No matter how austere, no matter how formalist, no matter how devoted to function, your design should have a moment of delight. That's how you know it was designed for humans.
Polish, polish, polish, but be careful not to scrub away the moments that have no purpose other than to delight.
It’s not really about your content as much as it is about the context. That’s why I think people are more interesting than brands of media here, especially as many larger institutions become empty shells of themselves. I’m less interested in where that content is published and more interested in who created it.