Yea, I think this is part of the attitude problem actually.
Many sites are heralded as an example of 'no design necessary' because they lack the eye candy. However, the minimalism of these sites, the layout of results by date (as opposed to alphabetically or something else) the categories they are arranged by, all are part of the design of these sites. Was a designer involved in this? Hard to say, probably not, but were these decisions made intentionally by someone considering alternative choices? absolutely.
I'm not saying designers are the only people who can design. Just that designers are trained and have experience making decisions like the ones I mentioned above. We can - and do - provide value to software.
Many sites are heralded as an example of 'no design necessary' because they lack the eye candy. However, the minimalism of these sites, the layout of results by date (as opposed to alphabetically or something else) the categories they are arranged by, all are part of the design of these sites. Was a designer involved in this? Hard to say, probably not, but were these decisions made intentionally by someone considering alternative choices? absolutely.
I'm not saying designers are the only people who can design. Just that designers are trained and have experience making decisions like the ones I mentioned above. We can - and do - provide value to software.