Personal vs Professional opinion
Posted on June 10, 2008
Filed Under Business |
I was talking to a client yesterday about how I felt that his website looks better than his main competitor’s site. (This is not a site I designed; I am only doing SEO for him) The client then asked me the question: “Is that your personal opinion or professional opinion?” I responded that it was both. Because since this is my line of work, my personal opinion is my professional opinion. They are one and the same - there is no separation between the two.
But then after our talk, I got to thinking about it. Are they actually the same? I know what the client was asking - he wanted to make sure he was getting the ‘professional opinion’ out of me, and I feel I assured him he did get just that. But I couldn’t help continuing to think about the question. Is there actually a difference between the two? Can I personally dislike the way certain things look on a website, but professionally give the opinion that it looks really good?
I think the answer is: sometimes, but not very often. I think there can be some situations in which a professional opinion differs from a personal one. So for example, I might not prefer a particular color over another to go along with part of an overall scheme, but my professional opinion still could be that either will work very well. As designers, for the most part however, personal and professional opinions are one and the same. After all, that is just what we do -our opinion is what we get paid for ultimately.
What do you think?
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10 Responses to “Personal vs Professional opinion”
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Good question. As I’m in the process of building my business I value both opinions on my website. I want to get the viewpoint from potential customers, vendors, web designers and SEO experts. It’s hard to value one over the other because they are all valuable – just in different ways.
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You are right Carla, *all* opinions count!
The question for me is, when I am the one giving an opinion to someone regarding web design - is my personal opinion any different from my professional opinion? Honestly I think they are one and the same.
By the way your site greenandchic.com is really looking good! and that is both a personal and professional opinion
I agree! I personally hate my companys current website colors but in the end I know that the average user enjoys the look of the site. In my personal opinion I would have a certain look I would go for and I know it would look good but to the average user they probally would not know what to think.
The hardest part of our job is to put ourselves in the customers’ shoes. Usually our clients can’t even do that. So here we are designing or voicing an opinion on a design where we are first effected by our own ideas and background and then effected by the client’s opinion when, ultimately, it is all about motivating the end user.
Do you think the website or design is better because, technically, you know there is more work and creativity involved? Or that the end user thinks flashing lights and neon colors are the bomb?
This is a difficult point to ponder. All I can say is I strive to think from the customers’ point of view first and then try to please the client second. Lastly, I use my professional opinion to make sure everything works for everyone, including myself.
And people think being a doctor is hard.
Trish
PS: Thanks Eric for your kind comment about Mosaic Homes.
I have a professional opinion, and personal preferences. I love purple, but it’s not professionally appropriate to make all my clients’ sites purple. A personal preference is “I do/don’t like that” whereas my professional opinion is “That would/wouldn’t work”. Does that distinction make sense to you, Eric?
Trisha Cupra, Web Design Watchdogs last blog post: How to deal with Problem Clients - A very tempting solution
@Trish, you are welcome about the comments on the logo blog. And you’re right - the customer’s point of view should always be considered first. So when we try to ‘think like the customer’ - and advise or design something based on that, are we putting aside our own personal opinions in favor of the ‘professional’ opinion on what will be most pleasing to the maximum number of people?
@Trisha — I think you said it best: You have a professional opinion, then you have your own personal preferences. Totally makes sense.
If I don’t like something, I can usually give an objective & practical reason. I communicate this as a professional opinion. If I can’t think of a good objective reason, I consider it a personal opinion and keep it to myself.
i think, many costumer is “suspicious” for the personal opinion, because the professionalism is not yet validate by W3C . lol
is anyone knows, where the professionalism opinion is validate by independent internet rating, or maybe you could build first (maybe) IPO (internet professionalism opinion)
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I agree with Trish, it’s all about the end user. I may not personally take to a design but if I’m not within the target market, my personal opinion doesn’t matter for much if anything. If it’s good design, and the target market likes it, then my professional opinion is that it works. And when I say “good design”, I can appreciate when something is good design but still not like it on a personal level.
That’s a great question and I’m not sure there is a clear answer. I guess the way I would look at it from a professional standpoint would be, does this maximize the image my client is trying to portray and is it the best image for his customers to understand his message. Then at that point it doesn’t really matter what your personal opinion is.
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