I remember a design book that emphasized that the best designs are those left after you remove all the distractions and cruft from the current design.

Crazily, I remember Joel on Software saying the best programs are full of cruft, ie all the inelegant details that make it work with all the various environments which can make it deal with the imperfections of the real world, so that using it is as smooth as possible and not revealing all those places which making using it so difficult.