I see this topic coming up again and again — and I totally agree with you. If you want to produce the ‘visual porn’ as you put it, go for it. All the power to you. Who cares if you’re not solving a complex problem. I remember how comforting it was to iterate over, and over on different visual styles in my first few years as a designer. And I think its an incredibly useful to me now. I can spend more time dissecting the experience — and when it’s time to come up with a visual system it’s not a foreign place. I’m starting to see a new breed of product designers with a degree in HCI lets say — but are terrified of creating a styleguide from scratch. I don’t think thats so great.