--- version: "alpha" name: "Knolling Pastel Flat Lay" description: "Knolling landing page, flat lay style, organized objects, pastel background, clean 90 degree alignment, overhead photography look. Ideal for landing pages, modern websites. AI-ready template." colors: primary: "#F6D0D6" secondary: "#2D2D2D" tertiary: "#CBE4F0" neutral: "#D0F0C0" surface: "#E6E6FA" typography: h1: fontFamily: Lato fontSize: 2.5rem fontWeight: 700 body-md: fontFamily: Lato fontSize: 1rem fontWeight: 400 spacing: sm: 20.0px md: 40.0px lg: 80.0px components: button-primary: backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}" textColor: "{colors.neutral}" padding: 12px --- ## Overview Knolling landing page, flat lay style, organized objects, pastel background, clean 90 degree alignment, overhead photography look. Ideal for landing pages, modern websites. AI-ready template. Knolling started on a shop floor. Andrew Kromelow, a janitor at Frank Gehry's furniture studio in 1987, began arranging tools at right angles on flat surfaces — everything parallel, everything visible. Tom Sachs adopted the practice religiously in his studio, turning it into a creative discipline. "Always be knolling" became a mantra. The idea was simple: if you can see everything, you can think clearly. Product photography picked it up fast. Magazines, catalogs, then Instagram. The flat-lay explosion of 2014–2018 turned every lifestyle brand into a knolling practitioner — skincare routines, desk setups, travel essentials, all shot from directly above on muted backgrounds. It was aspirational organization. UI design absorbed this through osmosis. The same overhead perspective, the same pastel restraint, the same obsessive alignment. E-commerce cards started mimicking flat-lay compositions. Hero sections borrowed that clinical-yet-warm tension. The photography aesthetic became the interface aesthetic — soft shadows, generous whitespace, objects floating in deliberate grids. Not skeuomorphism, not brutalism. Something quieter. Something that says: we thought about where everything goes. - Density: 3/10 — Airy - Variance: 2/10 — Structured - Motion: 4/10 — Subtle - **Style:** Organized, Instructional, Calm - **Keywords:** knolling, flat lay, organized, pastel, clean, photography, symmetrical, grid - **Era:** Modern Photography - **Light/Dark:** ✓ Full / ✗ No ## Colors - **Background** (#F6D0D6) — Primary background surface - **Text** (#2D2D2D) — Primary text color - **Accent** (#CBE4F0) — Primary accent, CTAs and interactive elements - **Soft Mint** (#D0F0C0) — Extended palette, decorative use - **Lavender** (#E6E6FA) — Extended palette, decorative use - **Shadow Grey** (#00000020) — Secondary text, borders, muted elements ## Typography - **Display / Hero:** Lato — Weight 700, tight tracking, used for headline impact - **Body:** Lato — Weight 400, 16px/1.6 line-height, max 72ch per line - **UI Labels / Captions:** Lato — 0.875rem, weight 500, slight letter-spacing - **Monospace:** JetBrains Mono — Used for code, metadata, and technical values Scale: - Hero: clamp(2.5rem, 5vw, 4rem) - H1: 2.25rem - H2: 1.5rem - Body: 1rem / 1.6 - Small: 0.875rem ## Layout - **Grid:** CSS Grid primary. Max-width containment: 1280px centered with 1.5rem side padding. - **Spacing rhythm:** Balanced. Base unit: 0.5rem (8px). - **Section vertical gaps:** clamp(4rem, 8vw, 8rem). - **Hero layout:** Split-screen (text left, visual right). - **Feature sections:** Zig-zag alternating text+image rows. No 3-equal-columns. - **Mobile collapse:** All multi-column layouts collapse below 768px. No horizontal overflow. - **z-index contract:** base (0) / sticky-nav (100) / overlay (200) / modal (300) / toast (500). ## Elevation & Depth Photorealistic stationery items, 50/50 vertical background split, tech and analog mixture, soft natural shadows, matte paper stock. - **Physics:** Ease-out curves, 200-300ms duration. Smooth and predictable. - **Entry animations:** Fade + translate-Y (16px → 0) over 420ms ease-out. Staggered cascades for lists: 80ms between items. - **Hover states:** Subtle color shift + shadow adjustment over 200ms. - **Page transitions:** Fade only (200ms). - **Performance:** Only transform and opacity animated. No layout-triggering properties. ## Shapes Base corner radius: 12px. See rounded tokens in front matter for the full scale. ## Components - **Primary Button:** Moderately rounded (0.75rem) shape. Accent color fill. Hover: 8% darken + subtle lift shadow. Active: -1px translate tactile press. Font weight 600. No outer glows. - **Secondary / Ghost Button:** Outline variant. 1.5px border in muted color. Text in primary color. Hover: subtle background fill. - **Cards:** Moderately rounded (0.75rem) corners. Surface background. Subtle shadow (0 2px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.06)). 1px border stroke. - **Inputs:** Label above input. 1px border stroke. Focus ring: 2px accent color offset 2px. Error text below in semantic red. No floating labels. - **Navigation:** Primary surface background. Active item: accent color indicator. Font weight 500 when active. - **Skeletons:** Shimmer animation matching component dimensions. No circular spinners. - **Empty States:** Icon-based composition with descriptive text and action button. ## Do's and Don'ts - No emojis in UI — use icon system only (Lucide, Heroicons) - No pure black (#000000) — use off-black or charcoal variants - No oversaturated accent colors (saturation cap: 80%) - No 3-column equal-width feature layouts — use zig-zag or asymmetric grid - No `h-screen` — use `min-h-[100dvh]` - No AI copywriting clichés: "Elevate", "Seamless", "Unleash", "Next-Gen" - No broken external image links — use picsum.photos or inline SVG - No generic lorem ipsum in demos - Do Grid alignment (Knolling) - Do Soft pastel background split - Do Realistic drop shadows (depth) - Do Mixed media (tech + analog objects) - Do Clean sans-serif type ## Use Case Landing pages, Modern websites