As you say, it depends on what she wants. I use ponds for my hydrology for the water volumes being retained \ detained by the basin. Once I get the volumes needed, then I create the contours using a grading object if the pond isn't too curvilinear. The grading object takes some getting used to when it comes to grading along a concave curve that extends the slope beyond the "Natural" radius. For example, take a concave curve with a radius of 20and tangents that are 30 feet from both ends, and grade with a 3:1 slope for a vertical difference of 40 feet and throw a couple benches in with a slope drain that is 6 ft. wide at the edge of the bench. The time it takes to clean up the contours created by the grading object can be better spent by just creating the base of the basin and using 3d offsets (create curb) to get the desired results.