So a site that might have introduced new ways of presenting information is axed in favor of a site that looks exactly like every other site out there. Jakob is smiling. Designers should quit being so immature and cocky. A site that loses a certain percentage of users is unacceptable. A client isn't going to risk innovation on a multimillion-dollar project.
Designers can have their own personal sites to fuck around with.
These may all be true in varying degrees and at certain times. First of all, let's take the individual approach. Every designer I know is an artist. They paint, they play music, they DJ, they sculpt. Most got talked into design because someone didn't want them to be another starving artist.