


Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to customize existing templates, creating your own design theme starts with gathering some visual inspiration. With a little legwork (and the help of a tool like Uizard), non-designers can take a few easy steps to create a more customized look and feel. But the downside to using straight “out of the box” themes and templates is the potential for creating cookie-cutter websites that blend together without distinction in the user’s mind. These no-code platforms make it easy for anyone to create a high-quality website without any specialized coding or design skills. This is why there’s such a vast marketplace of pre-fab design themes available, particularly with site builders like WordPress, Wix, Shopify, and Squarespace. There’s value in investing in a comprehensive brand strategy, but design themes offer a lower barrier to entry when you’re just getting started and access to design resources is limited. In this respect, design themes can be a branding shortcut, particularly for founders or small business owners for whom launching a website is effectively launching their whole business. These guidelines systematically define how a brand’s key visual attributes should be applied in a wide range of scenarios, from marketing collateral and retail displays to digital platforms. Often, design themes are born out of branding guidelines, which tend to be produced by either external creative agencies or in-house teams. A coherent design theme works in tandem with your information architecture to support visitors with effective visual cues and signposts throughout their user experience. It also helps to create a sense of familiarity, making your design identifiable and recognizable wherever it is presented. Taken together, these attributes establish a visual organization that helps users orient themselves, so they can easily take desired actions. The purpose of a design theme is to create unity across web pages through the consistent use of a color palette, fonts, and layout patterns. Taking it to the next level: The design systemĪ design theme is simply the overall look and feel of a website.
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In this brief guide, we’ll show you the basics of how to do it yourself (and how Uizard can give you a head start). And there’s no need for non-designers to feel intimidated. Developing a well-thought-out web design theme is an ideal first step toward creating a coherent website or app that people will respond to. For better or worse, a website’s look and feel speaks more loudly than its content. The power of clean layouts, cohesive color palettes, and consistent font treatments should not be underestimated.

A Google Study even found that “prototypicality” - meaning that a design style is representative of a particular category of websites - was a defining factor in a website’s perceived attractiveness and trustworthiness. First impressions are everything visitors decide within milliseconds whether or not a website appears credible, and their decision is almost entirely based on visuals. People have expectations of what a contemporary website should look like, even if they can’t articulate the precise characteristics.
