A few years ago, I invented the term designtard to describe graphic designers who try to create websites. They usually end up being completely unusable, littered with Flash and Javascript flying everywhere. There's numerous examples of this, ranging from "stupid" to "offensive":
- http://www.chorusdesign.com/process.html
- http://www.etcdesign.com.au/
- http://www.hoppingmad.com.au/
- http://www.mattwebb.com.au/
The last one is gold. The guy says "simplicity is a good thing", on a site that's far from simple...
Graphic designers simply don't understand concepts like "standard compliant" and "gracefully degrading". They don't understand the need to test a layout in multiple browsers, or that all your users aren't on broadband connections. And lastly, most of them don't have a clue about usability or accessibility.
To any company considering hiring a graphic designer solely to do your website:
You wouldn't hire a Chef to produce a glossy publication for you. So why would you hire an artist to create an accessible website?