I think aesthetics are an important aspect of GUI design, since it has such a big impact on the emotional state of the user. But if it starts to interfere with

I think aesthetics are an important aspect of GUI design, since it has such a big impact on the emotional state of the user. But if it starts to interfere with readability then no amount of visual craftmanship can make up for it. I really think contemporary design is driven by a fear of being uglier than the next guy, to an extent where a lot of proven ideas have been thrown out with the bath water instead of being iteratively improved upon.