I often start with the basic blank page in Pages. I make use of the various styles--titles and headings, etc. The problem with these default styles is that they’re so boring. The font is Helvetica so the whole thing feels leftover from the word processor in AppleWorks.
Take a look at the styles in the style drawer that I’m talking about.
Now, compare Word 2008 in which the default styles of the blank page were changed.
Color is used as well as at least two different fonts—serifed for body text and sans serifed for titles. They also have a style “subtitle” which is nice to go under title.
I think these default styles are much better than what is found in Pages, but I’d much rather use Pages.
I also don't think it's necessary to simply copy Word's new styles. I think there are probably more talented people out there than me to do this, so I hope someone will take up the challenge and create a style like this.