Here’s how to make Hugo PaperMod landing page (the main page) minimalistic, yet fancy. Inspired by Apple Tahoe OS’s liquid glass aesthetic, on top of PaperMod’s minimalistic design, I added (i) round corner for blog post boxes and (ii) interactive color change.

In Hugo, aesthetic configs (e.g. page margins, text box colors) are ultimately controlled by CSS. Even better, PaperMod already has a built-in way to add custom CSS without touching the theme files: any CSS one put in assets/css/extended/*.css in the project gets bundled automatically. So, just create one assets/css/extended/margins.css and paste the following CSS configurations (or, DIY yourself):

/* ===========================
   LAYOUT: MAIN CONTENT + NAV
   =========================== */

/* Main content area: center on page and use responsive side margins */
.main {
  max-width: 88rem;
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  padding-left: clamp(2rem, 6vw, 6rem);
  padding-right: clamp(2rem, 6vw, 6rem);
}

/* Top navigation bar: align with main content margins */
.nav {
  max-width: 88rem;
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  padding-left: clamp(2rem, 6vw, 6rem);
  padding-right: clamp(2rem, 6vw, 6rem);
}

/* ===========================
   NAV: LINKS + TITLE EFFECTS
   =========================== */

/* Navigation links (right side): smooth color + glow on hover */
.nav ul li a {
  transition:
    color 0.3s ease,
    text-shadow 0.3s ease;
}

.nav ul li a:hover {
  color: #5A8FE4;  /* soft blue hover color */
  text-shadow: 0 0 2px rgba(192, 192, 192, 0.288);  /* subtle glow */
}

/* Blog title / logo (left side): subtle zoom + color shift on hover */
.nav .logo a {
  transition:
    color 0.36s ease,
    text-shadow 0.2s ease,
    transform 0.22s ease;
}

.nav .logo a:hover {
  color: #5A8FE4;      /* same blue as nav links */
  transform: scale(1.006);  /* tiny zoom for a refined feel */
  /* text-shadow can be re-enabled if you want more glow */
  /* text-shadow: 0 0 3.6px rgba(117, 172, 255, 0.45); */
}

/* ===========================
   POST CARDS: BASE STYLE
   =========================== */

/* Base appearance of each blog post card */
.post-entry {
  /* shape + internal spacing */
  border-radius: 1.6rem;
  padding: 1.44rem 1.6rem; /* top/bottom, left/right */
  margin-bottom: 2rem;     /* spacing between cards */

  /* glassmorphism look */
  backdrop-filter: blur(12px);
  -webkit-backdrop-filter: blur(12px);
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.35);
  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25);
  box-shadow: 0 8px 24px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03);

  /* smooth transitions for hover / press / release */
  transition:
    transform 0.25s ease,
    background 0.35s ease,
    border-color 0.35s ease,
    box-shadow 0.35s ease;
}

/* ===========================
   POST CARDS: HOVER (LIGHT)
   =========================== */

/* Hover effect in light mode: soft blue glow + slight lift */
.post-entry:hover {
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.35); /* still very light, clean */
  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25);
  box-shadow: 0 12px 32px rgba(120, 180, 255, 0.18);
  transform: translateY(-2px); /* subtle floating effect */
}

/* ===========================
   POST CARDS: DARK MODE BASE
   =========================== */

/* Base glass look in dark mode */
.dark .post-entry {
  background: rgba(40, 40, 45, 0.35);
  border: 0.24px solid rgba(102, 101, 101, 0.15);
  box-shadow: 0 8px 24px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
}

/* Hover in dark mode: cooler blue edge + stronger glow */
.dark .post-entry:hover {
  background: rgba(40, 40, 45, 0.35);
  border-color: rgba(132, 169, 224, 0.45);
  box-shadow: 0 12px 34px rgba(120, 160, 255, 0.25);
  transform: translateY(-2px);
}

/* ===========================
   POST CARDS: CLICK / PRESS
   =========================== */

/* Light mode press: subtle “button press” feedback */
.post-entry:active {
  transform: scale(0.985);  /* slight press down */
  background: rgba(240, 248, 255, 0.55); /* faint blue-white tint */
  border-color: rgba(160, 200, 255, 0.15);
  box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(120, 160, 255, 0.15);

  /* faster transitions for the press itself */
  transition:
    transform 0.08s ease,
    background 0.12s ease;
}

/* Dark mode press: same idea, tuned for dark background */
.dark .post-entry:active {
  transform: scale(0.985);
  background: rgba(70, 90, 120, 0.45);
  border-color: rgba(120, 160, 220, 0.35);
  box-shadow: 0 4px 14px rgba(120, 160, 255, 0.25);
}