But since our industry broadens every day, with more consumers and home users using our Web sites and products, the expectations are higher. Technologies are closer to people, and the connections people make with technology are increasingly important and personal to them. Most of what gets talked about with interfaces has to do with function. It is critical, but it's only a part of the story. The aesthetics are how things are shown and presented, and the style in which things are communicated to the user.
Aesthetics are more subjective than function and a much harder value to measure.
However, aesthetics are almost as important as function. The way a person feels about an object or a thing influences how successful they will be in using it. A user forced to use something they don't like because of how it looks or feels will be unhappy to some degree, no matter how well they do on usability tests. It's not pretty pictures, it's using only the elements you need to convey your message. Designers, programmers, and technologists share at least one trait, in that they can easily be misled into believing their message is to convince the world how talented they are, rather than to help the user actually do something.