By guiding people down the "happy path" with "guardrails", we may end up in mediocrity land. Additionally, Noya is optimized for solving user/business problems and not visual exploration.
At Airbnb we had a really strong set of design guidelines, patterns, and components that (I think) both looked beautiful AND solved user needs. I think as the tool evolves and companies integrate their own opinionated design systems (vs. just Chakra UI, which is very neutral), the output will start feeling more polished & unique. But perhaps there's more we can do here.
Definitely something we'll need to think through!
Put differently, Noya feels like an exploration tool. When exploring, tents are fine. They do not provide a lot of comfort, but replacing them with houses while still exploring might not be optimal :-) Personally I don't mind average tents, as long as they don't leak.
EDIT: Hmmm, maybe Noya is actually between a tent (Balsamiq) and a house (Figma) - something like an RV? :-D
These designs are not new and exciting, quite the opposite.
I'm happy to be proven wrong!