May 10, 2016 | Dave Dechant

While many web designers like to think of themselves as artists – and they might actually very well be just that – the truth is, designing websites is more about science than it is about art.

Especially today.

Now, before everyone gets cranky and defensive, hear me out on this:

Ultimately, you have two options:

1. You can build a beautiful website that you’re proud of, that uses all your knowledge and the latest bells and whistles, OR
2. you can answer the needs of the business your client is running. In doing so, you need to put together a website that performs.

In short, your purpose as the web designer is to create a website that gets visitors to convert…

…whether that’s filling out a form, purchasing a product, downloading a white paper, or viewing a video.

Pure and simple.

If you can do that – create a web design that gets visitors to take action – while ALSO doing it in a way that gets you lots of kudos for your design, well then, that’s just a bonus.

We’d all love to incorporate the trendiest of trends in our design (I’m looking at you, parallax), and be lauded for thought-provoking, artistic design. That said, the end goal should always be a design that best allows the visitor to accomplish a goal that benefits your client; not you as the designer.

Have a different take? Start the discussion below.