In what seems like a long lost past, software application developers developed software applications with a focus on functionality and speed only. At the time, the resources for creating applications were far less great than they are now and in order to harness high level functionality and speed the easiest sacrifice to make was the Graphical User Interface, or GUI. There weren’t as many advancements in terms of graphics at the time either and making too much use of the existing advancements was like water on a fly’s wings. You were going to slow down the application. With technological improvements and an increasing social appetite for graphical beauty, we are at a time where advanced applications and good GUI can be happily married (though they aren’t always). In this new world and market place, where there are so many developers and applications, you can no longer get by with a subpar GUI. As robust and stable as your software may be, if a potential buyer feels aesthetically insulted it’s going to make an impact on how good of a tool they perceive your application to be. People judge books by their cover, they do it all the time and no house hold saying is going to stop that. GUI should be a primary focus on any new software development project, but this doesn’t mean that more GUI is good GUI. You may have all the bells, whistles and sparkly gems one could imagine but overkill is just that, overkill. Good GUI is more than just pretty decoration; it is also massively in tune with the user experience. Clean and solid GUI will make an application intuitive to use and sometimes even fun (even if it wasn’t intended to be). People are visual creatures and content is no longer enough to pique and then maintain people’s interest. If you want to develop a successful application or even a presentation, it is in your best interest to make sure you have someone on your team who knows a thing or two about good GUI.