Adding Definition to a Blank Canvas
WordPress themes are incredibly powerful. But, as with every web design project, a theme is more than colour and layout. Good themes improve engagement with your website’s content in addition to being beautiful.
It’s all in the Presentation
Your theme is the foundation everything else is built upon. You can layer in a page builder, custom plugins, and your own code, but the quality of the design options and core functionality available within your chosen theme will shape what’s ultimately achievable. Getting that foundation right from the start saves considerable time and effort down the line.
My Recommended Themes
The themes below are ones I return to time and again across my projects — each chosen for its performance, flexibility, and ease of customisation. There are also no issues using my favourite plugins alongside. No theme is perfect for every situation, and I’ll always consider the alternatives where relevant, but these are the ones that have consistently delivered. Whether you’re building a simple blog or a complex business site, these themes are always worth considering.
Astra
Astra is fast, fully customisable & beautiful theme suitable for blog, personal portfolio, business website and WooCommerce storefront. It is very lightweight and offers unparalleled speed. It also offers special features and templates so it works perfectly with all page builders.
Astra is my go-to theme for good reason — paired with its Pro addons and Elementor, it gives a genuinely powerful combination that punches well above its weight. Its real strength lies in how accessible it is without ever feeling limiting; beginners can get a professional-looking site up quickly, while experienced site creators will find plenty of depth to work with as their projects grow. Built with performance and SEO in mind from the ground up, it’s a foundation that works as hard as you do.
Tagged: ASTRA
Demos: Astra Starter Sites †
Our Live Portfolio:
- BlueMoonCreative.Services – Showcasing our Business
- Inspirationsispurple.com – Feature articles embracing the power of the colour purple
- BlackPudding.Club – A food blog & eCommerce site sharing our passion for black pudding
- NickyNoo.com – Sharing an interest in the wonderful pastime of Sailing
- MyEcoMaison.com – A project timeline for an eco-friendly new build in South West France
Hello
Hello is a plain vanilla & lightweight theme for Elementor Page Builder.
Hello is the natural starting point when Elementor is your page builder of choice — stripped back by design, it hands you a true blank canvas without the bloat that can slow other themes down. Where some themes try to do too much, Hello does exactly what it needs to and nothing more, which translates directly into faster load times and a cleaner build experience. If you want complete creative control over the end result, this is the foundation to build from.
Tagged: HELLO, PAGE BUILDERS
Hueman
The Hueman theme helps you increase your traffic and engage your visitors. It loads fast and is 100% mobile-friendly according to Google. Best rated theme for blogs and magazines on WordPress.org. Powering 70K+ websites around the world.
Hueman is particularly well suited to content-led sites — its structured layout keeps readers engaged and navigating deeper into your content, which is exactly what you want from a blog or magazine-style build.
It also holds its own as a WooCommerce-compatible theme, making it a flexible choice if your site blends editorial content with an online store. With a 4.9/5 rating from 668+ reviews on WordPress.org, it’s a theme with a well-established and trusted track record.
Tagged: HUEMAN
Demos: Hueman Demo
Our Archive Portfolio:
- InspirationisPurple.com (Pre 2025 Site – Now used for DEMO purposes ONLY)
