I strongly disagree with this view -- the art is precisely what drew me into this article. Of course the content is the center here, but it adds so much. I wouldn't remember a generic article on Space Junk, but I'll sure remember this for a long time.
It's really important that it adds to the experience. It should have been tested on low performance devices, and so on. (I'm designing a few websites with those concerns in mind right now)
I think one approach is benchmarking and adjusting features based on that. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of good!
Please expand your horizons on the utility of art (integrated into our daily lives). It can be far from vain.
I used to make sites like this as a full time job; yeah until technology advances enough to make the jank disappear completely it's just a vanity project, it actually detracts from the substance of the article
