Guides

How to make a Lovable, v0 or Bolt app look less AI-generated

Seven practical ways to make an app built with an AI app builder look designed instead of generated, without learning to design.

AI app builders such as Lovable, v0 and Bolt are remarkable at getting something working. What they produce by default also tends to look like what everyone else's produces. If you want yours to look like someone designed it, these are the changes that matter most, roughly in order.

1. Pick one colour and stop

Generated apps often use three or four accent colours, plus a gradient. Choose one colour for the things people press, and use greys for almost everything else. Tell your builder so in plain words: “Use one accent colour, this one. No gradients.”

2. Make every page use the same parts

Look at two pages side by side. Are the buttons the same height? Do the cards have the same corners? If not, ask for it directly: “Make every button on every page match the ones on the home page.” Consistency is most of what people mean when they say an app looks professional.

3. Fix the spacing

Uneven gaps are the quietest giveaway. You do not need to measure anything. Ask your builder to “use the same spacing between sections on every page, and the same padding inside every card”. Then look again.

4. Remove decoration

Emoji in headings, shadows on everything, sparkles next to buttons, a badge on every card. Each one looked like a nice touch when it was added. Together they are the generated look. Take out anything that is not helping someone understand or do something.

5. Check the states nobody demos

Click through your own app slowly:

• Point at each button. Does anything change?
• Press Tab. Can you see where you are?
• Open every menu. Is anything cut off at the edge?
• Switch to dark mode. Is every page actually dark?

Each “no” is a line you can paste to your builder to fix.

6. Give it standing instructions

Most builders have a place for instructions that apply to every request, often called knowledge or project instructions. Put your choices there, so you are not repeating them:

• The one accent colour.
• “Reuse existing components. Do not create new versions of buttons, inputs or cards.”
• “Do not add emoji, gradients or new colours.”

This is the step that stops the look drifting back with the next change you ask for.

7. Start from better parts

All of the above is tidying up after the fact. The lasting fix is to give your builder a finished set of parts to build with, so the first version already looks right. Most of these builders create React apps styled with Tailwind, which means a set of ready-made parts in that form can be added to the project and used from then on.

That is what Goop is: a complete look for your app, already designed down to the small details, with the rules for your AI included. It is not out yet. You can leave your email to hear when it is.

The five-minute version

If you only do three things: one accent colour, the same parts on every page, and standing instructions that say so. That alone moves an app from “generated” to “considered”.