Other people have have said as much as I'm going to say but I just couldn't help but add my two cents.
The problem here is your very definition of design. If you were a designer, you'd be the bad kind that equates good design with over the top graphics. The best design is subtle. It doesn't call attention to itself or say "look at me." It just is. To paraphrase from the movie Helvetica, good design shouldn't make you say oh look how nice this design is—it should make you say well of course it's this way, why would it be any other way?
Take this very comment page, it's not flashy but I wouldn't say it's bad design at all. It knows it's audience isn't looking for bells and whistles. Everything lines up in a pleasing—and more importantly, logical—way. The typography is decent and there's enough differentiation between the comment and it's meta data. I could go on.
Basically, just open your mind. Bashing someone's profession without hearing their side is never smart.
The problem here is your very definition of design. If you were a designer, you'd be the bad kind that equates good design with over the top graphics. The best design is subtle. It doesn't call attention to itself or say "look at me." It just is. To paraphrase from the movie Helvetica, good design shouldn't make you say oh look how nice this design is—it should make you say well of course it's this way, why would it be any other way?
Take this very comment page, it's not flashy but I wouldn't say it's bad design at all. It knows it's audience isn't looking for bells and whistles. Everything lines up in a pleasing—and more importantly, logical—way. The typography is decent and there's enough differentiation between the comment and it's meta data. I could go on.
Basically, just open your mind. Bashing someone's profession without hearing their side is never smart.