I mostly despise the "infinite decisions to ponder/make" nature of layout.
It's why I'll sometimes *somewhat* jokingly wax fondly reminiscent of USENET, where the focus was always the text/content - not silly layout/display appearances, gimmicks, etc.
I'll take a well-written phrase over a nicely placed/sized/shaped/colored emoticon any day, for example.
You are a person of taste. It took me time to understand that something can be beautiful without being pretty. And that pretty doesn't add substance.