Introducing Portfolio WordPress Theme – and the Design Decisions Behind it

SitePoint grandly launched the new premium WordPress theme "Portfolio", which aims to provide a minimalist and open platform for creatives such as designers, writers and artists to showcase their work. The theme was developed by SitePoint in collaboration with DroitLab's designer Shahadat.

Core design concept

Design decisions for Portfolio themes cover typography, images, gallery views, and particle geometry effects. The theme uses Raleway font as the title and Open Sans Regular font as the text, both inspiring the lightweight, single-line thickness style of the icon. The gallery view focuses on displaying visuals in a square tile layout, while the particle geometry adds a subtle surprise beauty to the hero area.

Portfolio theme is highly customizable, and users can adjust colors, fonts and layouts to suit their personal style or brand. It also includes features such as responsive design, SEO optimization, and compatibility with various plugins, making it a versatile option for any creative professional.

To learn more about custom theme development, please check out the SitePoint advanced course "WordPress Theme Development"!

As you may have noticed, SitePoint now offers our own range of premium WordPress themes. Our latest and (we think) most attractive theme is called "Portfolio". We worked closely with a very talented designer – Shahadat from DroitLab – to try to create an ideal platform for designers, writers, artists, and even front-end coders to showcase their talents. The design goal is “simple, open and minimalist”.

Below we will break down the key decisions that drive the design of this topic:

1. Font selection: Raleway and Open Sans Regular

Font selection is always challenging. It can be said that no other design decision can affect the overall feeling of the design so comprehensively, but it is so invisible to the user. Users may read thousands of words on Facebook every day, but letting the average user describe the font used, they will likely wink and shrugg.

SitePoint WordPress Portfolio Theme Screenshot

For the title of Portfolio, we chose my favorite ssans serif font from the Google Font Catalog - Raleway, an extremely elegant work created by Matt McInerney.

Why do I like it so much? Look at that "W"!

Raleway has a curved and mechanical steel appearance—like the font you saw in post offices, schools and public buildings in the 1930s and 40s. It's always sharp but not overly.

Open Sans Regular is the perfect match for the body type. It's more versatile than the Raleway, but shares many of the neo-Grotesk features – minus some unique mid-century decorations (like "w"). They can easily share space on the same page.

2. Image selection

Our typography points out the direction of the icon we selected. Both Raleway and Open Sans Regular use lightweight single-wire thicknesses—almost like they were made of wire.

Handmade wireframe image—Madebyjoel.com

I've seen real wire sculptures—this piece from MadeByJoel.com is great—so we wanted to continue the "wire product look" for the icons, combining linear icons—about 50. Since no single icon set has what we want, we put together a new icon library from multiple sources including: linear icons, Et icons, and custom hand-drawn icons.

They are all clear SVG formats, so they work properly in almost any scale from icons to featured illustrations.

3. Gallery View

It is always important to present your work with the best results in the portfolio website. Before opening each unit to a magazine-like modal, we focus our gallery on displaying the visuals in a square tile gallery layout. You can filter images by category, or browse them all as open collections.

4. Particle geometric effect

While we want the hero area to remain open and tidy, we don’t think the subtle unexpected touch will appear out of place in this important panel. The particles we achieve here meet this requirement well. It's calm and charming.

Floating nodes and connected vectors hint at the theme of creative generation and connection—a relevant skill for designers, writers and coders. It adds texture and depth to the design, but it doesn't grab your attention to the more important elements on the page - in this case, you. This is a good thing. Particle effects are rendered in lightweight JavaScript and canvas, making them load and run quickly and can be scaled to any space. We are working on ways to allow you to create your own unique particle effects.

Summary

This is an overview of the design ideas behind this project. I think Portfolio is our best work to date and I look forward to working with Shahadat again soon.

Please check and tell us what you think.

Frequently Asked Questions about Portfolio WordPress Theme and Design Decisions

What is unique about the Portfolio WordPress theme compared to other themes?

Portfolio WordPress theme stands out for its simplicity, minimalist design that puts your work in the center. It is designed to present your work in a professional and visually appealing way. The theme is highly customizable, allowing you to adjust colors, fonts, and layouts to suit your personal style or brand. It also includes features such as responsive design, SEO optimization, and compatibility with various plugins, making it a versatile option for any creative professional.

How customizable is the Portfolio WordPress theme?

Portfolio WordPress themes provide a high level of customization. You can easily change colors, fonts, and layouts to match your brand or personal style. It also supports custom post types and taxonomy, allowing you to organize your portfolio in a way that suits your work. Also, it is compatible with various plugins, so you can add additional features as you like.

Is the Portfolio WordPress theme responsive?

Yes, the Portfolio WordPress theme is fully responsive. This means it will automatically adjust to fit any screen size, from desktop computers to tablets and smartphones. This ensures that your portfolio looks great and easy to browse on any device.

How does Portfolio WordPress theme support SEO?

Portfolio WordPress theme is designed with SEO in mind. It contains neat, optimized code that makes search engines easy to crawl and index your website. It also supports SEO plug-ins, allowing you to further optimize your content and metadata for better search engine rankings.

Can I use plugins in Portfolio WordPress theme?

Yes, the Portfolio WordPress theme is compatible with various plugins. This allows you to add additional features to your website, such as contact forms, social media integration, and more.

How to organize my work using Portfolio WordPress theme?

Portfolio WordPress themes support custom post types and taxonomy, allowing you to organize your work in a way that suits you. You can create categories for different types of work, tag items with relevant keywords, and more.

What types of support does Portfolio WordPress theme provide?

Portfolio WordPress theme comes with comprehensive documentation to help you get started. If you have any problems, you can also contact the support team for help.

Is the Portfolio WordPress theme suitable for non-designers?

Absolutely! Portfolio WordPress themes are designed to be user-friendly and can be used by even those without a background in web design. The Theme Options panel is intuitive and easy to use, and the theme comes with detailed documentation to help you get started.

Can I use Portfolio WordPress theme for non-folding sites?

While the Portfolio WordPress theme is designed with portfolio in mind, it is versatile enough to be used in various types of websites. Its simple, minimalist design and customizable features make it an excellent choice for blogs, commercial websites and more.

How to showcase my best work with Portfolio WordPress theme?

Portfolio WordPress theme contains various features to help you showcase your best work. You can create an amazing homepage slider, showcase your latest projects on the homepage and organize your work into categories for easy browsing. Additionally, each project can contain detailed descriptions, images, and more, allowing you to provide context and tell the story behind your work.

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