In this paper, we propose two new systematic ways to construct amicable orthogonal designs (AOD), with an aim to facilitate the construction of power-balanced orthogonal spacetime block codes (O-STBC) with favorable practical attributes. We also show that an AOD can be constructed from an Amicable Family (AF), and such a construction is crucial for achieving a power-balanced O-STBC. In addition, we develop design guidelines on how to select the "type" parameter of an AOD so that the resultant O-STBC will have better power-distribution and code-coefficient attributes. Among the new O-STBCs obtained, one is shown to be optimal in terms of power distribution attributes. In addition, one of the proposed construction methods is shown to generalize some other construction methods proposed in the literature.