Design issues: Keeping it simple and practical

On the project I'm collaborating on with a former classmate, we are really trying to make some good design decisions. Stuff like:

• Code reuse
• Decoupled design (ie. data separate from domain) 
• Testability (programming to interfaces) 

At the same time, we want to keep the design simple and easy to follow. One of the things we were trying to solve was handling very dynamic queries in an elegant way. And we came up with a solution. And it was elegant. It had everything based on some common interfaces, used generics to handle them, and even reflection sprinkled in.

And then we got rid of it in favor of a simple, more practical solution. 

Actually, he proposed the simpler solution. His solution was based on his practical experience developing applications. Although our elegant method would have been pretty cool, it would be less maintainable and take longer. And remember that in the end, your users don't care about your elegant solutions. They just want your stuff to work.