The first thing I would do is make sure the person would like a quilt! As much as we can't believe there are some people who just aren't quilt people. Usually those people have seen quilts that you have made and expressed a liking or mention that they would like one. If the person you are making one for hasn't seen any of your quilts you might just ask them what they think of them.
Next I normally take the colors that they have in their house or favorite colors.
I think that if you take those things into account you will be pretty safe. The only other thing would be if they like modern. If they aren't into modern I think any quilt pattern would work, even modern fabrics can make a traditional pattern modern.