Lets ask a few people.

Joe Bloggs – Programmer Extraordinaire
Q: What do you think makes a good web designer?
A: A good web designer is one who makes websites simple, semantic, structured properly and without lots of frilly bits. None of the bells and whistles. Brains above brawn.

Hmm. Interesting.

Jane Globs – ABC Corporate Company Limited
Q: What do you think makes a good web designer?
A: Aah, that’s easy. They must listen to our brief exactly. We know all about web design. We know how to speak to our audience on all other media – why not web design? In fact, a good web designer is one who doesn’t design at all. They should take our design and build it. Yes. A good web designer just listens and gets the job done. On time of course.

Indeed.

John Smith – Little Small Tiny Business Shop
Q: What do you think makes a good web designer?
A: I don’t really know. I’m scared of web designers. I like to have as much control over it as possible. They must design a good website that speaks to my potential customers. Or maybe my current customers. Can they do that? I don’t really know. But a good web designer does need to be cheap. None of this way-too-many-grand lark.

Expected, no?

Sam Simms – Go-Between Web Design Wannabe Outsource Company
Q: What do you think makes a good web designer?
A: A good web designer not only has to make my clients happy, but me too. I must like their work before I decide that my client will like it.

Oh dear.

Jack Frost – Web Design 1-2-3
Q: What do you think makes a good web designer?
A: A good web designer is one who uses trends to highlight non-specific parts of a web page. They must design unique and effective sites that speak to the proposed audience and they must be on time and on budget when they do.

I hear a sigh.

Mr. Bhigschott – Public-Funded Brilliance Limited
Q: What do you think makes a good web designer?
A: Lots of AJAX. Cool animations. Trendy. Trendy. Trendy. Shiny logos, reflections and hand-drawn typography. AJAX some more. Rounded corners and whatever else our focus group tells us.

—

So what makes a good web designer? Well, it depends on who you ask.

What’s even more startling, exciting and daunting is the fact that it will all change again in six-to-twelve months.