I think most people, regardless of age, know good web design when they see it. We didn't see it here, unfortunately. While reactions can be somewhat subjective, there were objective problems, including typography and use of color. Where I work (software development) I am colleagues with a talented group of web designers distributed in age and 3 of the 3 I showed it to found, at best, that it needed significant work. I know, not a large sample, but nonetheless...
Nothing wrong with change, as other have pointed out, but it has to be seen to have value and you have to execute well.