Why Every AI-Generated Template Looks the Same (And How I'm Fighting It)

#webdev #nextjs #design #buildinpublic

Open any AI tool — Gemini, ChatGPT, v0, Bolt — and ask it to build a landing page. You'll get the same thing every time:

Inter or Roboto font
Purple-blue gradient
rounded-xl cards with shadow-lg
Hero → 3-column features → testimonials → CTA → footer
"Get Started" button in indigo-500

I call this AI slop. It's the visual equivalent of "As an AI language model..."

The Problem

AI tools average everything. They've been trained on millions of websites and they produce the median of all of them. The result looks "clean" and "modern" — but also identical to every other AI-generated site.

As a developer selling templates, this is a death sentence. Why would anyone pay for something they can generate for free?

My Approach: Anti-AI Design

I built 12 Next.js templates on Gumroad with one rule: if an AI would generate it by default, redesign it.

Here's my checklist:

No banned fonts: Inter, Roboto, Poppins, DM Sans — these are AI's favorites. I use Instrument Serif, Outfit, Fraunces, Syne instead.
No banned colors: No indigo-500, no purple-blue gradients. Each template has a unique color system derived from one seed hue.
No clone armies: No 3 identical cards in a row. Each element earns its place.
Asymmetry over symmetry: Centered everything = AI signature.
Spacing has rhythm: Tight clusters + generous gaps, never uniform padding.