Design
When designing a new instrument there are different issues I tale into account.
Of course the clients wishes are the number one.
Next to the clients wishes there are design priciples to which I like to adhere as a luthier. For instance. I believe a guitar should look like a guitar. Sometimes I see creations which are hardly recognized as a guitar, one sometimes has to look twice before noticing he/she is dealing with a guitar. I have to admit that it can be fun, perhaps it is the creators aim to play with the conseption. However my experience is that more often such radical/excotic designs have the tendency to not last very long, get boring in the long run, often due to marketing and fashion etc. There are a lot of good guitar design thought out and build, especially in the area of the electric guitar. This does not mean acoustic design is at a low level, in the contuary
Sound: at the end the customer determines the sound.
From the past I have learned that the idea of good tone, a good voice to the guitarist changes/evolves. This is also known as the "psyco-acoustic-effect", where the feeling, the looks and the sound come together. This actually determines whether you think a guitar feels good/plays nice. Good guitars inspire you, stimulate you, they ask for more, they help you get the best out of you (I believe this is true not just for guitars, but all instruments), your playing, cheers you up! enjoying yourself when playing your instrument. This enjoyment is totally independant of the music style you, as a musician, prefer. When you think about these aspekts of the design of a guitar it is not very hard to realize that form (the model, ergonimics), materials (woodspecies, finishing), electronics (yes, this can very well apply to acoustics as wel) and the feeling the instrument gives your all together determine the sound (with a little luck for me as a luthier, "your sound") of your instrument.