A few months ago, I read this interesting article that discusses how the “hipster bartender” trend — or “mixologist” as that breed loves to call themselves — is OVER.
Here’s the set-up from the article:
“We’ve all been there. You just want a plain Jane drink while you’re hanging out with friends at the uber-cool new bar, and when you place your order — say, vodka and tonic — the leather-aproned, wax-mustached bartender looks down his nose. Embarrassed, you instead page through the tome of hand-crafted cocktails featuring house-made bitters, locally foraged herbs, distilled fog spirits infused with heritage breed berries, Nordic ice spheres personally carved by the bartender’s grandmother in the ice-house constructed of reclaimed Prohibition-era schoolhouse planks, and you point at the 14-ingredient, $18 drink with one recognizable component. Whatever happened to the friendly bartender?”
Good stuff, right? But I know what you’re thinking. “Todd, isn’t this supposed to be a design blog? I don’t see what bartenders and drinks have to do with graphic design.” Allow me to explain.
As I read the article, I couldn’t help but think about how these two scenarios can be A LOT like what can happen in a designer-client relationship. Some designers can come off like that snooty hipster mixologist. They’re not very approachable. They always know better than you. They’re not there to listen— they’d rather do the talking, often in a condescending way. And if they don’t like what you order, they might tell you that you came to the wrong place.
My philosophy as a designer is more inline with the friendly bartender: We’re here to listen to you. We’re here to learn about you. We care. We’re not here to steer you into some fancy b.s. that you don’t want or need. You may have come in for a simple gin and tonic, but we’ll make sure it’s a really fantastic gin and tonic, and you’ll be back because we took good care of you.
So, dear client, who would you rather work with? Cheers~