The Client Is Not Your Enemy
ALA dishes up the client-hate (click to enlarge)
Two articles in the latest issue of A List Apart offer great information for Web professionals and their clients. It’s too bad the article teasers blow off half their potential audience by referring to clients and prospects as “schmucks with money” and “the well dressed nemesis.”
Is this any way to introduce articles about presenting design concepts to clients and educating stakeholders? ALA has always provided top-notch articles for Web workers, and these are no exception. Despite the snarky teasers, the stories themselves are even-handed and helpful:
- “Stand and Deliver” aims to teach conceptually-oriented designers how to give a high-impact presentation that “sells” their ideas to a business-oriented boss or client. People who manage or hire designers could also benefit from this article’s insight into how designers think.
- “Educating Stakeholders” targets information architects and project managers (and those who fill such roles, regardless of their job titles). It’s a guide to briefing the higher-ups on a Web project about the legal, technological, cultural1, and other issues that can cause a site to tank on launch. A surprising number of people aren’t even aware these issues exist, and could get a quick education just from reading this article.
Although the stories in this issue have something to offer multiple audiences, ALA has written the teasers in a way that alienates potential readers and perpetuates stereotypes about people in the Web industry. Whoever wrote these things needs to get thumped with the clue stick.
Note to Web Pros: Get Over Yourself
Client relations can be frustrating, especially when they don’t understand the medium or don’t seem to know what they want. Perhaps the magazine’s chosen wording is just a matter of knowing its audience. After all, A List Apart has been serving its niche well for almost a decade.
Excuse me for saying so, but I think maybe it’s time for this niche to get over itself.
Footnotes
1 This involves both an understanding of how Web culture impacts customer relations and insight into the ethnic culture of the client’s target audience.