Designer's Studio: 7 Amazing Premium Wordpress Theme Designers Explain
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The WordPress following could be compared to the one of any given religious group. The annual WordCamp conference in San Francisco is perhaps as close as one can come to a revival meeting of the tech-savvy. And by the core of this community stand the ones who have dedicated their whole portfolios and businesses to develop some of the most sold, used and appraised WordPress themes - The Premium Wordpress Theme Designers.
We have interviewed seven of them; to give you an insight in the wondrous life of a WordPress theme designer. Along with their statements you will also find their own favorite designs.
But first...
Speaking of WordPress themes there was no way we were going to neglect to include the expertise of Joe Hawk at WPBest. Reviewing and sieving themes for a living, he was a natural choice to list the top five premium wp themes of all time.
- MagFolio by PremiumThemes.net
- Thesis by DIY Themes
- Daily Edition by WooThemes
- Bold by Elegant Themes
- Video Flick 2.0 by Press75
Adii Pienaar - WooThemes
Adii is, like many of you probably know, the a co-founder at WooThemes (along with Magnus & Mark) and mostly responsible for the strategic & marketing tasks of the business. What he knows about design and HTML / CSS / PHP / WordPress is self-taught and by nature. Adii is much of an entrepreneur than he would ever consider himself a designer or developer (even though he built his online reputation on that initially). WooThemes has been going for almost 2 years now (including the time they were branded as Premium News Themes) and they design and develop top-notch WordPress themes / templates. With almost 50 free & paid themes to date, Adii, Mark and Magnus has established an aspiring business, now starting to see the benefits of sticking to their plans for so long.
What made you start designing wp themes?
- Blogging was all over the interwebs way back in 2006 and I decided that I wanted to blog as well. So I taught myself how to develop for WordPress and eventually started doing client work in this regard. This evolved to developing free & paid themes in the search of establishing both a business & a passive income stream. I wouldn't be able to tell you that I chose WP in favor of any other platform, because I never tried anything else. But WP is a breeze to use and the more you use it, the easier it obviously becomes to bend it to your will.
Will the WordPress hype ever end?
- Probably or maybe. Anything technology-related has a lifespan and it's simply impossible to gauge the start & end of somethings life.
Recommend a good provider of WordPress hosting
- I just know that our web hosts - RSAWeb - knows their stuff and that we'll soon be partnering with them on some WP + WooThemes specific hosting packages! :)
What are the essential elements in a great wp theme?
- Great design & functional, flexible - yet unbloated - code.
If you would name one other great wp designer, who would you choose?
Well, no one is really a WP designer, are they? In terms of people designing / developing generally on WP, I've always loved Jason Schuller's work.
Of your themes, which one is your favorite?
- I'd say The Station, because I designed it. But otherwise I think Fresh News is a really great theme and more recently I'm loving stuff such as Antisocial & Exposure.
Adii's favorite - The Station
Adii's own creation, The Station was released in March of 2009, to accomodated the various needs of WordPress business users. Live Demo
Chandra Maharzan - Graph Paper Press - WpShoppe
Chandra Maharzan is a web media professional from Nepal. He works on UI stuff for the web applications and has a tiny business setup in Nepal, by the name of Nhuja Concepts, which focuses on executing few personal ideas / client projects. It has however been quite sometime since he collaborated with Graph Paper Press, situated in Washington DC, in developing themes and provide support to WordPress loving Photographers and Bloggers. Graph Paper Press focuses on developing themes specifically focusing PhotoBloggers and VideogBloggers. The Graph Paper Press team just launched a new service called Visual Society that hosts all GPP themes and a PhotoShelter integration. This is all-in-one package for people looking to have their websites up and running without the hassle of setting it up.
What made you start designing wp themes?
- I have been designing web pages and UIs for more than 7 years now. I have had experiences with a lot of other CMS, blogging softwares but have found WordPress to be very simple and easy. At first, I wasn't convinced that WordPress could be used as a CMS but in recent years we have been seen what WordPress is capable of. But even though the market is huge, there has been a lack of good quality themes for WordPress. So, I decided to step up and start developing some nice and 'useful' themes that is not just focusing on blogging.
Will the WordPress hype ever end?
- WordPress is so unique, simple and easy to use that I doubt this is going to end. Everybody likes simple things. Even for developers, the good part of WordPress is we don't have to use some whacky coding method or remember a different syntax. Its plain php and everyone can do it.
Recommend a good provider of WordPress hosting
- I am using MediaTemple. :)
What are the essential elements in a great wp theme?
- In my opinion, any theme needs to be bug free, clean and all pages formatted correctly. I am more into simple, intuitive theme than complex high graphics themes. Working Theme Options is definitely a plus for people who do not have CSS/PHP skills but want to change the look of their sites.
If you would name one other great wp designer, who would you choose?
- Of course, Thad Allender. He has pushed the wordpress development to a new height. Its not a blogging platform anymore. Thad has given answers to a lot of photographers and videographers to showcase their work on the web.
Of your themes, which one is your favorite?
- I have developed 3 themes so far and working on my fourth (due release of WordPress 2.9). The fourth is definitely going to be a blast but as of now, I like Cleanr for its simplicity and a lot of breathing space.
Chandra's favorite - Cleanr
Released at WpShoppe, Cleanr stands out in its simplicity and clean design. Perfect for the personal blogger, looking to set focus on his content. Live Demo
R.Bhavesh - PremiumThemes.net
R.Bhavesh is a web designer and eveloper from India. He enjoys helping businesses and bloggers establishing their Online Presence. Simple, Easy and Affordable. And that is exactly what he does at PremiumThemes.net. By releasinng strategically buillt wordpress themes that are out of the box, that saves time & money and that you can use to create an amazing look for your website in just minutes to an affordabel price.
What made you start designing wp themes?
WP premium themes gave me freedom of building website themes the way I wanted. By studying the industry and actual requirement, I can plan and create best possible solution for a particular industry. That idea appealed to me very well and I got started.
Will the WordPress hype ever end?
Is it hype? I wouldn't say that. If you say selling themes is a hype, I would agree a bit. But the end user uses wordpress for it's easy of use and limited, necessary functionality. The only way I see the 'hype' would
end is, if the wordpress becomes bloated and start tossing every possible feature out there. In short, if it tries to become joomla, it will be a major fail.
Recommend a good provider of WordPress hosting
I recommend bluehost and hostgator to all my clients as they are trusted and the users seems to be satisfied. I personally use mediatemple for I can not afford downtimes and need premium support.
What are the essential elements in a great wp theme?
Easy of use, to the point installation, have all the basic elements/features that a paid themes should have and, good support ofcourse.
If you would name one other great wp designer, who would you choose?
I like Magnus Jepson's work a lot. Also matt brett, Liam Mckay are other good designers who do wonderful job.
Of your themes, which one is your favorite?
If a theme is not my favorite, I wouldn't build it. I would say, most of the themes in our premium wordpress themes store is my favorite. If I had to chose 5, I would choose Inspired Bits, Product Folio, eBook, eProduct, Restaurant, iProduct.
Bhavesh's top pick - Inspired Bits
Available in 7 elegant colorschemes, Inspired Bits is a blog/gallery, perfect for your photograps or latest designs. Live Demo
Pavel Ciorici - WpZoom
Pavel is a WordPress addict from Moldova, Europe. A 22 year old , that runs his own web startup - WPZOOM, which was released in May 2008 as a blog about WordPress Themes, only to in February 2009 refocusing on developing WordPress Premium Themes.
What made you start designing wp themes?
- A few years ago I liked to change my personals blog everyday theme, and then I started to modify existing themes, until I've learned very well how to play with themes, so I started to create my own themes from scratch, and now this hobby has changed to a "Theme Business" :)
Will the WordPress hype ever end?
- Everything is possible, but comparing to other CMS, I'm pretty sure that WordPress will be still chosen by many thousands of web-designers, for it's big community, flexibility and lots of plugins available on web.
Recommend a good provider of WordPress hosting
- Right now we are using HostGator, and I'm pretty thankful with them. Hadn't have any troubles so far. But I would recommend for beginners in WordPress to try WpWebHost, because I heard it's very simple and adapted to this platform.
What are the essential elements in a great wp theme?
- From my experience with Themes, I think that the most important elements is how flexible your theme is to the customer content, and how is easy is to adapt this theme to the whole website. Every time we develop a new feature in our new themes, we have to think about how easy will be for our customer to manage this theme. Also I think that an important element is how you present your theme to the customers. They should easy understand how this theme runs, to offer them the right documentation.
If you would name one other great wp designer, who would you choose?
- Matt Brett has some nice theme released on ThemeForest, and also in love with Derek Herman's (aka Valen Designs) websites he designed in WordPress.
Of your themes, which one is your favorite?
- I like very much my latest theme released - Magnet. It's one of my best designed theme, and we have a lot of customers that are saying the same thing. It's a simple theme with a traditional blog layout, but with some extra features, featured sliders, and very flexible!
Pavel's top pick - Magnet
Magnet is indeed one of Pavel's greatest work, with a sleek design and a magazine layout. Live Demo
Carlos Aguaron - Gorilla Themes
Carlos is a web developer based in South Florida , USA. He has developed for the Adobe Flash Platform since 1999 until his first encounter with WordPress at the beginning of 2007. At the time, Carlos was looking for a good cms-blog type software that could serve as a starting framework for his client projects and WordPress' extensibility, licensing, community, SEO, and updates was just what he was looking for. Since then he's been developing mixed themes with flash and WordPress elements to make them more interactive. He has always had a special liking to multimedia and actually worked with several Radio and TV stations in the past.
What made you start designing wp themes?
- I had the idea of selling my own designs with or without WordPress before all this craziness about WordPress themes came out, but I never completed my store because of time constraints and other personal projects until I released my first theme CelebrityPress on my plugandpress.com theme store, which eventually became Gorilla Themes in February of 2009.
Will the WordPress hype ever end?
- As long as WordPress is open source and keeps adding new features and updates, the community will be there. There are always going to be other popular blogging platforms but WordPress will never stop.
What are the essential elements in a great wp theme?
- For me the essential elements in a WordPress theme is a mix between functionality and visuals. I love to make WordPress perform at its absolute best with in your face graphics and complex features for extended functionality.
Of your themes, which one is your favorite?
- I really like OpenHouse as a modern, minimalist, and classy theme. The new Seduction Magazine theme is off the hook for its new photo gallery functionality in posts and its overall graphics.
Carlos's favorite - Open House
Open House was originally made for blogging real estate agents. However, the theme became popular for portfolio and personal blogging purposes as well. Live Demo
John Saddington - Human3rror
John L. Saddington works for a non-profit during the day and by night he helps businesses create amazing web experiences. Enough said!
What made you start designing wp themes?
- The simplicity of using it and the effectiveness of it's creative results!- Will the WordPress hype ever end?
Will the WordPress hype ever end?
- Nope. The community will help it live forever!
Recommend a good provider of WordPress hosting
- I love MediaTemple but that's typically for bigger blogs. I suggest Dreamhost for smaller blogs and getting started.
What are the essential elements in a great wp theme?
- Simplicity and that one element of distinctiveness. Give it flair!
If you would name one other great wp designer, who would you choose?
- woothemes are the bomb.
Of your themes, which one is your favorite?
- I really don't have a favorite; but, I really like the business card one.
John's top pick - The Digital Business Card
This theme is free and a community handout from one of John's clients. A great theme for the ones looking to spice up their onlince curriculum vitae. Live Demo
iGor & iKarina - PandaThemes
PandaThemes consists of two talents. Igor as developer and Karina as web designer. With nearly a decade experience in developing Igor used to work as a freelancer for different projects; at some of them he collaborated with Karina. Their joint work was of such smoot nature that they recently decided to set up an own project together. And so PandaThemes.com was born. PT specializes in creating WordPress Themes for small web-design studio, web-developers, designers, photographers and others freelancers. As it is a fairly new venture, it needs all the attention possible, as the themes are indeed spectacular.
What made you start designing wp themes?
- We are WordPress fans. WordPress is widespread, easy to use, flexible, extensible and has many kinds of plugins. I don’t see any reason not to use WordPress as a base for portfolio. Many designers have WordPress blogs, but also they are in need of quality showcases and we strive to help them.
Will the WordPress hype ever end?
- The prevalence of WordPress is a natural reaction of users on a quality and easy to use product. I think the end isn’t expected. Today WordPress isn’t a project a few people. Thousands of people, who develop it each day, involved in this project.
Recommend a good provider of WordPress hosting?
- WordPress requirements for hosting aren’t high. Today many hosting providers have special offers with preinstalled WordPress and I think users should choose among such.
What are the essential elements in a great wp theme?
- There are several essential elements for a great wp theme like a frontpage showcase, compatibility with social networks, flexible layout, several homepage templates, 2 in 1: portfolio+blog, theme options page, auto thumbs, build-in lightbox, search engine optimized, several color schemes, online documentation.
If you would name one other great wp designer, who would you choose?
- I would choose Nick at Elegant themes. He creates really stunning WordPress Themes with stylish and clean design.
Of your themes, which one is your favorite?
- Portfolius v.4 - because it is the most recent, the latest work.
iGor & Karina's favorite - Portfolius v.4
Though fairly new on the market, PandaThemes has here created a stunning portfolio theme, mind-altering in both its designed simplicity and developed details. Live Demo
Comments
Dan
08:42, October 21, 2009
GREAT list of WP designers. You should add Jason at press75.com also the URL attached to Human3rror is in correct.
Brian Franklin
09:25, October 21, 2009
Thanks Dan, yeah I noticed the url and fixed it lightning-fast :-) I actually contacted Jason, as I agree with you that he is awesome. He, however, did not reply.
Jesse
10:32, October 21, 2009
Nice list. I think you should do one of these for WP plugin developers too, lots of great ones out there. You should have also contacted Chris Wallace, he is a great theme designer as well.
Inside the Webb
11:13, October 21, 2009
I have always been a huge fan of WooThemes. In fact, my web 2.0 blog http://www.insidethewebb.com/ uses the papercut theme from WooThemes, and it really is amazing.
David Ingledow
17:39, October 21, 2009
Great and interesting list of Wordpress theme designers.
Dave Sparks
08:27, October 22, 2009
Thanks, great little list of designers and nice to hear their views
anggi krisna
00:28, November 11, 2009
maybe someday i will on list :D, they are my heroes