Dodge and burn are darkroom verbs. One holds light back; one gives more time. We use them as names for editorial decisions on every campaign draft.
Held back: adjectives that inflate, channels that scatter the spine, visuals that arrive before the message is stable.
Given more time: the opening paragraph, the proof point your sales team actually uses, the caption that carries legal review without sounding legal.
Who marks the proof: a studio lead initialled on the PDF and a client counterpart named in the engagement letter. No mark, no move to the flat drawer.
What is rewritten: sentences that fail the read-aloud test, headlines that repeat the architecture memo without adding clarity, layouts that hide the call to action in ornament.
Sign-off: written approval with date and initials — never a vague thumbs-up in chat.
A typical proof pass
First read marks structure: does the opening carry the spine? Second read marks tone: would sales say this aloud? Third read marks surface detail: captions, links, legal lines.
Held-back material returns only if the client requests it in writing with a reason. Burned lines get a margin note explaining why they earned extra time — so the next draft does not reopen settled arguments.
Dodge and Burn — map strip