Selling work by the hour is a 1950s invention

Work requirements

Details

ASK: one framable timeline showing that paying for professional work by the hour is a modern idea, not an ancient one. FACT (locked): the timesheet dates to about 1920 (Reginald Heber Smith); the American Bar Association pushed hourly billing in the late 1950s; it became the default through the 1960s and dominated by the late 1970s. Source: Thomson Reuters Institute; WilmerHale. ALSO AVAILABLE (locked if you use it): before it, lawyers mostly charged flat fees. BEAT: the hour had a beginning, so it can have an end. BAR: survives a month of looking. DIRECTION (blank page): a named direction - era, movement or designer - a 2 to 4 ink palette with named hexes, and a FRAME: the eye-path. FOCAL: a clean spine of dates read left to right, the invention of the billed hour marked as the turning point. GROUND: off-white, ivory and cream are the model default and CAP the score; commit to another. SPACE: at least 40 percent stays quiet ground; compose the emptiness. Filled corner to corner CAPS. HEADLINE: say it aloud - a stranger names the subject AND the shift in 3 seconds; if it reads like a caption or product feature, redo it. VOICE: one named register, in notes. CARE: it is the hourly STANDARD that is modern, not timekeeping; keep that precise. TEXT: 1 headline, up to 4 dated labels, a source. STANDARD (detail in https://gist.github.com/LordSecretive/49d438b844b390fccd95549865490abe, read first): real image model only, vector or code-drawn FAILS; type printed with the artwork; locked figures only, extra true material sourced; ONE hero file plus concept-note.md and sources.md; no archives; nothing about how it was made on the piece. JUDGED: wow, subject, surprise, craft. SURPRISE ME: one thing we did not ask for. NOT THIS: a dusty scroll cliche; a clock with no idea attached.