Smarty is as good as a separate language. It gives you full flexibility over designing your templates, but you have to be cautious while doing your job. Don’t mess too much with graphics, fonts, or colors. Pay more attention to reusability and component separation. Spend some time in planning before hard coding your template.

Finally, remember that design is an art, so imagine as much as you can—it doesn’t matter whether it is impossible or possible—just imagine. Note down your proposals, choose the best feasible one among them and then start designing.