Design is critical to the success of a website; people make very quick judgements based only on visual appeal. In 2006, one study1 indicated that users take as little as 50 milliseconds to judge a website.
That's 1/20th of a second - before the conscious brain takes over.
Although you may dispute the exact number of milliseconds, we all do make quick decisions on seeing a website for the first time. Good design starts (but only starts) with an appealing visual design. We believe good design also includes clear highlighting of where you are, what is possible and an awareness of (and respect for) the person using the site and their probable goals.
Most of our projects are designed entirely by ourselves. However, we do also work with outside designers that our client has previously selected and we also sometimes work with other designers who've hired us to build websites that are beyond their technical abilities.
Reference
1 Lindgaard G., Fernandes G. J., Dudek C. & Brown, Journal of Behavior & Information Technology, 25. 115 - 126 (2006).
