Should web designers have a style?

One of my favorite designers is James White over at Signal Noise. If you’ve ever seen his stuff, you’ve probably noticed that he’s got the bright colors retro design down. Some of the things he’s made are just amazing, including his Tron Legacy poster. When you know you want something that looks 70s retro, he’s the guy that you go to because he’s one of the best I’ve seen at that style. There are tons of designers out there that have a style that they are amazing at and you go to them when you want something done in that style. But what about web designers, should they have a style?

I don’t know how many web designer’s sites I’ve been to were everything in the portfolio page looks pretty much the same, just different colors. The navigation bars are all in the same place and have the same type of gradient. The overall layout of the websites are the same, the same number of columns and the same style of pictures. I’m not saying I’m the greatest designer in the world, but I’m not the type to recycle the same thing over and over. I try to design the site to fit the client. But, at the same time, I’m sure that these web designers get their work based on what they have already made and the clients are the types that say, “I want that, but blue.” If you’re great at corporate designs, then all the power to you. But shouldn’t you be able to design any type of site a client might want?

If you’re designing posters or magazine covers, the odds are the client is coming to you because they like your style and they’ll give you some guidelines and then let you go to work. Designing a web site is something completely different. Most clients want to be involved in every step of the site and most, in my experience, think they know more than they really do because they surf the web at work. Most of the time, we have clients send us sites they like so we can figure out the style that they want. But if a web designer has a personal style, he or she might not be able to design and build the site that the client wants. They might like your previous work but if it’s not what they want and you can’t make the type of site they feel they should have, you’re going to lose work.

I think if you’re a web designer starting out, having an individual style might be a bad thing. You should be able to adapt to what the client wants. But at the same time, if you’re amazing at designing a type of site that’s popular and that people will want, then perhaps it’s best to go for that. In my experience, the only guys out there that have a style that they’re known for are the big ones who’ve been at this for a long time and they usually have 15,000 followers on Twitter.