Cream of the Crop: Six Cutting-Edge, Minimalist Wordpress Themes

Feb 13, 2008

Cream of the Crop: Six Cutting-Edge, Minimalist Wordpress Themes
by Skellie

Minimalist Wordpress Themes.
Photo by feaverish

These six themes are at the forefront of modern, minimalist, typographically interesting Wordpress theme design.

I’ve moonlighted as a blog designer, a design consultant and write design reviews every week at ProBlogger. I write on usability, simplicity and minimalism in design. This stuff is important to me, and my criteria for good blog design is difficult to meet. Yep — I’m picky and proud of it.

There are thousands of free Wordpress themes available, and of those thousands, I’ve seen hundreds. Of those hundreds, I would only use a few. Less than ten, in fact: themes I consider simple, usable, elegant, modern and uncluttered. Themes that emphasize what’s important and de-emphasize what isn’t.

If you’ve been thinking about a redesign for your Wordpress blog (or are open to the possibility in future), I’d recommend any of these themes. If you have some knowledge of code, I’ve suggested the customizations I would make to optimize each theme for usability and readability.

{1. Upstart Blogger Minim

Minimalist Wordpress Themes -- Upstart Blogger Minim.

Modern, minimalist theme with big headlines, good readability and space for a large header and tag-line (just replace the image in the top left corner).

Demo | Download

Suggested customizations:

Display full posts on the home page, then use the ‘more’ tag to excerpt them so you get a ‘Read more’ link rather than […].
Add a ‘Learn more’ link at the end of your About blurb in the sidebar.
Move ‘Popular Posts’ above the search bar.
Add links to key static pages under the popular posts.
Move the search bar beneath that.
Remove the tag cloud. They’re pretty but wholly unusable.
Remove ‘Meta’ from the sidebar, move links and archives to their own page.
Display feed options under the logo instead of further down the sidebar.

{2. Overstand

Minimalist Wordpress Themes -- Overstand.

Minimalist black, orange, white and gray Wordpress magazine theme.

Demo | Download

Suggested customizations:

Use full posts on the main page combined with the ‘More’ tag to create excerpts that don’t end in […].
Declutter the footer area.

{3. Grady

Minimalist Wordpress Themes -- Grady.

Minimalist, no-image theme. Visuals are made interesting by the typography and coloration.

Demo | Download

Suggested customizations:

Simplify the information beneath each post title to: by author, date, category and comment count.
De-clutter the sidebar following the same guidelines provided for the Upstart Blogger Minim theme above.
You’ll have to use the ‘More’ tag in posts to excerpt them because no comment link appears under full posts on the main page. I wouldn’t recommend this theme if you’re planning on displaying full posts on the main page.

{4. Modicus

Minimalist Wordpress Themes -- Modicus.

Another modern, minimalist theme with plenty of whitespace.

Demo | Download

Suggested customizations:

Post headlines need to be at least H3.
Body text should be +1, for readability.
Remove ‘Meta’ and ‘Your Comments’ from the sidebar.
Move ‘Bookmarks’ and ‘Archives’ to their own page.
Add date, author and comment count below title. Add another comment link beneath the post, or use ‘More’ tag excerpts.

{5. Futurosity EOS

Minimalist Wordpress Themes -- Futurosity Eos.

A sophisticated magazine-style theme for Wordpress.

Demo | Download

Suggested customizations:

Move RSS links higher in the sidebar.
Add popular posts in the sidebar.
Remove the ‘Meta’ sidebar element.

{6. Modicus Remix

Minimalist Wordpress Themes -- Modicus Remix.

Revised Modicus theme which makes bold use of color and typography.

Demo* | Download

* Demo is light-boxed from download page.

Suggested customizations:

Add popular posts to the sidebar.

Related design, simplicity and usability links:

{Bonus theme: Grid Focus, which I use heavily customized here and at Anywired. Including it would have been too obvious. Plus, I don’t want it to become too popular, lest it become the new Cutline…}

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42 Comments, Comment or Ping

Grant

I like you have seen thousands of wordpress, movable type and text pattern layouts. I usually look thought them for some inspiration’s and out of the thousands i have seen i can say 40%^ have been nice, of that 40% i would only use 50…

Of that 50 i would customize 40 of them and probably the amount of customization i would make, most people would tag it as inspired design from the original.

The thing is templates need to be customized or everyone would have boring, similar blogs and well i wouldn’t be happy surfing the web any more. Of the 6 designs above i would use about 2 both with heavy customization. I also think you are completely correct in saying you want a minimalist them (or any theme for that matter) to make what is important and make what is not as important less important in term of design, I would like to mention I said less important I don’t want to strip it of its morals and hide it in design.

Some good designs, I would have chose a few different ones but as I said earlier every design/theme will be different.

Feb 13th, 2008
Lid

These look brilliant! Thanks Skellie - and what perfect timing

I found a few others at Donna Fontenot’s site as well - some you have to pay for, others you don’t. Here’s the link if anyone is interested.

Feb 13th, 2008
Adnan

Some great finds Skellie - I’ve never seen “Grady” before, and I’m sure that it would convert great for an affiliate offer page.

I often tend to use a theme called Blixed for my own mini-sites, as I’ve got a pre-prepared package which I can now upload, fully editable.

Feb 13th, 2008
Linda R. Moore

I’m experimenting right now with a central hub that brings together all my blogs into one to allow those who don’t want to visit four sites to visit just one and pick the posts they’re into. A magazine style format seemed fitting and I like some of these: I’ll be taking a look. There’s a bit of a learning curve with this style of theme but I’m getting the hang of it.

As you (may possibly) remember I started using a customized Gridlines after seeing you use it. I have six blogs using it now. They look real pretty stacked up on blog directories. But, I think that after a shout out from another major blog (I just can’t remember which one) and now from you, it’s going to go the way of Cutlines.

I used to use Cutlines, too but got so bored of seeing it *everywhere*

Feb 13th, 2008
Shawn

Great list! There are so many Wordpress themes out there but so little really good ones. I’d highly recommend anything from ArtCulture (like the Modicus Remix theme above). I’m using their Magazine News premium theme and I love it!

Feb 13th, 2008
Andy MacDonald - SEO & Marketing Blog

Some great themes there. I am a great fan of minimalist design, and you have some of the best in your post. Also seen your guest posts on ProBlogger. You have some great content.

Keep up the good work!

Feb 13th, 2008
Mrs. Micah

What a great list, Skellie! I like my theme for various reasons, but I’ll keep these in mind for projects.

It’d be great if you periodically post similar lists as they occur. Maybe every 6 months. I love the look of your blog.

Feb 13th, 2008
David Bradley

Why are minimalist Wordpress themes such a popular search term. I wrote about how I accidentally ended up with a minimalist wordpress theme for my Sciencebase site and the post gets sooooo much traffic it’s unbelievable.

db

Feb 13th, 2008
Hans

Hi Skellie!

I agree with you that the design is quite important. The Wordpress themes you list is very valuable! I personally use a theme that I highly customize.

I think that customizing a theme is a critic activity that allows to make your blog unique. Your post about perception demonstrate the importance of the design.

A great post as usual!

Feb 14th, 2008
Mrs. Micah

I think, David, that the minimalist themes are considered the most professional. Like Skellie’s excellent theme. Or Leo’s at Zen Habits.

Feb 14th, 2008
Tibi Puiu

I’m quite the fan of minimalist designs, as it can be observed at my own blog :d. All 6 themes listed here are gorgeous, but Modicus Remix stands out the most for me.

Feb 14th, 2008
David Bradley

I don’t disagree, I like a nice uncluttered theme myself, I guess their aesthetics are simply reflected in how often surfers search for that phrase. What would be the natural antonym anyway. Cluttered theme? I guess no one is going to actually search for that phrase…

db

Feb 14th, 2008
pearl

Hi Skellie - some very nice suggestions there…I really like Overstand and Revised Modicus

may its just me, but the demo link for numbers 1, 4 and 5 keeps going to 403 Forbidden page….

Feb 14th, 2008
Ty Brown

These look great. I think I’m going to use on of them for my wifeys blog

Feb 14th, 2008
Ruchir Chawdhry

A great resource, especially for minimalistic freaks….

Feb 14th, 2008
lady coveted

i really like these themes… when i moved over to word press, i condisered using a few of these, modicus, modicus remix, and fakeblog are a couple that i downloaded and tried to make work with my existing page.

but along with being minimal, i needed to have lots of flexibility with images becuase i run a fashion blog.

i ended up going with The Morning After…
http://themasterplan.in/themes/the-morning-after/

mostly because the support forums were really great, and i was able to tweak my blog to work for the better. and in the end, the programmer got in touch with me directly to say that he really liked what i did with his code.

Feb 14th, 2008
Warren

You can see a pretty severely altered version of number 1 running at my blog here. I chose it (and altered it) because I also have a passion for the elegance of minimalism. Good tips. I hope not to many people use it. Up until now I haven’t seen it anywhere but my blog.

Feb 14th, 2008
Alda

This is so apt and needed - like many others, I’m sure, I really want to switch to an attractive WordPress theme but my mind boggles when I encounter the thousands of possibilities. It’s great to have someone filter them out - so thank you. That said, do you have any suggestions for attractive, uncluttered 3-column WP themes?

Incidentally, like the commenter upthread, I found that a couple of the demo links don’t work.

Feb 14th, 2008
engtech

The reason for *not* using the MORE break is it actually breaks up your feed as well as the appearance on the blog.

There may be a plugin to fix that.

Feb 14th, 2008
Michele - Writing the Cyber Highway

I’m planning on moving to WordPress sometime this year so this is especially helpful!

Feb 14th, 2008
Dave C. - Backfire Blog

I tried that Modicus Remix theme once. It would have taken some serious backend work to get it working. I guess there are instructions on the main site, but it was way too involved for my tastes. So if you’re a WP newb, I wouldn’t recommend that one.

Feb 14th, 2008
Gab "SEO ROI" Goldenberg

Some nice themes on the whole. Simple, easy on the eyes…
One quibble: The problem with these is with your branding. White on its own is not a brand, really. No one is associated with just white. See http://www.brandcurve.com/category/color-branding for more.

By the time you’re ready for a custom theme, your audience associates you with a colour scheme…

Feb 14th, 2008
CatherineL

There’s so many themes now. I looked through them for ages and I couldn’t find one that was exactly what I wanted, so Men with Pens are designing me one.

Feb 14th, 2008
Upstart Blogger

Thanks very much for including so many Upstart Blogger themes. There’s a lot more in the pipeline, including the current upstartblogger.com design, so I’m pleased that you like the current aesthetic.

Feb 15th, 2008
Giun Sun

Thanks for introducing some nice themes! I also strive to keep a minimalist look on my wordpress site to follow along the lines of my anti-marketing strategies, I think it’s working out pretty well. People often times get caught up in fancy designs when and forget that people want the content, not to look at some flashy banner that takes forever to load. Keep it simple.

Feb 15th, 2008
Austin

Awesome. Thanks Skellie!

I was just looking for a post like this that reviewed minimalistic themes for wordpress

Feb 16th, 2008
elliebiscuits

I’ve only recently discovered this site as I’m trying to find a new look and go to a blog instead of a traditional site. You’ve been a great help. I love all the designs, but especially like Upstart Blogger Minim. Thanks for the suggestions.

Feb 17th, 2008
Ash Chuan

Hi Skellie

I was referred to your site from problogger.net and I would like to say that it is awesome

Thank you for sharing the WP themes.

Ash

Feb 20th, 2008
Phil Thompson

I’ve created a free minimalism WordPress theme called Dylan that is great for customisation. It also has nice HTML/CSS which isn’t always true of a lot of Wordpress themes.

The uptake of it has been slow so far, if anyone wants to give it a test drive I’d love to hear what people think of it.

Feb 20th, 2008
Mystic Liquid

Those are some great themes. I really like the minimalist look.

Feb 22nd, 2008
Julie

Hmm, I may be a bit controversial here, but I’m not sure that I agree. I do think minimalist themes look good, but IMHO they can lack personality. Where’s the creativity? Where’s the fun? It’s all a bit too serious for me.

Mar 18th, 2008