I don't know the author's work, but I do know that this vision is nothing new, and it's often why a startup, or many other well-meaning businesses think all the

I don't know the author's work, but I do know that this vision is nothing new, and it's often why a startup, or many other well-meaning businesses think all they really need is a design intern. It also points toward the old trope of 'I'm a television expert, because I watch a lot of tv.' (Mr. Olivera, I don't think you hold this position, however, it is on the same spectrum, imo) Again, it does work, but design is relegated to being 'adequate' rather than being a potential source of innovation and differentiation. It plays to this crowd, but that doesn't mean it's right – kind of like going into a design forum and saying that your developers don't need a CS degree, because everything is about frameworks these days. It reinforces the old trope that designers just make graphics, wireframes, flows, etc. while the programmers do the 'real work' of making it live. A company or startup can get away with a 'functional' designer as described in the post, but it removes design as a differentiator or potential source of innovation. It's true that almost anybody can mock up a landing page and mini-site, but that is a supremely limited conception of a designer.