Frank Schulte-Ladbeck

A two-columned theme meant to be an alternative for photographers with a color scheme of blue, black, and grey

I think that I should create a form to discuss the features of a theme, because I am focusing in on certain features that I believe are better for a small business site. This theme may be better suited for a personal blog than for my intended user: photography studios.

Do you go to look at the sites of different photographers? I do. I wish that I was better at taking snaps, but at least I can enjoy the work of others. One problem that I consistently face when viewing these sites is legibility. You see having a theme with a black background is great for presenting a picture. I like reading facts about the image, generally placed in the tags, but many sites begin to use font colors which are hard to see (for example, dark grey seems to be popular). On one site today, I found navigation elements so obscured that I missed them the first two times that I passed by them on the screen.

My solution was to look for a different feel to a photography site. Thinking about dark backgrounds with character caused me to think of a painting by Rothko. Can you see the movement and hint of color in such a theme? I would have to find font colors that would work though. I took my children to the Houston Zoo, where we went to the aquarium building. In front of the jellyfish tank, seeing my son and daughter outlined by those creatures under blacklight, I had a revelation. Maybe a background inspired by that scene would be good for displaying photos, so I present to you a theme based on that vision, “jellyfish”.

To keep the theme darker, while still ensuring that a user could navigate well, I chose to use grey tones in the theme as well. Buttons and section headers stand out by having a grey field for the writing. Black font in the body is still legible, and I thought this would help bring attention to the photo rather than the writing. The border around the pictures is white, again to draw the eye to this point.

I am thinking of testing this theme out. After completing it, I began to wonder if this would work for a studio or gallery. Maybe the Rothko idea with thought given to navigation and font colors can be better for this business. I am fond of how the feel of the theme developed; it just might not be for the intended business though.

Download jellyfish.

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