I genuinely thought this article was a joke -- I thought he was going to say something about you should add up the ticks in the 'good' and 'bad' columns and if

I genuinely thought this article was a joke -- I thought he was going to say something about you should add up the ticks in the 'good' and 'bad' columns and if the total number was greater than zero you should find a different designer :) I think this guy is just wrong. A designer's job is to design. It's not his/her job to use buzzwords like "business objective" or "ROI" - it's his job to create a functional, relevant and aesthetically-pleasing website. And, frankly, I think words like 'clean' and 'modern' are GOOD. As a web consumer, I know I think higher of companies with clean, functional, modern websites. It means they have a clue.