Web design is one such thing that requires popping out new ideas every minute, every second! Think about it. How many design projects have you taken up till date? How many prototypes have you created and how many were actually accepted by the client? Over a period of even one year, there would have been a hundred designs that you would have presented to your clients. Some accepted, some rejected and yet others modified. Those designs that were accepted - good for you! What about those that were rejected?
Here's the good news. You can recycle the web design! The one's that were rejected are the ones that no one else is using. This means that you've got loads and loads of designs that are ready to use! All you need to do is match the designs with the requirements of the next client! This is not categorized as "copying" too. It's totally ok to use your own designs that were not accepted by other clients. Of course designers do have a passion to create new designs every time. But it's like reusing your own original designs. Well, with the increasing demand for originality with limited time at hand, this is the best fit solution.
This is exactly why the stress is on recycling a web design. When time is a constraint, it is of utmost importance that we as designers give our clients unique designs and make our lives easy too. This method has a lot of benefits too. By recycling a web design, you can give to a client a prototype with a really short time. You can also complete the project within your client's time frame. Our efforts are not in vain and clients are happy! If customer satisfaction is our prime goal and time is the only factor that will make him happy, well, we have a ready design to help us keep customers happy.
So, unless a client explicitly asks for a web design that is fresh and new and is willing to give you enough time to work on it to develop and design and create a unique design, it is not imperative that you work on a fresh one. Recycling a web design is one of the smartest choices you will make to work with clients that come with short time at hand. So, make the most out of the time you get and the designs you have!
