There are two schools of thought when it comes to Web Design. Should our experiences influence design choices or should our end-users and site visitors determine how we design our website? The difference may be unimportant to some web developers, but this can have a major impact on how your site performs. Do you listen to your site visitors as they interact with your site or do you as the designer dictate best practices? As a web designer myself I understand the importance of building the website to fulfill the objectives of the client, but this shouldn’t necessarily supersede the site visitors needs. Loyalty to existing clients is necessary and listening to their needs are very important when redesigning or improving your website.
In a perfect world, there would be a balance between properly satisfying the needs of the brand and creating an appealing web presence that drives users to take specific actions, feel certain emotions, and create certain thoughts. Successful web designers achieve this symbiosis. Of course, there are many challenges such as cost, purpose, guidelines, and platform limitations. Web designers express that objective of a website through layout, form, color and theme. To provide designers with the best possible canvas to help achieve the objectives and goals set forth, it is essential to address the psychology of design form the perspectives of purpose, balance and branding. Those able to romanticize the experience while remaining in line with fundamental artistry achieve a certain mastery of design psychology and provide a website with dramatically better odds of success!
As a designer myself you have to listen to what the client wants as well as what the visitors to any website say. It is a tight rope that any designer must walk. However, as the designer/developer you have the expertise so when you get requests that would not benefit the customer or visitor in the long run you must find a way to inform your customer or come up with a way to provide what they are asking for in a way that satisfies. That is what makes a great designer/developer.