Wen -

You may be onto something. Everything that anyone of us does has to reflect our inner self--it's inescapable. Self-expression will play this out multiple times, giving each of us our own "voice" that can be identified as unique to the artist (whether it's poetry, prose, 2-D painterly art, etc.) Art critics make a good deal of money defining an artist's voice, and his/her "period," as the voice changes with time.

One of the elements of my voice is asymmetry. It showed up in my graphic design years ago, it showed up in how I hung pictures on a wall, and it definitely showed up in my quilts. My ex's voice was centered. Left to his own devices, he centered everything or evenly balanced it--symmetrical. Left to my own devices, I never did anything on a straight line or in a predictable manner -- asymmetrical was my style.

Whenever I had to heed someone else's taste, and it generally ran to symmetrical, my voice was drowned out. All of my more inspirational or creative flights of fancy became very routine or uninspired. There was no place for me to add in whimsey or happenstance. In other words, my work lacked "shine or sparkle," because it wasn't MY work.

And, it wasn't truly "their" work, either. While they may have overriden me and insisted on elements that reflected them, I was still doing it. It continued to be partially my work, just not the inspirational part of me.

It had diluted personality -- not truly me and not truly them.

And, perhaps, this is why web design has eluded me for so long as an interest. It's too darn symmetrical!! I've not found a way of making it asymmetrical. However, here is the catch--most people are symmetrical, it's in our training. So, if I did manage to find a way to design something that reflected me, it might not be understood or appeal to those using it.

Now, beyond that. Most of the sites that I use on a regular basis are hardly "design marvels." I don't visit them for their design; I visit them for their content. And, if one is going to use good optimization and pay heed to accessibility and compatibility issues, is it possible to give it as much personality as one would if ignoring these essentials? Or is it more important to have a highly functional and useable site that doesn't have a whole lot of personality?

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LdyGuique