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High quality free templates have become so hard to find in the past years as more web designers are selling premium themes instead of giving away free ones. Most of the times it’s just like searching for a needle in a haystack. Just run a search on Google for free WordPress templates, for instance, and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. Thousands and thousands of results but many of them are not even worth looking at.

However, Google also returns some fantastic results for sites that offer free website templates that can serve as a solid foundation for your next website designs. It’s always useful to have useful resources nearby, so without further ado, here are the best resources for free website templates that we’ve discovered along the way, neatly summarised in this post.

As you probably know if you’ve ever downloaded and installed a WordPress or a Joomla template, most website templates can be set up in a matter of minutes. Usually, you can customise them via the options panel to be anything you like, whether a personal blog, a portfolio or a news-style website.

If you need more free stuff, you may also be interested in my other post on where to find free fonts to jazz up your site.

It goes without saying that WordPress is the most used content management system in the world with more than 50 million sites build on its sturdy back. Why? Because it’s very easy to use, easier than any other CMS available.

First place everyone checks for free WordPress template is obviously the official WordPress website that currently has more than 1,600 free templates available for download.

Templatemo.com is also an excellent resource to download CSS templates, whether you’re looking for simple blog designs or more complex CV website templates for your professional portfolio. They currently have 375 free templates that you can download and use for your future site.

Freecsstemplate.net is also worth checking out, especially since it’s one of the few who offers free website templates with responsive design.

Bestfreetemplates.info has a high quality collection of free templates submitted by some talented designers. You might even find professional-looking charity website templates for your next projects. You can customise them and use them for both non-commercial and commercial projects. Please be sure to check the license for each template to ensure you have the rights to use it.

WebsiteTemplatesOnline.com also offers around 1200 free website templates, including Joomla templates. The gallery is organised under categories like Business, Ecommerce, Education, Restaurant, Real Estate and so on, thus making it easy to browse around. You can even find nice wedding website templates that are usually hard to find.

If you happen to decide that a free website template just won’t do, then you might want to try our easy-to-use website builder. You simply start by choosing your perfect template from our wide collection of pre-made templates and then customise it as you see fit. It’s an affordable solution to build your site from scratch, minus the headache. Find out what’s so great about an online website builder and how you can use it to build an online business from scratch without spending loads.

Are there any other free website templates resources worth sharing? Feel free to share them in a comment below.

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If ever there was a single factor in web design that could alienate or entrance a client in one hit, it is colour. Colour schemes are incredibly emotive things and have many connotations to different people so here are 6 tips to try and help you get it right first time.

1. Ask the client first

We all know what the client thinks in design terms is unlikely to be what they really need – you are the designer after all – but what they will know is what they don’t like. At least if you know this from day one, you can eliminate that from your choices and avoid those tumbleweed moments when you first present the new design to the client.

2. Work to brand guidelines

The chances are the smaller of your clients won’t have a nice formal, shiny brand guidelines booklet or PDF. If they have great – certainly ask – and make sure you work to them. If they have taken the time to create the guidelines then don’t expect there to be any leyway to deviate from them unless the client expressly asks in the brief. If there are no formal guidelines, create your own based on what you know of the client. What uniformity, branding, etc do they use on their headed paper, sales literature, business cards, website etc.

3. Imitate images

In many cases a client will give you a brief asking for a specific image to play a big role in the design or content. If so, it makes sense to compliment the image with the rest of the design, so use the colours in the image  as a basis for your colour pallette.

4. Look at what they like

Colour is a very emotional response and there is countless research and theory on what inspires and causes this, but the quickest way to decide what will work is have a look at websites, magazines, even clothing design that appeals to your target audience and is successful with them. What works for them? Is it solid colur? Certain shades? Colour can be very influential and something familiar (although obviously not a blatant copy) is re-assuring to new visitors.

5. Think textbook. Think Theory

Yes we are creatives but the reason those academics keep plugging on about Chevreul’s law and Newton’s colour wheel is because they work. The audience will also have their brain trained to these methods, so it would be foolish to risk too much immediate jarring when they first view your new site. Adobe Kuler is a great starting place if you need some help coming up with colour scheme options.

6. Note your responses to the first 5 tips

No we are not just stretching a 5 point tip article to 6. In fact this is probably the most useful one to remember. If you have made a decision on choosing a colour scheme based on the above criteria, as least you have something very substantive to put to the client when they say “why did you choose that colour?” Again, remember you are the designer and any client worth their salt who has commissioned your professional skills will be impressed if you can justify your colour choices in this way. That probably applies to the amount of white space you have left too.

Happy colouring.

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As a tech-savvy lot, many of you will already know what a QR code is or at least what it does, but as more and more advertisers turn to using it in print and even TV ads, we thought we’d try and come up with a short post of what, when, how and why QR codes are becoming so popular.

QR codes (short for Quick Response) first became popular in Japan, having been created within the Toyota group back in the mid 1990′s as a way of scanning and identifying contents and parts at high speed. Yet, it is only really the past 12 months that Uk marketeers really appear to have jumped onboard their usefulness.

A matrix barcode the uptake of smartphones mean more and more people have the ability to read them at home, in the office or on the move. A unique identifier they can be used to embed text or almost any data but their main take-up in recent months has been to pictorialise a URL.

The success of QR codes is thanks in part to their international standard (ISO 18004) and the fact that the division of Toyota, Denso-Wave, who invented them has chosen not to exercise the intellectual property rights it held although the term QR code remains a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.

A standard QR code can contain up to 7089 characters, although not all QR readers can accept that much data and as ever in the modern world’s strive for smaller and better, the Micro QR code with its ability to hold 35 characters and takes up less space, is gaining in popularity.

The ‘geeky but cheeky’ look of a QR code also means it has become popular amongst graphic artists, being used on t-shirts, on canvas, even as personalised tattoos. In Japan they have even reportedly been used to mark graves of loved ones, to keep mourners in touch with each other.

QR Codes have the ability help track and direct your customers to a single location with simple imagery. It pulls upon the concept of gamification and is an unobtrusive way of getting an additional message into any print ad. So why then are more people not using them?

It appears it is simply a lack of understanding of what they are. Many see them, many possibly know what they do, but few seem to be taking the plunge to try them – although that is changing. With Smartphones expected to become the norm by the turn of the year, almost half of those carrying a mobile phone will be able to read QR codes. Expect to see a lot more splodges and blobs appearing before your eyes as the year wears on.

Do you scan and react to QR codes? Have you used them in your own marketing campaigns?

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Coffee giant Starbucks this week unveiled a new logo. Not entirely new, the same
‘lady’ in the middle of the old logo remains, they have just stripped the outer green circle that had the Starbucks’ name in it.

It is a big step to show trust in their brand recognition. The same green is easily recognisable, but with the name of Starbucks’ so integrated into Western culture they believe there is no need for the name to noted directly in their logo any more.

The original Starbucks logo was actually brown, but changed to notable green in 1987, with other small logo tweaks since, but this is the biggest change yet. CEO Howard Schultz was noted as saying “the world has changed and Starbucks has changed,” and with other comments like “We’ve allowed her to come out of the circle in a way that I think gives us the freedom and flexibility to think beyond coffee,”, it would appear that the change could see Starbucks moving into new ventures not necessarily coffee related. The removal of the words will also probably help expansion into non-English speaking countries.

The new logo is not expected to be rolled out in stores in March and it will be interesting to see how well it is received by the public who have helped make it such a powerful brand. As reported here in October, clothing retailer GAP made a very quick u-turn on their logo re-design when customers set about criticising it via social media channels.

Are words important to a brand? Should an established brand shy away from tweaking logos that so obviously work?

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Starting a new design can be a very daunting prospect. There you are, sat in front of a blank Photoshop or Fireworks canvas, knowing that your client wants something fresh, unique and professional. Of course, you don’t want to give them anything less. But the clock is always ticking away in the background.

It’s common for web designers to feel a little anxious when starting a new project. After all, developing a solid design (that will meet the client’s brief) will inevitably involve several false starts. And with time ebbing away, the last thing you need is a ‘designer’s block’.

So how do you ignite that all-important inspirational spark? The traditional approach would be to research the competition to see how they are presenting the message that you are designing for. This will be one of the most important stages of your preparation.

Also, have a look at various web galleries and draw some inspiration from your contemporaries. Sites such as thefwa.com and bestwebgallery.com can really get you thinking outside of the box!

And why not venture away from your PC to have a think about nature, animals, people, places, shapes, buildings, products, cities, music and whatever else floats your creative boat. By drawing on non-design inspirations, your mind will open up to new, invigorating perspectives.

Do you have any particular ways in which you like to kick-start your design process? Then why not share them with our readers?

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