Starting from scratch is the way to create simple, just put in what you need and no more. Creating simple from something that’s already complex is difficult, it’s taking the time to take out all the crap you don’t really need, something that clients don’t like because they think everything they say and show is needed. It’s like trying to get the wife to throw away a totally unsuitable pair of shoes – there’s always some entirely irrational rationale as to why you can’t get rid of it.

The other problem with ‘simple’ is that it means different things to different people. For designers who work with smaller clients (and hence smaller budgets) a client asking for ‘something simple’ means they want something cheap, because, as you so rightly point out, they assume that simple is quicker to do than complicated – they’re wrong.