Jeffrey Zeldman: one-on-one

Khoi Vinh from Subtraction.com recently interviewed Jeffrey Zeldman (author of Designing With Web Standards, founder and executive creative director of Happy Cog™, and publisher of A List Apart). Khoi says he asked three questions, but I count at least four (link).

My favorite quote is right at the beginning:

All the design talent, experience, and expertise in the world can’t advance your career if your client buys the wrong design… or waters down the right one.

Persuading decision makers to buy good design is essential. But it’s rarely taught in school, and not every design organization has a culture that values it. As a result, you can toil in this field for a long time without knowing how to sell your work.

Fortunately,with a good process, a few tricks, and the same skills and insights you bring to bear on your other relationships, you can learn to identify the kind of client who buys good design, and work with them both before and after the design phase to protect your work and their image.

Mister Zeldman was scheduled to speak 17 October 2006 at AIGA NY (link).