ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd, one of my favorite radio personalities, said something a few years back that I still think about to this day. It was shortly after The Departed came out in theaters and a lot of the reviews seemed to be very critical of the film. After admitting that he liked the movie, Cowherd turned his attention to the caustic critics and asked "Who are they writing for?" His best guess: other movie reviewers.
Cowherd's point was that most moviegoers are going to enjoy The Departed. Only film aficionados are going to find something to complain about; Scorcese relied too much on his old techniques, Nicholson's accent was pathetic, the movie doesn't tell us anything new, etc. Even if most of the people that went to the movie read the reviews, they're still likely to walk out of there going "I don't know what he was talking about. I thought it was pretty good." So why write for a small fringe audience?
I find myself asking the same question with regards to designing publications, and it's a very thin line. Do I eschew a particular font because it's not effective as a headline or because it's so 2010? Does the white space at the bottom of this page look like I left something out, or do the reader's eyes just drift to the text on the next page, glossing over the white space? Am I designing this so that other designers will look at it and be impressed with my work or so that it is visually pleasing and informative to the casual reader?
I've said before on this blog that the challenge of a marketing professional/designer/writer is to stop thinking like a marketing professional/designer/writer. Stop wasting time perfecting how a design looks to you. Design it for the typical viewer that will be reading it, and remember that they will be reading it. They won't be scanning the design and wondering why you used a sans serif font for the body of the text. Give them a reason to look at your design, then make it easy for them to find the information they need.
