A practical suggestion is to design not for yourself, but for your reader. That will help you decide how innovative or staid your piece can be, what size type you use, etc. You don’t have to recreate other designer’s work, but you can take note of the “rules” they each use. Coming up with your own design rules will then help simplify your task each time you have to do it. There are many books and ebooks on the principals of good design. Take a look at some of them.