There is a great debate among graphic designers about whether it is OK or not for graphic designers to use ready made website templates in their work and also whether all graphic designers working professionally need to have at least the basic skills in reading and writing code or if writing code is simply something that can be left to full-time web professionals. My view is that graphic designers should and in this article I explain why.
After 20 years working as a designer and ten years as a creative director I have learned the importance of testing every step of a design process and it never stops to surprise me how often designs that I personally find really strong, about half of the times when performing usability- and perception tests, reveals serious problems. What I have come to learn from this is the importance of testing every major iteration of a design on an unbiased audience and never let my subjective opinion solely drive conclusions about a design.