This article confirms a number of things to me, all of which I already believed: 1. pure designers are not good at useful web apps (Studio8), 2. the NYTimes people couldn't design their way out of a paper bag 3. the BarackObama.com guy is a freaking genius of usability

Some people here love the NYTimes version but I really think it devotes a ton of space to features nobody really uses in an effort to force people to use them more -- something the NYTimes itself does. Of course, I hate the design of NYTimes.com itself, so maybe I'm biased.

SimpleScott's design simply reinforces existing usage patterns, and for that reason I like it best.