I find them gorgeous.
Admittedly, the term is unavoidably subjective. But what I like about them is that they are distinct, and that each one has character. Honestly, the fact that they looked like pictures I could find in a child's book is the main part of what I like about them: they have simple ideas ("a bird") and forms so distinctive a child could tell them apart.
Ok, but how would you feel if the dashboard of your car had images that made it look like a child's toy? Or your watch? You've maybe grown accustomed to it on your smartphone, but it has little to do with great taste (imho).
A physical thing has more degree of freedom to differentiate things. Loke distance and form. So much that you can be blind and still be able to use them.
A conputer interface does not have those. You need to track the cursor and then decide how you want to move it. There’s no muscle memory. And no tactile perception. What’s left is visual differentiation and it should be slightly exaggerated.
> and it should be slightly exaggerated
The problem is that you can go too far here, and it is in fact reminding me of:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
It can be. But I prefer slighty more than slightly less for things that I’m using daily. My apple tv remote is more beautiful than my AVR remote, but I strongly prefer the latter. Same with my big mechanical keyboard vs my apple one.