[tom_ilsinszki]

Consider working with a designer even on small projects, because it's a low-cost and low-risk way to get to know designers and filter out the ones, you'd love to work with on bigger projects.

Also, I don't have proof for this, but based on my experiences, designers need to be less analytical, and a little more intuitive. While programmers need to try to be as analytical as possible (while programming at least). So, I think it's not really easy to be good at both (again, my opinion).

Advice: develop an eye for design, so you know what's good and what's not, and learn how to communicate with designers more effectively than most programmers.