I am a hacker (although I'm uneasy about calling myself one), not a designer, and if I'm doing a web site professionally, I generally work with someone who does the graphics/design. This is for my own sites, where there is no client who says yes/no.
It doesn't like you want to spend a lot of time trying to become a premiere designer, but you are sick of hearing about how your sites look like they were designed by a programmer. Why don't you trade services with a kick ass designer and finally give your sites the makeover they deserve?
Good point, but here's why I'd like to improve my own skills: I like being able to put something together to test out a new idea or site, and if I have to get someone to help out every time, it's a bit limiting. If any of them ever were really successful, or I wanted to invest in them, I'd certainly get a pro to fix them up nicely.
In that case I'm not sure I would worry about it too much. You could spend time doing better designs or you could spend that time coding. A site should carry it's own weight. If the site is making money and could do better with a redesign, then I would think about hiring someone for that, otherwise, ignore the haters. ;)
It's not about 'haters' (the negative comments aren't nasty, just "I don't care for it"), it's about wanting to improve what I do. Sure, I'm not going to go out and start working as a designer (that would be a fast path to starvation), but I'd like to do better, and am casting around for ways to do so.
Comments
I am a hacker (although I'm uneasy about calling myself one), not a designer, and if I'm doing a web site professionally, I generally work with someone who does the graphics/design. This is for my own sites, where there is no client who says yes/no.
It doesn't like you want to spend a lot of time trying to become a premiere designer, but you are sick of hearing about how your sites look like they were designed by a programmer. Why don't you trade services with a kick ass designer and finally give your sites the makeover they deserve?
Good point, but here's why I'd like to improve my own skills: I like being able to put something together to test out a new idea or site, and if I have to get someone to help out every time, it's a bit limiting. If any of them ever were really successful, or I wanted to invest in them, I'd certainly get a pro to fix them up nicely.
In that case I'm not sure I would worry about it too much. You could spend time doing better designs or you could spend that time coding. A site should carry it's own weight. If the site is making money and could do better with a redesign, then I would think about hiring someone for that, otherwise, ignore the haters. ;)
It's not about 'haters' (the negative comments aren't nasty, just "I don't care for it"), it's about wanting to improve what I do. Sure, I'm not going to go out and start working as a designer (that would be a fast path to starvation), but I'd like to do better, and am casting around for ways to do so.