---
id: ollama
name: Ollama
country: US
category: ai
homepage: "https://ollama.com"
primary_color: "#000000"
logo:
  type: simpleicons
  slug: ollama
verified: "2026-05-15"
omd: "0.1"
---

# Design System Inspiration of Ollama

## 1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere

Ollama's interface is radical minimalism taken to its logical conclusion — a pure-white void where content floats without decoration, shadow, or color. The design philosophy mirrors the product itself: strip away everything unnecessary until only the essential tool remains. This is the digital equivalent of a Dieter Rams object — every pixel earns its place, and the absence of design IS the design.

The entire page exists in pure grayscale. There is zero chromatic color in the interface — no brand blue, no accent green, no semantic red. The only colors that exist are shades between pure black (`#000000`) and pure white (`#ffffff`), creating a monochrome environment that lets the user's mental model of "open models" remain uncolored by brand opinion. The Ollama llama mascot, rendered in simple black line art, is the only illustration — and even it's monochrome.

What makes Ollama distinctive is the combination of SF Pro Rounded (Apple's rounded system font) with an exclusively pill-shaped geometry (9999px radius on everything interactive). The rounded letterforms + rounded buttons + rounded containers create a cohesive "softness language" that makes a developer CLI tool feel approachable and friendly rather than intimidating. This is minimalism with warmth — not cold Swiss-style grid minimalism, but the kind where the edges are literally softened.

**Key Characteristics:**
- Pure white canvas with zero chromatic color — completely grayscale
- SF Pro Rounded headlines creating a distinctively Apple-like softness
- Binary border-radius system: 12px (containers) or 9999px (everything interactive)
- Zero shadows — depth comes exclusively from background color shifts and borders
- Pill-shaped geometry on all interactive elements (buttons, tabs, inputs, tags)
- The Ollama llama as the sole illustration — black line art, no color
- Extreme content restraint — the homepage is short, focused, and uncluttered

## 2. Color Palette & Roles

### Primary
- **Pure Black** (`#000000`): Primary headlines, primary links, and the darkest text. The only "color" that demands attention.
- **Near Black** (`#262626`): Button text on light surfaces, secondary headline weight.
- **Darkest Surface** (`#090909`): The darkest possible surface — barely distinguishable from pure black, used for footer or dark containers.

### Surface & Background
- **Pure White** (`#ffffff`): The primary page background — not off-white, not cream, pure white. Button surfaces for secondary actions.
- **Snow** (`#fafafa`): The subtlest possible surface distinction from white — used for section backgrounds and barely-elevated containers.
- **Light Gray** (`#e5e5e5`): Button backgrounds, borders, and the primary containment color. The workhorse neutral.

### Neutrals & Text
- **Stone** (`#737373`): Secondary body text, footer links, and de-emphasized content. The primary "muted" tone.
- **Mid Gray** (`#525252`): Emphasized secondary text, slightly darker than Stone.
- **Silver** (`#a3a3a3`): Tertiary text, placeholders, and deeply de-emphasized metadata.
- **Button Text Dark** (`#404040`): Specific to white-surface button text.

### Semantic & Accent
- **Ring Blue** (`#3b82f6` at 50%): The ONLY non-gray color in the entire system — Tailwind's default focus ring, used exclusively for keyboard accessibility. Never visible in normal interaction flow.
- **Border Light** (`#d4d4d4`): A slightly darker gray for white-surface button borders.

### Gradient System
- **None.** Ollama uses absolutely no gradients. Visual separation comes from flat color blocks and single-pixel borders. This is a deliberate, almost philosophical design choice.

## 3. Typography Rules

### Font Family
- **Display**: `SF Pro Rounded`, with fallbacks: `system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui`
- **Body / UI**: `ui-sans-serif`, with fallbacks: `system-ui, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Noto Color Emoji`
- **Monospace**: `ui-monospace`, with fallbacks: `SFMono-Regular, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, Liberation Mono, Courier New`

*Note: SF Pro Rounded is Apple's system font — it renders with rounded terminals on macOS/iOS and falls back to the system sans-serif on other platforms.*

### Hierarchy

| Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | Notes |
|------|------|------|--------|-------------|----------------|-------|
| Display / Hero | SF Pro Rounded | 48px (3rem) | 500 | 1.00 (tight) | normal | Maximum impact, rounded letterforms |
| Section Heading | SF Pro Rounded | 36px (2.25rem) | 500 | 1.11 (tight) | normal | Feature section titles |
| Sub-heading | SF Pro Rounded / ui-sans-serif | 30px (1.88rem) | 400–500 | 1.20 (tight) | normal | Card headings, feature names |
| Card Title | ui-sans-serif | 24px (1.5rem) | 400 | 1.33 | normal | Medium emphasis headings |
| Body Large | ui-sans-serif | 18px (1.13rem) | 400–500 | 1.56 | normal | Hero descriptions, button text |
| Body / Link | ui-sans-serif | 16px (1rem) | 400–500 | 1.50 | normal | Standard body text, navigation |
| Caption | ui-sans-serif | 14px (0.88rem) | 400 | 1.43 | normal | Metadata, descriptions |
| Small | ui-sans-serif | 12px (0.75rem) | 400 | 1.33 | normal | Smallest sans-serif text |
| Code Body | ui-monospace | 16px (1rem) | 400 | 1.50 | normal | Inline code, commands |
| Code Caption | ui-monospace | 14px (0.88rem) | 400 | 1.43 | normal | Code snippets, secondary |
| Code Small | ui-monospace | 12px (0.75rem) | 400–700 | 1.63 | normal | Tags, labels |

### Principles
- **Rounded display, standard body**: SF Pro Rounded carries display headlines with its distinctive rounded terminals, while the standard system sans handles all body text. The rounded font IS the brand expression.
- **Weight restraint**: Only two weights matter — 400 (regular) for body and 500 (medium) for headings. No bold, no light, no black weight. This extreme restraint reinforces the minimal philosophy.
- **Tight display, comfortable body**: Headlines compress to 1.0 line-height, while body text relaxes to 1.43–1.56. The contrast creates clear hierarchy without needing weight contrast.
- **Monospace for developer identity**: Code blocks and terminal commands appear throughout as primary content, using the system monospace stack.

## 4. Component Stylings

### Buttons

**Gray Pill (Primary)**
- Background: Light Gray (`#e5e5e5`)
- Text: Near Black (`#262626`)
- Padding: 10px 24px
- Border: thin solid Light Gray (`1px solid #e5e5e5`)
- Radius: pill-shaped (9999px)
- The primary action button — understated, grayscale, always pill-shaped

**White Pill (Secondary)**
- Background: Pure White (`#ffffff`)
- Text: Button Text Dark (`#404040`)
- Padding: 10px 24px
- Border: thin solid Border Light (`1px solid #d4d4d4`)
- Radius: pill-shaped (9999px)
- Secondary action — visually lighter than Gray Pill

**Black Pill (CTA)**
- Background: Pure Black (`#000000`)
- Text: Pure White (`#ffffff`)
- Radius: pill-shaped (9999px)
- Inferred from "Create account" and "Explore" buttons
- Maximum emphasis — black on white

### Cards & Containers
- Background: Pure White or Snow (`#fafafa`)
- Border: thin solid Light Gray (`1px solid #e5e5e5`) when needed
- Radius: comfortably rounded (12px) — the ONLY non-pill radius in the system
- Shadow: **none** — zero shadows on any element
- Hover: likely subtle background shift or border darkening

### Inputs & Forms
- Background: Pure White
- Border: `1px solid #e5e5e5`
- Radius: pill-shaped (9999px) — search inputs and form fields are pill-shaped
- Focus: Ring Blue (`#3b82f6` at 50%) ring
- Placeholder: Silver (`#a3a3a3`)

### Navigation
- Clean horizontal nav with minimal elements
- Logo: Ollama llama icon + wordmark in black
- Links: "Models", "Docs", "Pricing" in black at 16px, weight 400
- Search bar: pill-shaped with placeholder text
- Right side: "Sign in" link + "Download" black pill CTA
- No borders, no background — transparent nav on white page

### Image Treatment
- The Ollama llama mascot is the only illustration — black line art on white
- Code screenshots/terminal outputs shown in bordered containers (12px radius)
- Integration logos displayed as simple icons in a grid
- No photographs, no gradients, no decorative imagery

### Distinctive Components

**Tab Pills**
- Pill-shaped tab selectors (e.g., "Coding" | "OpenClaw")
- Active: Light Gray bg; Inactive: transparent
- All pill-shaped (9999px)

**Model Tags**
- Small pill-shaped tags (e.g., "ollama", "launch", "claude")
- Light Gray background, dark text
- The primary way to browse models

**Terminal Command Block**
- Monospace code showing `ollama run` commands
- Minimal styling — just a bordered 12px-radius container
- Copy button integrated

**Integration Grid**
- Grid of integration logos (Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode, LangChain, etc.)
- Each in a bordered pill or card with icon + name
- Tabbed by category (Coding, Documents & RAG, Automation, Chat)

## 5. Layout Principles

### Spacing System
- Base unit: 8px
- Scale: 4px, 6px, 8px, 9px, 10px, 12px, 14px, 16px, 20px, 24px, 32px, 40px, 48px, 88px, 112px
- Button padding: 10px 24px (consistent across all buttons)
- Card internal padding: approximately 24–32px
- Section vertical spacing: very generous (88px–112px)

### Grid & Container
- Max container width: approximately 1024–1280px, centered
- Hero: centered single-column with llama illustration
- Feature sections: 2-column layout (text left, code right)
- Integration grid: responsive multi-column
- Footer: clean single-row

### Whitespace Philosophy
- **Emptiness as luxury**: The page is remarkably short and sparse — no feature section overstays its welcome. Each concept gets minimal but sufficient space.
- **Content density is low by design**: Where other AI companies pack feature after feature, Ollama presents three ideas (run models, use with apps, integrations) and stops.
- **The white space IS the brand**: Pure white space with zero decoration communicates "this tool gets out of your way."

### Border Radius Scale
- Comfortably rounded (12px): The sole container radius — code blocks, cards, panels
- Pill-shaped (9999px): Everything interactive — buttons, tabs, inputs, tags, badges

*This binary system is extreme and distinctive. There is no 4px, no 8px, no gradient of roundness. Elements are either containers (12px) or interactive (pill).*

## 6. Depth & Elevation

| Level | Treatment | Use |
|-------|-----------|-----|
| Flat (Level 0) | No shadow, no border | Page background, most content |
| Bordered (Level 1) | `1px solid #e5e5e5` | Cards, code blocks, buttons |

**Shadow Philosophy**: Ollama uses **zero shadows**. This is not an oversight — it's a deliberate design decision. Every other major AI product site uses at least subtle shadows. Ollama's flat, shadowless approach creates a paper-like experience where elements are distinguished purely by background color and single-pixel borders. Depth is communicated through **content hierarchy and typography weight**, not visual layering.

## 7. Do's and Don'ts

### Do
- Use pure white (`#ffffff`) as the page background — never off-white or cream
- Use pill-shaped (9999px) radius on all interactive elements — buttons, tabs, inputs, tags
- Use 12px radius on all non-interactive containers — code blocks, cards, panels
- Keep the palette strictly grayscale — no chromatic colors except the blue focus ring
- Use SF Pro Rounded at weight 500 for display headings — the rounded terminals are the brand expression
- Maintain zero shadows — depth comes from borders and background shifts only
- Keep content density low — each section should present one clear idea
- Use monospace for terminal commands and code — it's primary content, not decoration
- Keep all buttons at 10px 24px padding with pill shape — consistency is absolute

### Don't
- Don't introduce any chromatic color — no brand blue, no accent green, no warm tones
- Don't use border-radius between 12px and 9999px — the system is binary
- Don't add shadows to any element — the flat aesthetic is intentional
- Don't use font weights above 500 — no bold, no black weight
- Don't add decorative illustrations beyond the llama mascot
- Don't use gradients anywhere — flat blocks and borders only
- Don't overcomplicate the layout — two columns maximum, no complex grids
- Don't use borders heavier than 1px — containment is always the lightest possible touch
- Don't add hover animations or transitions — interactions should feel instant and direct

## 8. Responsive Behavior

### Breakpoints
| Name | Width | Key Changes |
|------|-------|-------------|
| Mobile | <640px | Single column, stacked everything, hamburger nav |
| Small Tablet | 640–768px | Minor adjustments to spacing |
| Tablet | 768–850px | 2-column layouts begin |
| Desktop | 850–1024px | Standard layout, expanded features |
| Large Desktop | 1024–1280px | Maximum content width |

### Touch Targets
- All buttons are pill-shaped with generous padding (10px 24px)
- Navigation links at comfortable 16px size
- Minimum touch area easily exceeds 44x44px

### Collapsing Strategy
- **Navigation**: Collapses to hamburger menu on mobile
- **Feature sections**: 2-column → stacked single column
- **Hero text**: 48px → 36px → 30px progressive scaling
- **Integration grid**: Multi-column → 2-column → single column
- **Code blocks**: Horizontal scroll maintained

### Image Behavior
- Llama mascot scales proportionally
- Code blocks maintain monospace formatting
- Integration icons reflow to fewer columns
- No art direction changes

## 9. Agent Prompt Guide

### Quick Color Reference
- Primary Text: "Pure Black (#000000)"
- Page Background: "Pure White (#ffffff)"
- Secondary Text: "Stone (#737373)"
- Button Background: "Light Gray (#e5e5e5)"
- Borders: "Light Gray (#e5e5e5)"
- Muted Text: "Silver (#a3a3a3)"
- Dark Text: "Near Black (#262626)"
- Subtle Surface: "Snow (#fafafa)"

### Example Component Prompts
- "Create a hero section on pure white (#ffffff) with an illustration centered above a headline at 48px SF Pro Rounded weight 500, line-height 1.0. Use Pure Black (#000000) text. Below, add a black pill-shaped CTA button (9999px radius, 10px 24px padding) and a gray pill button."
- "Design a code block with a 12px border-radius, 1px solid Light Gray (#e5e5e5) border on white background. Use ui-monospace at 16px for the terminal command. No shadow."
- "Build a tab bar with pill-shaped tabs (9999px radius). Active tab: Light Gray (#e5e5e5) background, Near Black (#262626) text. Inactive: transparent background, Stone (#737373) text."
- "Create an integration card grid. Each card is a bordered pill (9999px radius) or a 12px-radius card with 1px solid #e5e5e5 border. Icon + name inside. Grid of 4 columns on desktop."
- "Design a navigation bar: transparent background, no border. Ollama logo on the left, 3 text links (Pure Black, 16px, weight 400), pill search input in the center, 'Sign in' text link and black pill 'Download' button on the right."

### Iteration Guide
1. Focus on ONE component at a time
2. Keep all values grayscale — "Stone (#737373)" not "use a light color"
3. Always specify pill (9999px) or container (12px) radius — nothing in between
4. Shadows are always zero — never add them
5. Weight is always 400 or 500 — never bold
6. If something feels too decorated, remove it — less is always more for Ollama

## 10. Voice & Tone

Ollama's voice is **open-source-warm and CLI-fluent** — speaks like a tool team that values local-first AI. Marketing copy emphasizes the "run AI on your machine" thesis. Pill chrome + warm round buttons signal "approachable while still being a serious tool."

| Context | Tone |
|---|---|
| CTA | Verb. "Download", "Sign in", "Create account" |
| Marketing | Practical. "Run language models locally" recurring |
| Documentation | CLI-first; bash snippets dominant |
| Error | Specific. "Model not found locally. Pull with: ollama pull llama3" |

**Voice samples**
- Marketing CTA: *"Download"* / *"Create account"* <!-- verified: ollama.com homepage 2026-05 -->

**Forbidden phrases.** "Revolutionary AI", "magic". Aggressive sales pressure.

## 11. Brand Narrative

Ollama was founded by **Jeffrey Morgan** and **Michael Chiang** in **Palo Alto, CA** ([Y Combinator — Ollama](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ollama), [No Cap Blog — Michael Chiang](https://nocap.blog/founder/michael-chiang/)). Morgan + Chiang were **previously co-founders of Kitematic, the early UI for Docker** (acquired by Docker), giving them deep familiarity with developer-tooling distribution. The pair went through **Y Combinator Winter 2021 (W21)** batch with $125K initial investment, then pivoted into local-LLM tooling. **Initial public release July 2023 via GitHub** — the open-source CLI `ollama run llama3` became iconic in the local-AI community. The brand voice mirrors the lineage: practical, terse, CLI-aware. The cloud offering (**Ollama Pro / Max** tiers) launched **2024-2025** to monetize without abandoning the local-first OSS positioning. Mission: democratize AI access by eliminating cloud-service dependency for running LLMs ([Tracxn — Ollama](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/ollama/__dmKJg668xTKoW4o-mEXuoBUCM5Lwj1xIcCRlYr5tpOk)).

## 12. Principles

1. **Local-first is the thesis.** *UI implication:* product surfaces lead with `ollama run` CLI, not a hosted UI.
2. **Pill chrome (9999px).** *UI implication:* nav, badges, modals all pill on white.
3. **Weight 400 or 500, never bold.** *UI implication:* don't use weight 700+.
4. **Less is more — remove decoration.** *UI implication:* no ornament; if something feels decorative, cut it.
5. **OSS and Pro coexist.** *UI implication:* Pro/Max tiers visible but never blocking OSS UX.

## 13. Personas

*Personas are fictional archetypes informed by Ollama user segments (privacy-conscious developers, ML researchers, local-first SaaS builders), not individual people.*

**Sergey Volkov, 38, Berlin.** Privacy-conscious developer running Ollama on his M3 Max. Avoids cloud APIs for personal data.

**Aisha Patel, 31, San Francisco.** ML researcher fine-tuning small models. Ollama for inference, custom training elsewhere.

**Marcus Davies, 45, London.** Indie SaaS builder shipping a local-first writing tool. Ollama as the AI layer that doesn't require user API keys.

## 14. States

| State | Treatment |
|---|---|
| **Empty (no models pulled)** | "Pull your first model" CLI snippet |
| **Empty (no projects)** | "Try a model" with library link |
| **Loading (model pulling)** | Per-layer progress with bytes/sec |
| **Loading (inference)** | Per-token streaming visible |
| **Error (model not found)** | Specific. "Model not found. Pull with: ollama pull X" |
| **Error (memory)** | "Insufficient RAM. Try a smaller variant: ollama run llama3:8b" |
| **Success (pull)** | Confirmation + run command snippet |
| **Success (creation)** | Account confirmation + API key |
| **Skeleton (model list)** | Pill placeholders |
| **Disabled (free tier limit)** | Upgrade link |
| **Loading (long pull)** | Persistent progress with ETA |

## 15. Motion & Easing

| Token | Value | Use |
|---|---|---|
| `motion-instant` | 0ms | Toggle |
| `motion-fast` | 150ms | Hover |
| `motion-standard` | 250ms | Modal |

Standard cubic-bezier; no bounce. `prefers-reduced-motion: reduce` removes hover transitions.

---

**Verified:** 2026-05-08 (omd:migrate run 42 — Apple-tier)
**Tier 1 sources:** ollama.com home + /library (live DOM via playwright — all-pill 9999px chrome, **4-tier height system** {header 40 / hero 52 / Pro 38 / Max 36 / nav 28}, 2-weight discipline (400 default / 500 hero+pricing); Primary `#262626` Ollama Charcoal + Inverted `#fff` on dark hero; Outline `rgba(0,0,0,0.05)`).
**Tier 2 sources:** styles.refero.design / getdesign.md — no record.
**Tier 2 (Philosophy/founders):** Y Combinator (Ollama W21 batch), No Cap Blog (Michael Chiang), Tracxn, Grokipedia.
**Style ref:** `notion`. **Conflicts unresolved:** none. **Earlier addition:** pricing inverted-pill `#fff` 36-38px / 14px·500 + hero weight-500 distinction missed by prior pass.
