This can be a site for related side of the escort industry, and we have often turned down porn work, or someone who requires their existing site modified without a redesign, just perhaps an update to a responsive framework from old code, or a feature their existing site will not accommodate.
Now to be honest I really prefer to do what we do, in a way we know works, however sometimes I do step outside this and just work to a brief and an existing design as I guess all design houses have to do sometimes. This was the scenario recently when asked to redesign a site which needed converting to a responsive site but wanted the design kept pretty much intact. While I appreciate the reasoning, I do feel that a redesign every two years or so provides benefits which outweigh the familiarity of what you know and what the client expects.
Fashions change, and technology moves forward
Firstly fashions change, and technology moves forward and this is a good enough reason on its own, a dated site perhaps portrays the ‘wrong” image. Subliminally clients browsing the net pick up expectations of what a site should be like, and do, and without knowing gain an idea of what is fashionable, standard etc. and this needs to be taken into account. Yes there are other considerations, balancing a sexy look against the current trend for minimalism (brought on by the need to serve content to low bandwidth small screen smartphones quickly).
Screen resolution changes, what was a normal pixel density on a screen is now woeful by todays retina display standards. This means the picture sizes of just a couple of years ago are now either to small, or bad quality when viewed on a modern device. As an example an iPad has a higher pixel density than a 24” monitor of a few years ago. Checking your image measures up is another good reason for upgrading your site regularly.
Lately, consider that supermarkets have an annoying habit of moving the aisles round but it is for a good reason. Familiarity means clients simply go where they know things are and may not look round, forcing them out of their comfort zone means they have to search and may pick up other items. The same applies to your site, an update will surprise a viewer, they will probably investigate other pages.
One caveat to this, sometimes if you have an established identity trashing a familiar branding can be a radical step. Often a site can be moved forward, retaining perhaps colour, logo, general feel while creating a more modern feel, an evolution rather than a revolution.