Used to roll my eyes at stuff like this, honestly. I figured the squint test was just a cute trick people threw around to sound smart, and that a real logo problem meant a real designer and a real invoice. Then a friend made me do the exact same thing with our bakery sign, shrink it down and step back, and wow, the whole thing fell apart at small size. Turns out the fancy details I loved were doing nothing once it got tiny, and simplifying it took an afternoon, not thousands of dollars. Now I do the shrink test on everything before I pay anyone for design work.

white knuckling it" lol same, my old stand was pure junk

Ngl your team debating this is wild when the client literally crawled back two months later begging. Only thing you lost in that Panera was maybe your appetite. Caving would've kept the check but you'd be the agency that runs ads that flop on purpose, and word gets around fast.