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Designers, Stop Sending Unwatermarked Previews (A 2-Minute Fix That Saves Your Work)

#design #productivity #python #smallbusiness

Every designer and photographer has been there: you send a client a preview, they screenshot it, crop out your email, and next thing you know your concept is being pitched to their client without you.

The preview is supposed to be safe to share. The screenshot makes it not safe. And the usual options all suck:

  • Manual watermarking in Photoshop — fine for one image, miserable for a 50-shot client batch
  • Online watermark tools — you upload a paying client's confidential work to a stranger's server. That's a privacy leak you can't take back.

What I built: a watermark that runs entirely on your machine

A small Python CLI (pure PIL, zero dependencies) that watermarks an entire folder in one command:

  • 3 watermark modes — tile (repeats across the whole image), corner (discreet bottom-right), diagonal (large slanted pattern that's genuinely annoying to crop out)
  • Dynamic per-client codes — {{client}}, {{date}}, {{code}} render into every preview, with a unique random 6-char code. If a screenshot leaks, you know exactly which client it came from. That's the killer feature: it turns watermarking from deterrence into attribution.
  • Low-res preview output — send clients a degraded version instead of the full-res file
  • The original file is never touched — output always goes to a separate preview copy
  • Batch + recursive — --recursive walks a whole folder, so a 50-shot batch takes one command 
python watermark_preview.py --mode diagonal --opacity 0.35 --font-size 48   --client "Acme Co" --code 06C488 --recursive ./shots/
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Nothing ever leaves your computer. No uploads, no third-party servers, no leaking a client's unreleased work.

Why this matters more than it sounds

Watermarking isn't about being paranoid — it's about not being the designer whose work walks away for free. One leaked preview can cost you the entire project. A watermark with a client-specific code doesn't just protect the work; it changes client behavior, because they know a leak traces back to them.

You can grab the full kit (engine + 3 modes + sample designs + docs) at AgentChip.

Send previews like a professional: protect the work, keep the client, keep the trust.

Originally published on the AgentChip blog.

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