Basics

Last week we had many designs for final delivery and this really kept us a lot occupied. There were clients asking for "their" way of layouts, there were clients asking for their preferred colors, there were also some who wanted their sites "on the lines" of some xyz site...
Many meetings and details and this kept us recalling the "primary" basic of design...the arrangement
I spent my time telling the team these basics:
1] Check out the size of the page and the sections in the page. Are they proportionate? Keep the size of the sections directly proportional to the importance and frequent usage the particular section might have.
2] Where you place what makes the entire difference (Just imagine your favorite site with all the placement haphazard !). Got it? :)
3] Where attention is to be drawn use bold and subtle colors. This helps give depth, sense and meaning to the page. Add sensible contrast and you have a great effect there.
3] What and where you want the visitor to look and to instill & maintain their interest in the page? Any answers? Well the best approach to this would be to understand what the site is all about and who are the visitors (target audience). The page "should" lead to instant sales i.e. business. The navigation should be user friendly and interesting.
The best designs don't necessarily have to be complex. With the clarity towards design basics you could create wonders with every design that you make !