I think you're attributing ugliness "on purpose" incorrectly. No one at Bloomberg exclaims "Oh gee, let's make this more ugly, people will get a kick out of it."
It's just that they haven't bloated this app with CSS styles and other unnecessary aesthetics. It works. That's all.
It's just that they haven't bloated this app with CSS styles and other unnecessary aesthetics. It works. That's all.