Stick With a Simple or Complex Design?

I looked through the forums to find a similar thread but I didn't find any. Even the search feature wasn't that successful so I'm trying this.
I want to know what you think regarding the design of your adsense based article/information sites. Do you think simple, plain and clear sites are more usable or those sites that use those fancy, graphics-driven templates? I personally think, after doing some research, that simple sites with only a small header and more content than graphics are more likely to draw the attention of the visitors to the articles and potentially to the ads. What do you think?

PS: The poll is not about what you think but what you DO!

 

I like simple and plain design with many spaces. That attracts me much more than a flashy site. And at a plain site, you can blend the adsense ads with your content much easier, and it looks much better

 

Simplicity works well with Adsense.

 

I only know how to make really simple sites anyway lol.

 

you can make simple designs that look very good so i'l go with simple design

 

I'm only capable of making simple sites, so that's what I do...

 

I feel the same way. Its easier on you to maintain a simpler site, and its easier on users to figure it out. There is a reason the super popular sites keep it simple (Google, Digg, etc.) Slashdot put in a wild DHTML content commenting system recently and its horrible. Cross browser support is bad, IE 7 doesn't work, etc.

Stick to tried and true, simple CSS, HTML and images when needed.

Take care,

Brian

 

So right. Some other example is nytimes.com
If sites aim to sell services and products, it's just right to use graphics to draw the attention to the products and raise the trustworthiness of the products (see adobe.com).

 

DING!DING!DING!DING!DING! We have a winner! You only have a few seconds to grab the attention of a visitor. Graphic-heavy sites can take too long to load and sometimes people just click away because they can't wait. Don't waste people's time with your pretty photoshop filler - drive them directly to your content and ads. You'll also save a lot of $ in wasted bandwidth.

You're better off learning how to properly use white space and color than how to use photoshop to make flashy buttons.

 

Agreed in every single point.

 

I'm all for quick loading and simple looking sites. I mean that doesn't mean it can't have features etc etc - but I think the vast majority of people prefer just a simple looking site that has easy navigation system that gets them the information they want without hurting their eyes. Plus I always try to work with the "KISS" method:

Keep It Simple Stupid.