It's Still My Site Even If I Didn't Design it

One thing is for certain; I'm loving the new design. All that should matter with my own site is that I am happy, right? Patrick and I chased a great idea - trading professional services. He is an awesome designer, and I am a fairly decent coder. It makes sense, right? It's good business. Stop making your C's a B, and make your B's into A's. In the standard business world, this is a no-brainer decision. With professional web, though, I've heard some mixed reviews.

When I told people about this idea, many supported it. Some of my colleagues outside of work said they wished they had a designer buddy they could do something similar with. Patrick and I have jokingly wondered why others at our agency haven't done something similar with their own personal sites. For some, the joy of the visual creation process is likely a component. Half of the fun is getting to express your own visual creativity. For me, I just want to build stuff. I then want to tear it down, and build it back up better again. I'm a sucker for aesthetics, but I recognize that I have little to no talent in that department. My true passion lies with code and application design.

What I want to know is what people really think about this idea. I trust the reader community to give me an honest opinion (they do about everything else I write about or throw up on this site, which I humbly appreciate). Am I misrepresenting what I'm capable of professionally by portraying a design for my website that was done by someone else? Was this something that was shady to do? Was it downright unethical? Or was it smart business, a fair exchange, or an inspirational idea that others should feel compelled to repeat? Should developers, creatives, project managers and information architects even have and maintain their own personal websites in the professional web community?

I personally feel that it was a decision good for both of our careers, in that we are able to showcase what we can accomplish as two professional individuals working together as a team. I feel it also showcases the caliber of work our agency can produce, opens the doors for networking opportunities on both personal and agency paths, and enables us to push the boundaries to make our B's into A's by not restricting our ability to write flexible code, or create sleek, intuitive designs.

Please, let me know what you think, and don't be afraid to lay on brutal honesty. Like the readers of this site, I am committed to making the web a better place, and I think this conversation is good to have. This train of thought even inpsired a Jyte!