It did take them an awful amount of time to fix the http->https redirection. But yeah, considering they're probably the biggest exchange service or at least the most recognised one, it could do with a lift. Not something fancy, simply a bit more neat. But as mentioned above, it does work and at least the current structure is simple.

Clearly we have a bunch of web developers and not enough web designers.  

it's not just Gox .. it's everyone...  we run a bunch (as a whole) of sites that all have the refined look and feel of Drudge Report...  yea it works.. but it's not even close to sexy.

Lucky for you, I'm both a developer and a designer 

My soon-to-launch project is going to look very nice and provide great functionality.

I attribute the dearth of high-gloss stuff more to the fact that most Bitcoin sites are tossed up overnight just to see if anything will happen, and having not taken a whole lot of effort to set up, are just as easily killed off. Bitcoin integration itself is dirt cheap and easier than just about any other payment method known to man. Ditto from a regulatory standpoint (so far). So I don't think the problem is that people can't design if they want to, and if they take the time to; it's that devs are in a hurry to get to the functionality, and the present community doesn't really have a problem with that. For the community to grow, though, it would pay to have someone put in the extra effort to build a nice interface on things. It's not like we live in 1994. Although it does seem that way sometimes.

maybe if there were held a 'bitcoin design award' we could list the best-looking bitcoin-related sites and vote.

what's a good one to start with?

oh, and about mt gox... didn't they spend $1000 or more just on that new logo? you know, the logo they never put on their site.

I don't know what you're talking about, holmes. My geocities page was bitchin'.

Web 2.0 ◕‿◕

There's a site here http://sortfolio.com/ for finding great designers.

There's also a site 99designs.com where you can post a job and designers compete with each other and you choose the winning design.

I'm sure that it would be great for Bitcoin if they had a professional looking site. Mt.Gox is one of the sites that almost everyone who consider getting started with Bitcoin will visit. It's one of the sites that will make people decide if Bitcoin is a "real" currency or just a toy project. Honestly, today the Mt.Gox site does not look like something that regular people will want to trust their money with. It does not at all resemble other professional web sites that handle a lot of money.

Example of web site related to finance, simple, yet professional design: http://www.nasdaqomxnordic.com