Client: “We want out home page to be very minimalistic.  We like lots of white space, and only the most important elements.  It should look like Google - basically, a logo and one or two other important things.”

Me: “Great!  In that case, what would you consider to be the one or two most important things?”

Client: “Rotating article carousel, dropdown menus, power search, forum list, latest forum posts, member sign-up, news ticker, event countdown, testimonials, featured VIP member, RSS news feed, and four blocks of advertising.”