Matt Hardigree
A long-time writer and editor in the car space, you may have read my work in Wired, Jalopnik, and the newsletter for my local Ultimate Frisbee team. I love writing about the car industry, driving minivans, and dreaming about owning various European Fast Fords. I drive an E39 530i Sport (with the stick) and a CR-V Hybrid. You can email me at matt@theautopian.com or follow me
on Instagram. Oh, I'm also the Publisher of The Autopian. That seems less interesting than the European Fords thing, though.
I can see both sides of the argument (and thought David had literally said “you go to hell,” though likely in a joking manner), but my solution would have been to avoid putting a quote in the image at all. Even in quotation marks, I think there is a (small) risk of someone thinking it’s just a quote from the article, not a quote cited in the article (I also think the speech bubble probably works just as well, with similar risk).
My preferred topshot format for a quote removes any doubt, but adds some extra text for a busier topshot:
I work with a bunch of precocious younger folks and it’s amazing how often you have to have the “no, it does not make sense; yes, we have to do it; because the lawyer says so; no, it does not make sense; see above” conversation. You cannot reason or first-principles your way through this stuff, it’s the law, not logic, and if I have to pick between your mild annoyance and the lawyer’s several million dollars in legal fees and/or damages, well, sorry buckoo, and welcome to the corporate world.
Congratulations!