Too many articles that discuss interface design fail to include examples or comparisons. Here’s a great article in UX Magazine that doesn’t make that mistake - Visual Design and Usability Yellow Brick Road.
The article describes giving the user a visual path through the website by properly using whitespace, colors, font styles, and font colors. Best of all, the author compares a before and after design for a jewelry website.
The original website:
The author’s suggestions for a redesigned website: