One persistant annoyance to me is when people look at a site, and declare it as poorly designed’, when the only problem with said site is that it may not have the most professional-looking’ graphics, or perhaps it doesn’t quite have the right Web-2.0′ appeal. I have news for you: Good design has *nothing* to do with pretty graphics.
Hear that noise? That’s the sound of smoke pouring out of the ears of millions of graphic designers.
As webmasters, many of us feel a certain pressure to ensure that our sites match up to the latest standards. They need to be attractive *and* useful, to draw visitors *and* keep them.
Function and Form are two different entities; I have seen some well designed sites with very low circa-1996 graphics. I’ve seen *many* websites created in the Web 2.0 look, with flashy graphics and appealing layouts, which were absolutely useless.
When you visit a site, try to look past whatever visual shortcomings you may see. You may be walking away from some of the most useful tools or services you will ever encounter. In short, don’t judge a book (website or service) by it’s cover (graphics, layout etc.)
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