With proper planning no amount of Panda or Penguin Updates can derail your SEO program. That's real website design and SEO!
The aspects of SEO (On-Page Optimization, Link Building, Keyword Silos) now work together with the aspects of Website Design (navigation, visual appeal, layout, readability, content development) to create a place where the visitor ENJOYS learning, buying or participating in whatever it is that the site was designed/developed for. Search engines keep modifying the way they look at sites because their goal is to provide a good "referral" to their client, the searcher. So, if you want solid SEO you need someone who understand this and knows how to put it all together.