Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Looking back on the theme landscape of 2014, a clear design trend emerged that highlights WordPress’ roots as a blogging platform. Minimalist, content-centric themes took center stage in the official WordPress Themes Directory, outpacing their more visually-bloated commercial counterparts.

This past year saw a major renaissance in themes for the personal blogger, particularly designs that showcase large, featured images. Many theme designers opted to hide navigation menus and sidebars behind a slideout menu, which also works well for mobile displays.

WordPress’ newest default theme, Twenty Fifteen, is the culmination of this trend towards simplicity. The vast majority of our top picks from 2014 were designed for personal blogs....

...when used wisely, color has the ability to affect the mood of your visitors. Makes people feel welcome, comfortable and relaxed with blue hues or sell your sales pitch with an aggressive shade of red.

Whatever color scheme you choose, a great deal of creativity goes into designing a bold and colorful theme.To get you inspired, I’ve gathered a collection of stunning WordPress themes that make great use of strong color. Many of the designs feature flat design and responsive layouts – both hot trends right now.---