For commuting, the UGLIER the bike the better. Less theft risk. There does come a point where a bike can look so ugly though that it becomes a target again, if only for how offensive it looks! A bland, no-attention getting boring as heck bike is a great commuting bike. I consider an offensive looking bike some of the low-end $100 or lower range 'dual suspension' walmart bikes which are anything blue true dual suspension in function and are really just shaped like a pricey mtn bike without any of the form.

For training/racing, looks really count.