A related observation was made by Northcote Parkinson in his famous book "Parkinson's Law" (not sure which one, there seem to be different versions). He noted t

A related observation was made by Northcote Parkinson in his famous book "Parkinson's Law" (not sure which one, there seem to be different versions). He noted that institutions that have huge clean spaces are essentially dead, as opposed to institutions which are organic and untidy, which was a sign of vigorous activity. Maybe that's somewhat true for websites and applications too.. And I would also point out to Emacs and Vim, which have visually terrible interfaces, yet some people swear to them.