> I think it's worth taking a step back and realizing that this is subjective

On an individual level it is almost impossible to argue about design. A friend might love their uncomfortable, rainbow colored chairs for various reasons that are both beyond mine and, frankly, their grasp.

Statistically however it becomes much clearer. Apple does something right with their product design. There is not a single job any of Apples products accomplishes, that you could not get done for less by buying from someone else. And yet, people don't.

We could then argue that this has nothing to do with the design. It's just the specs, it's the marketing, it's the golden cage that is some apple products. I can not dismiss any of those with publicly available data, but, again, the inversion offers insight: Imagine a iPhone that was made out of a cheap material you dislike and painted in multiple colors that made your eyes water. The worst possible product design, whatever that is to you.

There is certainly an image of a product that you would be pretty certain wouldn't sell because of its design. Someone might say "Oh, I don't know, it's all subjective" but even though you just have your instincts, you are certain it is not, without having to try. As soon as you imagine the look and touch, you know it's just not good and most people wouldn't enjoy using it. And you would be right.

It's somewhat harder to come up with analogous example for websites, mostly because data is even less in the because websites are usually not the product, but I hope it's not too much in this discussion to take the leap and infer that there is no reason to assume it would be any different.

It certainly is subjective. However, there is definitely something to be said about the usage of Bootstrap/Material/Tailwind resulting in your site looking like thousands of others, with little character or distinguishing “feel” of its own.

Why does every website need a distinguishing feel? Does every published book try to come up with a new typeface?

I mean, a lot of websites are landing pages for products, and therefore serve a marketing purpose. Most books are just books.

The landing page for a product *should* look like most other landing pages. I want to see all the important information in places that I would expect. Pricing, customer testimonials, list of features, documentation/tutorial links, etc., should all be presented up front and there aren't many ways to do that well.

An amazing design could stand out from the crowd but something custom would probably more than likely end up looking worse than using bootstrap/tailwind. Especially since these SaaS companies aren't spending their headcount on hiring designers - they'd probably prefer to hire more engineers to build the actual product. If I see a design company with a boring website then I'd be a bit disappointed but I don't expect that from a run of the mill SaaS company.

> The landing page for a product should look like most other landing pages.

Yes. The big caveat being: In most ways. Much like we are 98% chimpanzees, the pudding is in the remain 2%.

> there aren't many ways to do that well.

Well, no. That is akin to saying "Each house needs a roof and four walls so, really, there aren't many way to do that well". Oh yes, there are so many ways to do it well and even more do it poorly, and, statistically, people are very clearly able to judge which is the case.

Being a great creator (in whatever field) requires the right amount of attention to detail because, really, they are not actually details. They are the pudding.