What is Design Snobbery

A snob is typically a person who is regarded as being arrogant, accepts nothing except their own opinion, and looks down their nose at anyone who doesn't agree. However, with the world becoming very design orientated, a new breed of snob has emerged from the darkness, The Design Snob

I personally cannot stand snobbery, anyone who looks down their nose at someone else because they either do not agree, or do not have as nice a house as the next person. I am not saying all designers are snobs. This would be incorrect to say because the majority of people are down to earth and "normal". I have noticed over the past 6 months while working with web designers and graphic designers that there is an unacceptable level of snobbery in our industry. Why can't people realise that others have different tastes and preferences to them?

If you like a web site designed purely around typography, then you make a web site designed purely around typography. Who is anyone to decide that this person is right or wrong in their preference? If you want a pink background with a lime green flashing gif as your header, then you do this. It may not be my preference, but who am I to look down on this person and/or correct them?

Design Versus Development

In my opinion, the purpose of good design is to attract a target audience and make the product or service seem appealing. If the design achieves this by any means, then who cares? The objective has been achieved. I remember back to University, where various students became so "obsessed" with their appearance of the web site that they forget entirely about the development. Approaching final deadlines there where many students bouncing around like headless chickens in a frenzy trying to figure out "how do I use Joomla?" "Is there a plugin for Wordpress available to link my Twitter blog?" These are things that are every bit as important, if not more important than the design.

I now await a lash back of emails from people telling me how wrong I am, and that the design is the single most important part of a web site. But I ask you to remember this, what use is a web site that looks good and doesn't bring in visitors and/or revenue?

Remember, nobody likes a snob!