Who Needs a Designer when you have WordPress Themes?
I often wonder what the future of Web Design will be. Is the information superhighway going to become an infrastructure just like our roadways and city’s are designed. A place where every page has the same navigation structure and always leads to the same intersection. In theory it would be great if say for instance every state run organization shared the same navigational structure. This way we could all find the information easier without having to learn how to navigate each site. On the other hand it wouldn’t be great if every tattoo shop had the same look and structure. They would then lack the originality and character that attracts people to certain shops.
WordPress themes and others like it are changing the way the landscape looks and creating an economical option for small companies. The benefit is that it gives start-up companies an option to get online without breaking the budget. The risk is that your business might not stand out from the rest.
I am not sure what the future holds for web design but I am sure that WordPress themes will be around for a while. Please choose wisely.
March 31st, 2010 at 8:45 am
I’ve been considering the same questions lately. WordPress themes available for free or under $50 have really democratized web design. But it also seems to be giving a lot of designers exposure they wouldn’t have otherwise. I think the need for custom design will always be there, but it is interesting to see that people with no web dev experience can set up a decent WordPress site in a day. Another thing to consider is how easy WordPress makes it for clients to manage their sites. We just launched the SENH Habitat site with a lot of WordPress action to make it easy for them to do so.
April 13th, 2010 at 7:14 am
Hey Brian,
I totally agree! On one hand we are very happy that individuals without capitol can create a nice web presence. It is quite common now for people to make their own sites with tools like Apple’s iWeb, GoDaddy’s WebsiteTonight, RapidWeaver, and even WordPress Themes. However, we have many clients come to us after they’ve been sold on these products only to find they hate their template site and find they can’t do some important things like SEO. Not to mention the massive confusion they experience with hosting and domain problems. They end up hiring us, wishing they had come to us in the first place. We feel a middle-road is the best solution; having a customized WordPress theme created to match your branding, and letting a Web Development company handle all the tech / hosting intricacies. And yes, you are very correct – the WordPress Admin is by-far the most user/client-friendly Content Management System out there!
You can’t buy a build-your-own-car or house kit and expect to have it come out square and level unless you’re a carpenter.
James