: How to tell my boss his webdesign attempts are bad/hopeless? I'm a web dev. My boss is an outdated physical media designer. We're working together on a relatively huge food delivery web system.

@Alves566

Age old battle: programmer vs designer or ponytails vs black socks.

Just adding something to the advice that has already been offered. Is the position/job description/responsibility of you and your boss well defined? Even if you have shares in the company, that does not necessarily mean you can make decisions or offer input in every process of the company.

For example, I have shares in a company that creates cosmetics. I am very opinionated, as I guess you probably are. I would not dare, though, making comments or offering advice about the smell of the new bath products they are launching even if I think they stink (which I don't, they rock), because that is completely out of the scope of my responsibilities. I can have opinions, as every human is entitled to have, but it is not my place, my right or my responsibility to share them or try to enforce them if they are out of my scope.

So, are you just hired to implement what he designs, which in many cases is the case? Or are you supposed to critique his graphic design as well? Be careful if crossing those boundaries, because it creates a muddy slush that very often end ups in war. Nasty one.

Another comment: I can guess that, from the tone of your question, your advice probably does not come as a subtle comment. Mine was like that as well, and I had to learn to tone it down and sweeten it a lot. Like they say: you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

(BTW: I personally both have a ponytail and wear black socks)

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@Holmes874

This is an age-old problem where people unfamiliar with the medium try to bring over habits from another.

I'd push back from an implementation standpoint. Push for responsive layouts, device agnosticism, agile processes, etc. This will force him outside of his comfortable large Photoshop file and into working more directly with you in a collaborative way.

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@Tiffany317

You could start by describing what in particular you don't like about this design. Don't get me wrong, I don't really like it either, but I've noticed that you haven't written anything about why you don't like the design. If you told your boss the same thing ("basically, it just sucks"), I'm not surprised he didn't listen to you. If you don't like it, try to verbalize your disapproval.
If you're not sure how to describe what you don't like about the design, try to argue with design principles. For example, you could say that the intense red is inappropriate for a food-related product, since red creates strong emotions; "Boy, I sure do love this rhubarb" - doesn't sound so convincing, does it?
Also, I think the layout is pretty unbalanced and chaotic. Keep in mind that those were just examples, you should think about what you don't like about the design and then tell that to your boss.

If he's not a complete douche, he should at least be willing to talk about it. But just saying "I don't like that thing" isn't an argument, as little as "You're a programmer, not a designer".

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@Nimeshi706

There's only so much you can do. Explain why the ideas that he proposes are not good for the web in an as considerate, nice of a way as you can. For example, in this design making it responsive would be a pain, keeping the image for small screens is impossible. You could note that it's bad practice to create a completely different mobile layout than the desktop site. Make sure to provide alternatives and guidance, not just criticism.

In the end of the day, he is your boss. He's the one that pays you. As such, he has the last call as long as you're working there. Never forget that changing companies is a possibility!

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