Sometimes, this isn’t enough and you have to talk about things like fonts. Well, if I’m about to present something I think is batshit crazy or something I feel the client may not be used to like but could be interesting for them to adopt, I schedule a meeting a week beforehand—I call this a strategy prep. Do not bring anything visual to this meeting. Keep it all verbal. I tell them that after our initial meetings, getting to know their goals, etc that I have an approach in mind. I then talk about what I’m going to avoid doing. An example would be “You’re an architectural practice but since your work is primarily in the fashion sector, it may be interesting to highlight how different you are from typical architectural practices. I’ve notice the prevailing trend for a lot architecture studios is to default to a geometric san-serif. I can see why. It’s rational, mechanical—but maybe in your case it’s something we need to avoid.” The client then nods their head. In this example, you’re literally trying to get them to convince themselves that a serif is the right way to go. If they agree, then, you pretty much have permission to show them a logo with a serif next week—because it’s what you discussed. If they don’t then at least you don’t waste your time or and now you have a week to rethink your approach or even relationship with the client. Again it’s important you don’t bring anything that you worked on to this meeting. The key is to get consensus on ideas, not execution.