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?