I think "ugly" is just a clickbait opinion at the top to get people to read a (quite interesting) discussion of the history and sociology of illuminated signs.

We're still at the stage of LEDs imitating existing lighting design, rather than having their own sui generis aesthetic. You get LED bulbs that fit existing fixtures, with the heat-sensitive short-lived driver electronics packed up against the hot LEDs, and a very different light pattern to the bulb they're replacing.

I've been impressed with the availability of cheap "warm white" LEDs, and I'm on the point of trying to design my own lighting fixtures out of aluminium.