Watermark

A visible claim of ownership or state laid over the image: the draft stamp, the preview badge, the network's corner mark.

Watermarks carry two honest messages: this is whose, and this is not final. The review cut goes out stamped so a work-in-progress can never be mistaken for a release; the preview carries the mark so unpaid use stays visibly unpaid. It is provenance made annoying enough to respect.

The craft is calibration: visible enough to do its job, placed where cropping cannot cheaply remove it, and never so loud it prevents the very judgement the preview exists for. And the inverse discipline matters as much, finals ship clean. A delivered master with a forgotten watermark is the classic export-day wound.