Acknowledgments

First, a big thank you to Scott, my coauthor. His skills as an Art Director as well as his deep commitment to this project have made this book a true joy to work on. Our challenge was to take art-school techniques and translate them to the world of business communication, and I think we’ve succeeded.

To my friends, family, and colleagues who have served as a soundboard for this project, thank you! Tackling a topic that has been written about for years required fresh ideas and a new approach. Thank you for airing your frustrations with the status quo as well as for sharing your presentations for us to study, critique, and rebuild.

To my wife and son, thank you for keeping me company. I still don’t know why I do my best writing at 2:00 a.m., but I’ll work on that. Michael, your smiles mean the world; I always have time for you. To my wife: with all that you do, it’s amazing that you have any patience left. Thank you for your understanding and support through this challenging project. Thank you for sticking with me and helping me laugh.

—Rich

First of all, I’d like to say thanks to Rich Harrington. If you drew a Venn diagram of proficiency in technology, creativity, and business, very few people would fit solidly in even two of those categories. Rich fits directly in the center of all three. You Rock!

Thanks to everyone who supported and inspired me. Thanks to: Jim Matejka for giving me my first ad agency job in New York; Bob Rainford and Debbie Frushour for 10 great years; Richard Tsai, Jerel Motos, and Charlie Schulze for inspiring me; Scott Bryant for your amazing creativity; Jeff Fisher and Owen Burns for accepting calls from Benjamin Kenobi; and John Suszczynski and Dean Pellerzi for your friendship and support.

Finally, I’d like to thank the real core team. To my wife, who has been by my side since we were teenagers—you’ve supported me through a career of allnighters and caffeine binges and you’ve always been my foundation and my world. Thanks to my wonderful boys, Ryan and Tyler, for understanding when Daddy was “playing on the computer” in the office until all hours of the night.

—Scott

A big thanks to Jack Davis for creating such a great series of books. To Rebecca Gulick, thanks for thinking of us and giving us the chance. To Susan Rimerman, our editor, you kept us on track and polished our ideas to create a fantastic book. To the entire Peachpit team, your professional handling of this project continues to be always appreciated.

To all the great folks at RHED Pixel, who checked our work and picked up our slack, thank you.

To all the clients through the years who have challenged us, thank you for asking for more and never accepting the first draft “as-is.”

To the Microsoft Office team, thanks for the fresh ideas and new tools. Keep pushing the program and giving communication pros more options.

To you, the reader, thanks for your support. We hope you enjoy this book and we welcome your feedback. Feel free to visit our resource blog at www.rastervector.com.

—Rich and Scott