Awesome!

Cosmind, what are studios looking for in a designer?

From what we've seen on the mass market lately, I'd say studios are looking for designers who hate to take risks or do something original, sadly.

I can't really speak for anyone else, but if they're the same as me it'll be related to the fact that so far we're all quite open in terms of skill bases, as in, a good handful of everything, rather than really excelling in anything to a 'useful' degree perhaps; it does diminish slightly the impact of knowing "Awesome, I've actually made a game - a game" if prospective employers are almost going to have to say "... And?".

I think...

You take a big risk and you risk the paycheque of every person in your studio, or at least the studio itself. Just because big risks aren't necessarily being taken doesn't mean original material isn't being made; developers are just preferring to take it step by step, and examining the results. As a matter of fact, this is rather a legit manner of going about it if you ask me. Look at Heavenly Sword; it's working within a successful genre to make SURE that the game sells well and appeals to a target audience, but also takes little "risks" in it's unique freestyle combat system and context-sensitive fighting controls. These risks aren't huge, but they do open up new doors for gameplay, and give the studios more freedom to experiment if they are successful with it. The "risks" that are taken just don't take on the face of "risks" because they're being thoroughly tested and examined for stability, but they are the same thing in essence, aren't they? Well, sorta, but progress is being made and new ideas are coming out with pretty much every new release, at the least, I'd say.

I don't think this got the attention it deserves:

it's amazingly useful to be quite good at the myriad.  it gives you that grand understanding of the whole picture.  which in turn turns you into a much better communicator within your team.  and also allows you to be one who can envision the entirety of the game, and help/inspire others in all disciplines.

Skill means nothing if you can't use it efficiently in a team environment. From the crunch, I finally understood why studios really like interns. If I have to choose between skill and passion, I'd go for passion. As I see it,  good skill is merely a by-product of strong passion; it's external - what's inside is more important.

The designer's job is not to be good at it, but (as CosMind said) have a solid understanding of it. I believe that will accomplish just what you'd stated there.