I guess I’m an elitist. It’s almost a dirty word, but if the shoe fits I’ll wear it. I admire companies like Apple or 37signals that design for themselves and do things their own way.
Of course, I realize that the whole Web 2.0 revolution was about giving more power to the common man, and that having big companies listening to our needs is a good thing. After all, if it makes me feel important, it must be good, right ?

Wrong.

What prompted me to write this post is Smashing Magazine’s newest project, the Smashing Magazine book. The folks at Smashing Magazine (one of the most, if not the most widely read web design blog) want to publish a book, and they are asking their readers for advice. They are asking you and me to “suggest the book content”, “suggest the cover design”, and “suggest the layout drafts”.

I was surprised by the globally positive response in the comments, but a few people pointed out that this more or less amounted to spec work, since most of the “suggestions” would not be rewarded, and that the whole project was a little dubious. Those people promptly got flamed by other commenters.

But the problem is not even spec work. This comment really embodies what’s wrong with this whole idea:

The good people at SMASHING MAGAZINE write and put together the book themselves, the reason they are asking such questions is that they want it to fill the best off its potential with regards to its readers…. US!

How are they supposed to know what we want without asking?!

That’s not how it works ! You don’t ask your readers what they want to read about and then write the book ! You write the book first because you have something to say, and if it’s good readers will come. This is exactly why companies like Apple or Nintendo have been so successful designing great products like the iPhone and the Wii: they create great products that they themselves love, they don’t ask people what they want.

So if you want to write a good book, ask your readers for advice. But if you want to write a great book, open up Word and start writing !