Back in the 90s I switched from Yahoo to Google because of the clean uncluttered look as much as the quality of the search results. And while UI guidelines have always been enforced fairly rigidly on Apple's platform, the quality and consistency of icons, toolbars, etc. on windows applications have always been a good proxy for the reliability and utility of the underlying code. ANSI or command-line software has a strong design element; Norton Utilities, Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect were winners in their respective markets because they had robust visual grammars, and even a batch file or shell script needs some design to the extent that it's user-facing.
Recently I've been using a terminal to some ancient AS/400 database to look up property records at my local city hall, and it's an excellent reminder of how even the simplest task can become completely user-hostile if design is overlooked.
Recently I've been using a terminal to some ancient AS/400 database to look up property records at my local city hall, and it's an excellent reminder of how even the simplest task can become completely user-hostile if design is overlooked.