Auditing Your Site for Template Tells

Cover the logo on most homepages and you can’t tell whose site it is. A centered headline, a gray subline, two buttons, then three cards with icons. The page works. It also belongs to no one in particular.

Defaults are the problem, not templates

A template is fine. A default is a decision someone made for a thousand other products, and every one you leave unexamined is a spot where your brand isn’t present.

An audit is the search for those spots. Below are five common tells and a fix for each.

Tell 1: Spacing that never changes its mind

Every section has the same vertical padding. Every card has the same gap. Everything is a multiple of 8 because that’s what the framework shipped with. The result looks even, and even reads as unconsidered.

The fix: define a short spacing scale and assign steps by relationship. Space inside a group stays tight. Space between groups opens up. Space between sections is the widest. A Fibonacci-based scale like the one in the Crystal Design System (16, 24, 40, 64, 104) makes the jumps large enough to see.

/* Example: spacing by relationship, not by habit */
.card        { padding: 24px; }
.card-group  { gap: 16px; }
.section     { padding-block: 104px; }
.section-hd  { margin-bottom: 40px; }

Tell 2: Stock hierarchy

Centered H2. Muted subtitle. Three equal cards. Repeat down the page. When every section has the same shape, nothing is the most important thing on the screen.

The fix: choose one dominant element per screen and make the gap between levels obvious. Build hierarchy from size, weight, and color opacity together, not size alone. Tighten tracking on large headlines. Then match the layout to the content. A comparison belongs in a table. A sequence belongs in a numbered flow. A single strong claim doesn’t need two siblings.

Tell 3: Interchangeable hero copy

Put a different company’s name in your headline. If the sentence still works, it isn’t yours. Lines like Innovative solutions for modern teams fail this test immediately.

The fix: name who it’s for, what it does, and the outcome, using words only you can use. As an illustration of the shift:

Before: Innovative solutions for modern teams.
After: Month-end close in one workspace, not nine spreadsheets.

The second line makes a narrower claim, and that narrowness is what makes it recognizable. Run the same test on every section heading, not just the hero.

Tell 4: An unexamined component library

The same corner radius. The same soft shadow. The same blue primary. The same accordion, the same tabs, the same focus ring. Component libraries are a good starting point and a poor finishing point.

The fix: change tokens before components. Set color, type, radius, shadow, and motion deliberately, and the components inherit a point of view. Keep the radius scale small and intentional, for example 4, 8, 12, and 16 pixels, each with an assigned job. Remove components you don’t use. Restyle the focus state so it looks designed, and keep it clearly visible for keyboard users.

Tell 5: Stock imagery and reflexive motion

A smiling group around a laptop says nothing about your business. A fade-up on every block as you scroll says nothing either.

The fix: show the real product, the real work, or original photography. Use motion only where it explains a change of state, such as something opening, loading, or confirming. Pick one easing curve and use it everywhere.

Run the audit

Work through these steps with the people who own the site, and write down what you find.

• Cover the logo. Screenshot the homepage without it and ask someone outside the team what the company sells and who it’s for.
• Count your values. Search the stylesheet for spacing, radius, and color values. If you find dozens of near-duplicates, nobody is steering.
• Swap the name. Run the hero and every section heading through the replacement test from Tell 3.
• Scroll at speed. Note which sections share the same structure. If you can’t tell them apart at a glance, vary them.
• Sort the components. List every component you ship unchanged and mark each one: restyle, replace, or remove.

What the audit is really for

None of this is decoration. Each fix replaces a default with a decision, and decisions are what a visitor reads as a brand. The work is also cumulative. A site with one distinctive hero and a default everything else still reads as a template.

If you’d like a second set of eyes on your own site, Artasce can run this audit alongside your team and help turn the findings into a token set and a component plan.