I completely disagree. Making a average website is the goal of most businesses that are selling an actual product. His website looks modern and welcoming and does not distract or take away from the actual content. This exactly what most people should aim for. Some actual constructive criticism is some o the icons in the example log mood look weird on my phone, with really small emojis overlapping the face emoji

No one should aim for average, that’s an incredibly defeatist way of looking at it. Besides, design matters. I know HN is frequented mostly by people with very little interest in such topics, but design absolutely matters.

And yes, while the author’s website is perfectly passable, it is by no means “good”. People pick up on that, they might not know they do, but they do. Design wouldn’t be an industry and a school by itself if it didn’t matter and just the average were good enough.

Thank you, agreed, I will iterate on this more.

When I shared this I wasn't thinking about the marketing site -- I meant to show the product itself. Given the feedback here I no longer think it's a good representative as-is, especially with the generic SVGs / rounded cards