Recently sent to design students:

If you’re receiving this email, you have sent me information regarding your third assignment, but what you’ve sent is not what I’ve asked for.

When I was just out of school and had a burgeoning illustration career, I made a terrible mistake: I gave an art director what he didn’t ask for, thinking that he was getting better than what he’d asked for. I re-did the assignment, but word got around, and I never got another assignment in that industry. It may have been a good thing for me in the long run, but it was a difficult lesson to learn.

So please look carefully at the assignment brief and consider that if you do not pay attention to details, you may slide through school, but your career as a designer will be a short and/or unhappy one!

-Michael