Very important point. That being said, it's not an one-or-the-other issue.
I can do 100% of my UX/UI design in OmniGraffle and then implement it as black boxes on a white page and have a well thought-out easy to use site.
On the other hand, there are so many "pretty" sites that are really hard to interact with.
So, both are important - It seems to me that in the "web 2.0" world a pretty design will get press and get people in the door, and good UX is what will keep people using your site.
Comments
Very important point. That being said, it's not an one-or-the-other issue.
I can do 100% of my UX/UI design in OmniGraffle and then implement it as black boxes on a white page and have a well thought-out easy to use site.
On the other hand, there are so many "pretty" sites that are really hard to interact with.
So, both are important - It seems to me that in the "web 2.0" world a pretty design will get press and get people in the door, and good UX is what will keep people using your site.