[swombat]

Focusing on making everything look slick upfront is an easy mistake to make. The first step is to get the essential "process" working. In some cases, the graphical design of the site is a part of that task, but in most cases, the core of the site's success is in whether the user workflows work well and people are using the site. So it's certainly wise to focus on that first.

[dpeq]

It really depends on your target demographic. Look at HN, where the most fascinating feature is it's simplicity and that's an ideal of beauty for hackers. But there's tons of people who would turn away because the layout is not shiny enough.

[Jebdm]

Definitely. I can't wait until gradients go out of style again.

[siong1987]

doesn't a good interface help to make user workflows work well?

[swombat]

Yep, but it doesn't necessarily need to look good, it just needs to be intuitive. Sometimes that requires a good look, sometimes just a good feel.

[rosshill]

Just look at craigslist, you certainly wouldn't call it a great looking design but it definitely works!