This is part of an ongoing series to help people be better designers, but not better than me. Collect all two!
This started out as “Tip du Jour,” but if I posted these daily, all my knowledge would be exhausted in 20 days. So I found a different French word, so it still sounds classy.
When creating art for a logo, signage, tattoo, etc., where the client wants a random apostrophe to make its hideous presence felt on a word of plural, yet not possessive, nature, know that the situation is not hopeless. If, for example, the project is a sign advertising “Crab’s for Rent,”point out the similarity between the misplaced punctuation and a deadly ninja throwing scimitar.
As you hand the offending thing to the now-curious client for inspection, loudly exclaim, “Shark! Shark!” A lifetime of training will kick in, as your patron, without even thinking, expertly sends the apostrophe into the eye of the nearest vertebrate. You may now proceed to spell correctly, with the complete blessing of your just-glad-to-have-survived, mostly-literate, new best friend.