I prefer to write code for backend. The plumbing, infrastructure, functionality of a product. Backend developers want the computer to spit out all the relevant data for a page as fast as possible. Their primary concern isn’t how it looks, just that it gets there efficiently.

But I’ve learned that functionality is necessary but not sufficient. Form that only fits function fails to attract users. A well-crafted web app must also have good design. This is why UX and UI are increasingly more important. In the early days of the Internet when only hardcore hackers and geeks were online in Usenet and IRC chatrooms, functionality was king. The command line was all one needed. It was tough. Mainstream people were intimidated because the machine looked foreign and forbidding.

If UI and UX didn’t rise up, the Internet might still be used by only a small group of techies. But thanks to good design and aesthetics, more and more people interact with the web everyday. They communicate, shop, consume media, search for friends, and share their lives.

Humans love tools. We love the ones that get the job done. We really like the ones that do it for us with ease and look damn sexy at the same time. Here are two types of envelope openers

Which would you rather use?

But this is nothing new. Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ancient Greeks paired function with aesthetics on vases, Lydians on coins, and Chinese on porcelain. Now we’re adding that same desire for elegance and beauty to our virtual world.