Premium Theme Mods
I see a lot of discussion on web design forums and blogs about the trend in modern web design for designers to simply modify ‘Premium’ WordPress themes and charge a reduced rate for the service, compared to designing a site from scratch. The argument is that this trend will keep the rates we can charge for custom design too cheap and keep the premium theme companies loaded. On the latter I agree, but I feel this trend is only going to get more popular and in fact it’s allowed small/medium business and people wanting personal sites to be able to afford cool looking websites with great functionality that was never before possible on a budget; it might have even helped ‘beautify’ the web a little more as most of these ‘Premium’ themes don’t look too bad straight out of the box.
I’m all for this trend, and good-on the premium theme companies for creating a new marketplace that basically didn’t exist 2-3 years ago (you should gladly reap the benefits, as you are the ones actually building the themes from scratch and doing the support) but I think it’s important designers do their best to make their modifications really stand out and different from the original themes in the interest of keeping the web diversified. I also believe there is still a place to earn a decent living as a designer through custom premium theme modifications – if you can explain to the client exactly the changes you have made and can show some initiative on improving the functionality of the theme in some aspects, then why can’t you charge a 1/3 price to building a site from scratch and be able to build 3 sites in the time it takes to design one from scratch; thus earning the same income?
I have been an affiliated Wooworker with Woothemes for the past 2 years and most recently most of the sites I’ve built have been modifications of Woo themes. Even this site is a modified Woo theme (see images below).
Below I’ve put together a showcase of 13 of my favourite Wootheme modifications that I have done in the past 18 months. Click on the links to see the original theme and it’s current modification online.
Woothemes – Delegate
Woothemes – Diarise
Woothemes – Aperture
Woothemes – Spectrum
Woothemes – Gotham News
Woothemes – Irresistible
Woothemes – MyStream
Woothemes – Meta-morphosis
Woothemes – Diner
site by 
Wow, some really cool modifications here! Amazing modifications of Delegate theme.
Great work Sean! Loving this new site.
Impressive work mate, a perfect example of how to use premium themes. Very well done!
Thanks Liam! Out of interest, which one of you guys actually designed DINER ?
If you manage to take them in such a unique direction, how do you choose one theme over another (excluding the specialized ones like diarise and diner that come built in with special-purpose features)?
Basically when I’m looking at a concept for a site, I go through all the Woothemes just looking at layouts and then maybe one feature of functionality (usually the slider or tabber or something).
For example, when I built my current http://www.aus120.com site, I looked at Diarise simply because of the layout of the blog and the tabber on the front page, which I converted in to a video-tabber for latest videos… Every other piece of functionality I ripped out.
Actually, a lot of the functionality of Woothemes I’m not super interested in. Most of the sites I built for clients are just simple blogs or business pages, so no need for all these custom-post-types and built-in real estate options etc etc.
Another example is this site using Diner theme… when the theme got released I saw it and thought, what a cool layout … and with the stripes on the heading titles I thought it looked great! Completely not interested in any of the restaurant functionality so I basically went about creating this site from the layout.
I find it’s easy to work with the same theme over and over again also; so you know which bits of code effect where … Which is why I’ve done a lot of mods of Delegate (only 3 shown) and I think all 3 look different enough. Basically the major feature I liked about Delegate was the slider … so that’s why I went with that theme in the beginning.
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Wowww these are awesome modification
Thanks!!
This is the best modification that I have seen in recent time. each looks different from original themes. Great work done.
Great work Sean. I’m a big believer in modifying existing premium themes as well. Sometimes it can be as simple as a color or font change to make a world of difference, but the work you are doing is knocking it out of the park.
Great stuff!
Thanks Ben!
You’re definitely right, even a few simple changes make a world of difference.
I was chatting to someone today about this exact notion and I realised that I look at new themes and new websites all day everyday and I can recognise the themes people have used etc etc. But most of the customers and visitors to the websites I build aren’t web designers, and don’t live in the digital world – so most of them probably don’t recognise any of the themes. They are just looking for a website that’s easy to work and gives them the information they want… so probably a font change here and a colour change there is absolutely enough to make a great website from a premium theme.
Very nice mods to the Woo Themes! I have never used one before but would definitely consider now. Thanks for showing us how a pro can make a difference.
Thanks!!
I would really recommend you having a go with the Woothemes’ themes. They are really the best on the market by a long shot. There’s a bunch of free themes they have done using the same framework as the paid ones that you can test out before you buy…
I just finished a new mod using Diner theme but I haven’t had a chance to add it to this post… check it our here.
http://www.aus120.com
I don’t think anyone would actually recognise it as diner anymore until you go to here and see the ‘menu’ in action!
http://www.aus120.com/gear-for-sale/
You just made my decision to buy from Woo much easier! Anyway, I am a wannabe designer and your mods are inspiring. The first P-7 mod was the best of the list IMO.
Great modifications!
How do you present design comps to clients? Are you working from the Woo Photoshop files first or do you do child WordPress themes?
Actually I rarely touch the PSD files. I prefer to actually code live, rather than draw it in Photoshop and then have to turn it to code…
It depends on the client how I present; for larger companies I usually have some key performance dates in the contract where I will present progress just as screenshots (sometimes showing live sites to companies where multiple people are giving feedback is opening a can of worms in terms of having to re-do things!).
For smaller clients or individuals that I am comfortable with, I’ve often just designed the site live on their server (password locked to the public) and found that was the quickest way to get valuable feedback as they can actually see how the site works in the real world.
Have to find a balance… I’m often building projects on VERY tight time schedules as I’m still trying to compete as a Pro Windsurfer on the side… so coding live seems to cut a lot of time for me I believe…
I have never tinkered around with child themes…
Thanks for your response and awesome about the wind surfing!
Do you show different design choices though to your clients (we typically two two visually distinct design comps based on wireframes)? I would love to move the design phase to live code but fear that my clients will feel like they’re not getting a choice of design.
I used to do a few mockups (which I’d often do as live coded on my own server, then take a screendump) and show the client, but recently I’ve actually generally just given one option and then worked from there…
Either I am getting better at pitching the strong points of my design or people are getting more trusting of my design work – it seems I am getting away with only one comp option for a lot of work.
In the wireframe stage I usually present with one option but end up making a LOT of different versions. I’m not 100% sure clients who aren’t super web savvy can actually visualise what something is going to look like from a wireframe.
The live-coding style I do really needs to be taken with a grain of salt on what particular client you are dealing with is. If you are comfortable with the client and they seem to trust you on your design direction I usually go that way as it saves A LOT of time… but on some clients it could end up being I nightmare I foresee. I have been lucky so far…
I’m a big Woo fan and I think a good designer can make some amazing sites out of their themes (as you’ve shown here). A lot of my clients are smaller businesses and this is such a great option for them, not to mention a huge timesaver for me. And I get to do what I love best: design, not serious coding.
Sean, I appreciate your comments and your work. I’ve recently come to the conclusion after several years work in web design that moding existing base themes seems to be the only way to deliver cost effective designs to smaller companies that desire a unique look and feel but don’t have a big budget. Recently I customized Woo’s Canvas to create this site: http://graystone-inc.com.
I’ve also moved more to live coding sites and skipping the Photoshop comps. People get so hung up on the way things look (designers are the worst), that they forget that the function is equally important. And you just can’t get to function in a static image very well. But, as you mention, it does take trust on the client’s part. I build trust during the discovery strategy phase to make sure that we are both on the same page with the site’s purpose, brand, audience, requirements, etc. before I ever think about which theme to mod. At this point the theme seems to almost pick itself.
Great work.
Oh man, you did the Graystone site?? That’s one of my favourite Woo mods at the moment ;-)
In fact, I actually ‘kind of’ copied your “create ideas” yellow bubble on the homepage for a button on my windsurfing site – http://www.AUS120.com as it just looks really cool having text in bubbles on the screen. Good work.
Totally agree with your comments; I think I’ve increased my productivity by 20% skipping the PS comps stage and heading straight to live coding. Granted, it doesn’t suit in all instances, but when it does – it’s a win/win as it saves time and hassle for everyone involved.
Hi Sean,
I love your work is fantastic. I have sent an email with some questions for
I need to do work.
Greetings from Canary Islands – SPAIN
Your Arthemia Premium modification (Follow the Winds) was the best Arthemia modification i have ever seen. In Turkey, Arthmeia modifications are so popular among bloggers but none of them is good as like your modification. Maybe we can see a modification of popular and functional but ugly design Mystioue theme from Digital Nature. So many people made modification but not so good.
Thanks!!
I don’t know that Mystique theme but I did really like working with Arthemia.
I’m relaunching the FollowTheWinds site but porting the design to a wootheme called Delicious Magazine in the next week or so …
Great work Sean! It is cool to see which themes became which sites in your portfolio… Thanks for pulling back the curtain to give us a peek at your magic.
Cheers, Greg