Being a professional coder who is now studying design one thing I've discovered is that most people underestimate the scope of good design and seem to want to narrow the designer just down the prett visuals, discounting anything unseen (eg process).

Another difficulty is that much good design is obvious in hindsight, think iPad but the act of whittling away what is unimportant is a key part of the job.

Or yeah maybe you've just dealt with poor designers.