Since I currently (Summer 09) don't have enough experience under my belt to write proper full fledged articles about experience design, design strategy and interaction strategy (I meant to write Interaction Design however Interaction Strategy seems more applicable to my expertise,) I'm going to try to highlight a few great articles to read about them with each blog entry/post dedicated to a separate article.

In Defense of Eye Candy is one such article about how greatly visual styling affects the overall experience of using (and placing trust) in a product or system.

An interesting quote from the 'In Defense of Eye Candy' article:

As user experience professionals, we must consider every stimulus that might influence interactions.

 If you haven't already read 'In Defense of Eye Candy,'  (or want to read it one more time which is what I keep doing) you can read it at: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/indefenseofeyecandy/