Design v. Usability

Nielsen warns Web 2.0 Can Be Dangerous, which sparked an interesting and lengthy discussion on the IxDA list on definitions of design and usability. One interesting, although mistaken, argument is that designers are more enlightened about good design than usability practitioners.

One of Jared's responses:

Designers and usability practitioners have different roles in the design process and, when they work together well, they can produce amazing results. Of course, it takes little skill to do something poorly (damn, I really want to get that on a t-shirt) , so when they work together poorly, which takes virtually no skill or effort, then the results are likely to be less-than-desirable.