How to decide the Design Direction in a small team

So we develop a Page (kind of Blog based) so we write posts and they appear on the Base URL and are readable etc...

The problem is while I think clean and good looking design is important he prefers flashy and big awesome looking design.

Here is an example that I made where he thinks it looks to standard but I dont know how I can increase the "awesome" non standard look without killing the readability and clarity.

I appreciate any help on how to achieve a clear but still non standart design that doesnt look boring.