No shit. Bottom-tier design work was necessary when the default templates for everything were crap and people were ignorant of the technology.<p>Also, a lot of &quot;designers&quot; and &quot;design agencies&quot; can&#x27;t code HTML worth crap and the value they provided was minimal.<p>To me, a good independent designer codes, knows quirks, and also has the eye for design. If you&#x27;re a larger company and you want the specialists, it&#x27;s just better to hire them. And if you don&#x27;t understand the importance of design, there&#x27;s an unlimited amount of cheap, quality templates out there.<p>The trivial work for Photoshoppers with a design degree is up.