john gruber writes in his blog a pointed reply to statements eric s. raymond, an open source and linux evangelist, made regarding user interface design and usability.
well, that may be an understatement - he basically rips the guy apart:

UI development is the hard part. And it’s not the last step, it’s the first step. In my estimation, the difference between:

• software that performs function X; and
• software that performs function X, with an intuitive well-designed user interface

isn’t just a little bit of extra work. It’s not even twice the work. It’s an entire order of magnitude more work. Developing software with a good UI requires both aptitude and a lot of hard work. Raymond acknowledges neither.

It’s not something every programmer can learn. Most programmers don’t have any aptitude for UI design whatsoever. It’s an art, and like any art, it requires innate ability. You can learn to be a better writer. You can learn to be a better illustrator. But most people can’t write and can’t draw, and no amount of practice or education is going to make them good at it. Improved, yes; good, no.

Conversely, some people who are good UI designers aren’t programmers. But the rock stars are the guys who can do both, and they are few and far between.

If there’s a glib, nutshell synopsis for why Linux desktop software tends to suck, it’s this: Raymond and his ilk have no respect for anyone but themselves.

They have no respect for the fact that UI design is a special talent.

gruber shoots to kill and in the heat of the battle the statement “ui design is art” must have slipped him because there he cannot seriously mean this.
ui design is not a special talent, a rare gift - but a craft. True, a craft that is most times underestimated and not held in high regards especially by people who code for a living but that’s how it is - for now. it’s a craft that combines knowledge and techniques from different disciplines like psychology, design, computer science etc. therefore maybe less commonly found but an art?
come on…
i understand why raymond fell into the trap that gruber points out so nicely because it’s plain to see whether a design is good or bad - it’s common sense. therefore people can get the notion that usability just points out what everybody would have recognized anyhow if they just had spent a second to think about it.
it’s not that easy - there gruber is right and i agree, you have to start thinking about user experience from the very beginning on and yes, it takes time, effort and expertise to do so. but raising it to the level of an art form is providing a disservice because people need to understand that it is a craft that needs to be applied to software and is not some artsy desgin thing that only people wearing black turtlenecks can do.
every time i saw developers experience the benefits of working together with ui or usability experts they not only accepted them and their knowledge but they also were glad to use their expertise once they realized that it is a well founded science.

but please read the full article for yourself.
what do you think?