I know what you mean, but I think there's a bit of nuance here. It's not about excessive slickness to the point where the design itself is more substantial than

I know what you mean, but I think there's a bit of nuance here. It's not about excessive slickness to the point where the design itself is more substantial than the data, it's about just enough design so that the presentation doesn't look amateur. I agree that appearance shouldn't impact our trust, but it often does. If we showed up to a talk on investing, we might be surprised if Rapper 50 Cent took the stage. With his off axis baseball cap, his team jersey and gold chains, we might be questioning whether we should really listen to his investment advice... until he tells us he walked away with $7 million from one of his moves, or $60+ million from another. On the other hand, if he had just walked out in khakis and a dress shirt, we probably wouldn't have questioned him before he spoke. Nobody is impressed by khakis and a dress shirt, but it's just enough that we don't question his trustworthiness, giving the data a fair chance to come through and be trusted (or questioned) on its own merit.