[michaelpinto]

Look-and-feel is very much a part of design, and that includes both industrial design and interface design (in addition to other related fields like fashion or graphic design). So Dieter Rams minimalism is very much a visual language and owes a great deal to art deco and the bauhaus.

But design doesn't always have to be useful. For example the work that a game designer does is all about distraction and entertainment, and has little to do with making things understandable. In fact game design is about creating problems for people more than anything else at times.

I'd also be wary of the fashion to bash fashion and the decorative arts: A good knowledge of the decorative arts and art history are critical if you want to be a good designer. And I would also add to that a good designer should be a well rounded person as well: You should know a little bit about theater, literature, music and many other things.

The real failure I see is that many lesser engineers think that they can sprinkle some design on what they're doing. Another sin I see is that while hacker culture is a great thing, design isn't something that you can learn in 48 hours from courseware. In fact I've spent my entire career doing design and I'm still learning new things every day.