This is somewhat of a mixed bag. By in large there is a hierarchy of precedence to consider. Of course nothing in set in stone but some things are more demanding than others to consider.
"Consider" is the key word here. First off when considering lay out you must look at the overall job to determine what the major focal point is and satisfy that more so than the periphery.
Example.
Lets imagine you are doing a kitchen floor that may also have an attached pantry or powder room floor. Obviously in most cases the kitchen floor is the most important to look nice. So priority would ask that the kitchen floor should look the best with little or no consideration of the adjacent areas. One exception might be if the pantry or powder room is connected by a hallway that is somewhat of a focal point in and of itself. In other words if we were to satisfy the look in the kitchen , and that in turn causes the balance in the hallway to be really bad, and the hallways is a major part of the look then you would need to consider both together and pick the best for the two spaces together. It's always a trade off when you have more than on area connected to another. So you have to ask yourself " what do I want to look the nicest and at what ex pence to the rest of the job"?
Here are 2 examples when finding a starting point on floors that almost always mandate top priority.
Doorways and transitions.
Rarely, if ever, would you ever want to walk into a room through a doorway and not start with full tiles at the transition. Meaning, if you have carpet or wood flooring in a hallway leading to a tile or marble floor in the bathroom you always want to break the tile/carpet transition in the middle of the door when closed, and the start with a FULL TILE at the doorway into the room.
Secondly, same holds true when you have a transition from , say, either a carpet or wood floor to a tiled space. Almost always FULL Tile will lay next to the carpet or wood floor. Starting with some type of cut in these areas are almost never acceptable.
Same holds true for tile that looks like it's setting vertically on top of a horizontal surface.
Example.
Rarely would you ever start a back splash with the first row of tile above the countertop being a cut. Normally speaking, the same holds true on a tub surround. One exception to the tube surround would be if you were going to the ceiling and you end up with a very small cut at the ceiling. Or if you have a feature stripe and you want to position it at a predetermined height. Same holds true if you have tile walls setting on tile floors.
Now I can finally start to answer this question :)
Again, normally, but not always you want to look at any surface with an X and a Y axis. If you have no particular focal point that demands top priority you simply strive for balance and symmetry. Find the center of your space first. Now, from left to right, start with a grout joint and run out your tiles to the side to where the tile will stop. If you last piece is greater than a half tile your all set. If it's smaller than a half tile, instead of starting on your center line with a grout joint you move that tile over and center the tile over your center point. By doing this, when you get to the edge by the wall you will now have a cut that is greater than half tile. So now we have big cuts on the sides instead of small sliver cuts. After doing this above to your right and to the, lets now do the same for your top to bottom tiles and your good to go.
In short , what we are trying to do is get a sense of balance from side to side so the cuts on both sides are of equal value and as big as possible. Same holds true for "up and down"
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