Best design styles for portfolios & personal sites
A portfolio is a self-portrait: it should show taste before it shows work, and feel distinctly yours within a glance. These design styles from Curio's library carry that personality without getting in the way of the projects — each one a complete system your AI can apply over MCP or a DESIGN.md download.
What makes a style work for a portfolio
Portfolios that stick share a few traits: a point of view in the palette and typography, generous space that lets each piece breathe, and a confident hierarchy that puts your best work first. The style should feel like a deliberate choice, not a default — distinctive enough to be remembered, restrained enough to not upstage the work.
Every style below is a full design system — colors, typography, spacing, components, and rules — not a template. You do not edit it by hand; you point your AI at it and it builds the site in that style. Tap "What is it" to read the full guide, or "View spec" to see the system.
The styles
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1
Bauhaus Weimar
Form follows revolution. Primary red-blue-yellow on cream, hard shadows, no ornament — pure form.
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2
De Stijl
Primary colors, locked in a black grid. Mondrian's compositions, in thick borders and flat fills.
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3
Futura Typeface (Renner, 1927)
Geometry is legible. Black type and white fields, with red-blue-yellow anchors on grid.
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4
Mexican Frida Blue House (Coyoacán 1930)
Maximum color, intimate walls. Cobalt, cream panels, terracotta grid, cut-paper rhythm.
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5
Midjourney
Invisible chrome, visible art. Pure black grid and Cormorant serif give color to images.
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6
Polaroid Instant
Memory made tangible. Photo-white frames tilt on aged paper with a warm rainbow stripe.
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7
Ad Reinhardt Black Painting (1953)
Austere absence. Near-black grid shifts reveal structure on sustained looking.
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8
Alvaro Siza White
Light makes the form. White planes on cool plaster throw sea-grey shadow and one wood note.
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9
Ansel Adams Zone System
Only light remains. Deep shadow, serif captions, and one white moon mark the tonal ladder.
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10
Antelope Slot Canyon
Glows from shadow. Oxblood ground, sandstone S-curves, and one warm gold shaft.
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11
Archigram Walking City (1964)
Cities refuse foundations. Hot pink, cyan, and acid yellow lock a bordered comic grid.
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12
Architectural Blueprint
Measurement, not mood. Prussian cyan grid with white hairlines and vermillion revision marks.
FAQ
How do I apply one of these styles to my portfolio?
Connect Curio's MCP server to your AI client (Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT, and others), then ask it to build your portfolio in the chosen style — it fetches the system and applies it. Or download the style's DESIGN.md and add it to your project.
Will the style work across project pages and a case-study layout, not just the homepage?
Each style is a full system, so your AI applies it consistently across the landing, project grid, and individual case-study pages — typography, spacing, and components all hold together, not just the front door.