Question: Take a look at this communication app I am making for our small company (you might need to open it in a new window to see it clearly):

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/khCQC.png)

The application is docked on the right side of the screen. It stays on top, but it never overlaps other windows because I've tricked the computer into thinking that it is a Windows Bar.

Everything is working out great and the CEO loves it, the problem is, the top half looks a bit bland. The bottom half looks nice and professional, the top half just seems... ugly and I can't think of what to do with it.

I've got an option screen that I think looks nice:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EmwNG.png)

I've also got a popup for when you click on the "Choose People" button.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XjojK.png)

What can I do with the top half to make it look nicer?

**EDIT**

Well, I was going to do Roger Attrill's design, problem was, labels apparently don't have a background image property and it was going to be too hard to overlap controls.

I ended up going with the other two answers. I thought you guys might be interested in seeing the final result:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lPz9f.png)

Answer: 
**For the Application:**
The thick black horizontal lines separating each person are very heavy. Try removing them or making them a light gray. Also, consider using a subtle background texture to add a bit of visual interest. I really like this site for inspiration along those lines: <http://subtlepatterns.com/>

**For the Pop Up:**
Better typography and a few light splashes of color could help you a lot here. Use typography to help out with the visual weighting of the form elements. In particular, make the top radio button choices a bigger font, and make the sub otions a lighter color and a smaller font.
Maybe give every other row a light gray color. Or clean up your "boxes". They don't look as clean as they probably could be. Instead of just bold, make each box header have a color.