I'm sure if the budget was there, NASA would worry about aesthetics.
When computers started they were beige boxes, now they are decorated and colorful - so we know they are done.
People worry about how phones look, so those are done.
The first smart watches were functional, now they worry more about aesthetics, but none are actually on the market. So that technology is not done, but is getting close.
Cars have been all about aesthetics for decades now.
Etc, etc.
(Don't assume "complete" means they don't improve them, it just means any further changes are minor, and mostly unimportant.)
Airplanes for example seem like they are done - but they are not sold on looks, so they are not actually done. (Maybe a little bit on the inside?)
There is an arc in every art. It starts with the bare bone essentials, exposing the spirit and greatness. Then it becomes popular and amasses cruft until its unbearably overloaded and ugly. Then it gets stripped back to its original form, regaining its glory. And then we repeat.
Also, anything marketed towards gamers tends to look like it has enough pieces and glow so much that it might be mistaken for a nuclear reactor.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/MacBook_P...
to the unibody one in 2008:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Unibody_M...
Today's MacBook Pros look quite similar to that one (aside from being much thinner), but the light has been dropped, the power button has moved to the keyboard, and the "MacBook Pro" branding below the screen has been removed, resulting in a slightly cleaner look.
The new MacBook is a more dramatic change: it will bring the branding back, offer three metal colors, and cram the keyboard into the body in a way that looks slightly awkward to me, but has the obvious advantage of minimizing the physical size of the device. Time will tell how well its design holds up.
http://images.apple.com/v/macbook/b/overview/images/overview...
(No stickers, of course!)
Super quiet, functional, and minimalistic.
This was my previous case: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CTlM72mKL.jpg
At first I thought it looked great, until I realized it was loud, dusty, poorly designed for airflow and wire management, and annoyingly bright at night. This case was a Civic with ground lighting and a huge spoiler. The new case is more like a Tesla.
After flying a few of the newer Airbuses, I can tell you that now when I search for a flight I look what kind of plane is flying, and if there is the chance to fly those, I gladly pay the difference. Not sure in USA, but here in Europe we have a solid mix of Airbuses and Boings so there is plenty to choose from.
Haven't flown the new Dreamliner. Is it worth it?
Overall I'm a fan of the Dreamliner (only 2 flights, a roundtrip on Norwegian). Seats were reasonably comfortable, even for economy on a budget airline. The big windows are nice. It was definitely quieter and (placebo?) the air did feel less gross.
Downsides: The arm rest didn't fully rise out of the way, so it's no good for sleeping on your partner's shoulder. The not-fully-dimming windows were a little annoying, but also really neat.
But consider industrial machines and buildings: mining machinery, electronics assembly lines, car factories and oil mining platforms. No matter how mature an industry branch is, machines are not being built to look nice. And warehouse buildings are just huge, gray, ugly-as-hell boxes. This is because there are many other constraints, machinery gets expensive, and there's simply no use for aesthetics.
So I think that spaceships may get nice exterior design if a lot of people (think millions) is going to be buying them. If the consumer group will be small, we will get aesthetics closer to cargo trains. Which, in my opinion, is awesome anyway.
And yes, I too think that ISS looks great as it is.
Compare the sleekness of the cab and bodywork on a new frontloader with that of an 80's model.
New: http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/Caterpillar/C10346217?$cc-g$
Old: https://core-assetnation.netdna-ssl.com/auction_media/57245/...
Most industrial machines have reached a point of utility that there has to be a way to signal "this is the new one" because we are wired to think that "new" means "better".