When Watermark earns its place

Marking a Galley Proof Under Embargo. A publishing assistant was circulating a galley PDF of an unreleased novel to a shortlist of reviewers ahead of the official announcement date. She applied a low-opacity diagonal "NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION" watermark across every page so any premature share would be immediately identifiable without obscuring the text the reviewers needed to read.

Flagging a Draft Contract for Review. A junior associate at a small law firm was sending a first-draft services agreement to a partner for markup before it went to the client. She stamped a semi-transparent horizontal "DRAFT" across all pages at a slightly higher opacity that would survive the office printer, making sure no one could mistake the draft for an executed version.

Marking Concept Drawings Before Tender. An architecture studio was sharing early massing studies with a developer client while the structural design was still months from completion. They watermarked every sheet "CONCEPT, NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION" at a diagonal angle so the drawings could not be pulled into a contractor package by accident.