> [T]he first law of UX should be that aesthetics are secondary to usability.
I would argue that instead it should be aesthetics and functionality need to be balanced.
Your usability will suffer if lack of aesthetics obscure the usability of a tool. Conversely, your aesthetics need to be reigned in, so that they do not obscure the usability of your tool.
I dunno man, I don't think it's a tradeoff. Make a good UX, then slap on a nice color scheme, some shiny buttons, whatever. The hard part is making the UX good.
I would argue that instead it should be aesthetics and functionality need to be balanced.
Your usability will suffer if lack of aesthetics obscure the usability of a tool. Conversely, your aesthetics need to be reigned in, so that they do not obscure the usability of your tool.