The unfortunate recipient of a lousy haircut will stand up, pay the barber, and leave.  The barber knows this.  While he cares about quality, the sheer volume of clientele gives him a measure of decisive confidence.

It is only when the barber is forced to cut his own hair, that he becomes timid.  For weeks and months to come, he’ll be forced to walk around and live with the consequences.

As a web designer, client work is relatively painless, as you’re somewhat detached. The toughest client to please, as a web designer, is yourself.  In fact, I can think of several web agencies who have hired, OTHER web agencies to design and build their web presence, as the agency is simply too close to their own subject matter, and too invested in the results to objectively design for themselves within any kind of acceptable time frame.

It is with this timidness that I have gone about designing web templates for my university.  Keenly aware that I and dozens if not hundreds of my workmates will be forced to live with the results for an extended period of time, I have been timid, and cautious.

Additional Reading:

• How to design for Your Worst Client: You
• The Nightmare Client: YOU