Why do so many landing pages look the same lately?

While browsing Product Hunt, I started noticing the same pattern: many landing pages, especially those built with AI tools, look surprisingly similar.

The same hero layouts, gradients, font combinations, card styles…

It often feels like different products are being presented through the exact same design system.

I also build a lot of prototypes using tools like Claude Code and Cursor. At first, I thought giving the agent a color palette, some copy and instructions like “make it modern and clean” would be enough.

But the results were usually predictable. Whenever I left a design decision open, the agent filled the gap with its default visual style. The pages worked, but they often lacked personality.

Over time, I started changing how I worked with these tools. Instead of only providing hex codes, I began defining where each color should be used: primary actions, accents, hover states, disabled elements, backgrounds, and borders. That alone made a noticeable difference.

I also stopped relying on vague phrases like “modern and clean.” They do not really communicate much. Clear rules around spacing, typography hierarchy, border radius, section density, and motion produce much better results.

The biggest improvement came from using reference websites. Showing an example and saying, “Do not copy this, but capture its rhythm, spacing, and overall feeling,” has often worked better than writing an extremely detailed prompt.

I do not think the problem is that ai is bad at design. I think that when we leave too many design decisions to the tool, it naturally falls back on the safest and most common patterns.

Have you noticed the same thing when building landing pages with AI? What do you do to get more distinctive results?