SimpleThemes Wordpress Themes

20 Creative and Useful Wordpress Themes

I recently worked with a local client who had a limited budget. He was somewhat familiar with WordPress and had the basic gist of page/post/category structure so I suggested he stick with what he knows. The plan was to get together and search for the perfect theme for his new site (a church). We browsed through a plethora of free and premium WP themes, but hit a brick wall when trying to make a decision.

“Where are all the real-world Wordpress Themes?”, he asked. “There are literally thousands of themes out there, but it seems like these guys (theme designers) have catered to a very universal design pattern in order to try to please the majorities.” I was blown away that he was able to see this trend by spending only a few hours. The sad thing is, he was spot on!

It seems that we as designers have lingered with various design trends for too long. Superblog themes, Gaming themes, Magazine themes, Showcase & Gallery themes, IT & Software themes, etc.,etc. These are all too readily available and have saturated the theme arena. So, I thought I’d share with you a list of our top WordPress themes for real-world sites such as boutiques, antique shops, churches, salons, restaurants, mom & pop retail, etc.

Local web designers are out there in desperate search for something unique and simple to wrap around WordPress. They just want to launch a web site that can function both as a CMS (and a simple blog) without an intimidating corporate design.

So here is the list we narrowed it down to. Please feel free to share yours.

EBusiness Wordpress Theme by ElegantThemes

World Traveller Wordpress Theme

Wooden Wordpress Theme by ElegantThemes

Maven Wordpress Theme

Parade Wordpress Theme

Wordpress Church Theme

Atlantica (dark) Wordpress Theme from ThemeForest

wpshop Wordpress Theme from ThemeForest

Paper-Made Wordpress Theme

Paper & Wood Wordpress Theme

Atlantica (light) Wordpress Theme

Evolition Wordpress Theme

Smart Portfolio Wordpress Theme

Folio Delight Wordpress Theme

Yellow Press Wordpress Theme

Karma Wordpress Theme

Art Shop Wordpress Theme

Goldmine Wordpress Theme

Book Wordpress Theme

Vineyard Wordpress Theme

Travel Journal Wordpress Theme

Mahinhin WP Theme

Mahinhin is probably not the most memorable named wordpress theme you’ll find out there, but we chose to review this one based on it’s sheer design potential. One thing you don’t see a whole lot of in the WP theme arena is feminine designs. This theme may require some fine tuning, but it’s a great starter theme for a designer looking for something different. With Mahinhin’s soft, simple, and feminine elements, it might be well suited for a boutique or mother’s blog.

You can download the theme here or check out it’s demo here

Twicet – A Showcase Wordpress Theme

We recently paid a visit to our friends at Theme Forest and decided to look into the Twicet theme for Wordpress (designed by Kriesi.at). We probably wouldn’t categorize this theme as “pro-blogger” style, but if you’re a designer/developer looking for a showcase-style design for Wordpress, this is it! This super-clean theme incorporates a nice fading jquery/suckerfish menu with a killer featured content slider. This them also comes available in 5 color styles and ships with the original layered PSD.

Mainstream Wordpress Theme

We recently took a look at one of the latest free Wordpress themes by Woothemes and were totally shocked that such a great design was given completely free – no registration even needed. The only catch here is if you need help with it, you need to be a member. That said, you can get access to all their themes for as little as 70 bucks.

This theme is available in 5 colors. We found it super easy to customize this theme solely through the CSS. This theme also shows off the new Woothemes backend UI enhancements which they recently rolled out with their new relaunched site.

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More info on Mainstream and in-depth review..

Old Popular Yolk – A simple (and very yellow) Wordpress Theme

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A flexible Wordpress theme with a unique minimalist style.