Design absolutely matters when a consumer is interfacing with your application, and pixel-pushing is actually quite important. It can be used as a talking point

Design absolutely matters when a consumer is interfacing with your application, and pixel-pushing is actually quite important. It can be used as a talking point - the SeatGeek application is extremely well-designed for it's vertical, and is meant to be pleasing to use (thereby hopefully driving more eyeballs/higher conversion). Internally, I think it's also a way to have the designers/developers proud of something they helped accomplish. No, I didn't perform any of the design on the SeatGeek app, but you'll bet your ass I'm not complaining about the three hours I spent uploading about 100 - outsourced and therefore not named well enough for me to automate it - logos to S3 for use in the app. It's a source of pride, and it's what staves off the burnout. Reference: I work on Operations at SeatGeek, and after slicing up a PSD to very exacting specifications two years ago, I know exactly what kind of a difference design can make re: tech blogs/traffic.