Obviously, i would consider myself to be designer one.

Best case scenario is the designer who can do both according to what the client wants. It does seem that the truly creative types have a difficult time ‘coming down off their mountain’, but if they could do it. Designer 2 just needs to be aware of the client that wants something truly creative and go that direction.

When in doubt, farm it out:)

Good point. We’ve added a notification management control that should be linked from the email.

I don’t really care which one makes more money, because they’re both bad at their job.

I agree.

Designer one, while his work looks great, does not neccessary generate profitable response from his designs. He can’t manage deadlines, and hence is probably seen as unrealiable. He is probably great for certain media sites, where visual niceties are more important than actual content. But he doesn’t suit many business sites. He may be the type who is stubborn when it comes to his work, unwilling to sacrifice certain aesthetics in the name of functionality and effieceny. His designs probably cost more money (his charges, bandwidth) and yet, may not generate enough response to warrant the cost.

I would prefer to be designer two, as it seems like he is more business-friendly. He gets things done, and realises that art is only a small portion of what the site is to be. He fits in with the business process of the client, and delivers. Being a bit more professional would help him (ie. actively fixing typos). But I say he does well enough.

“Quote: “(so good in fact that it is hard to convert his Photoshop products into HTML)”

If that is true he cannot be really good web designer:)) “

Apsolutno se slažem. :)

Andrew, just for the fun of it — send one of his Photoshop products my way and I’ll convert it to spotless, cross-browser, CSS-only, XHTML compliant layout.

As for which I’d rather be, I’m not a designer (and have just about zero artistic ability). That said, I lean more toward designer #1, although I’d really prefer taking the best qualities from both.

Q2 - Designer #3. Both are prevelant in this business, so being different will allow me to stand out and attract clients who are sick of dealing with these types.