On Art, Eye Candy and Paint by Numbers

I’m a sucker for good design. I admire it. I respect it. I apprecicate it. I savor it.

Because I ain’t that good of a designer myself.

And frankly, I’m a little jealous of it. Well, OK, full-on jealous.

I think of design, especially web design, like I’ve heard some people talk of art. It’s like a good cup of coffee … it fires up all the neurons on my brain and makes me tingle.

And if you’re at all familiar with WordPress, there’s a gillion “themes” — otherwise known as templates — out there in the worldwide web (does anyone use that term anymore?).

Some are OK, even decent (like I could do better), but some are absolutely amazing.

Is “breath-taking” too much?

Anyway, one of the things I’m loving about WordPress is this seemingly never-ending candy store of templates to choose from. In fact, I probably downloaded some 30 templates to test them out here …

So today, as I’ve been picking over the candy-like themes on the Internet, I thought I’d share some of these.

But before I unveil my stash … I’ll just say a word about WordPress (yet again) and why it’s a great choice for blogging believers.

• It’s free – Even though sometimes this can be scary because “free” can sometimes mean “unstable,” there are a ton of programmers who love WordPress and are devoted to its development.
• It’s usually a “one-click” install on most hosting plans (Hint: ask me about my plans) — You’ll need a Linux plan though.
• Brilliant designers are constantly unveiling new themes — Now, let me show you some of that candy brilliance.

So without further ahh doo … here my candy sack so far — links to free themes I’ve fallen in love with:

• Fahlstad themes — Some really great, simple and clean themes
• Jentri
• Simpla
• K2 — the theme I use here at CCP is based on that theme
• 3 Column Themes — I’m a big fan of three column themes with their smaller sidebars on the right, which is why I choose this particular theme for CCP. It’s flexible and readable, I think.
• Kaushal Sheth’s themes — In particular, I love Indigo
• Blix and Green Marinee
• Fresh and Light
• Cutline — It almost doesn’t get better than this. See it tweaked here. Chris Pearson, you have a freakish design gift. Press Row is classic too.
• Black Minimalism

These are just a few … my day must go on, people.

Here’s some my thoughts on design …

• I like clean, simple, functional. But clean is a good thing. Clean endures.
• Simple can be powerful. Moving and memorable. Just see the logos of Web 2.0 companies.
• Simple is deep. I find myself captivated in a few well-placed lines and the beauty of white space.
• Blues, greens, and a freaky redish-pinkish tone pop on the Web for some reason. Again, see the Web 2.0 color palette.
• If you have even the slightest amount of vision and imagination, you can take the beautiful works of others and tweak to make your own. Thanks goodness!

Because I appreciate good design so much is why I’m absolutely loving doing the research and making the contacts for the Buildin’ Rockin’ Cool Church Web Sites series (Coming soon to a theater near you: this blog). I get to see this kind of art and ask the artist where it came from … I get to peer into that funky, deep brilliance inside that bubbles out in form and function. And if that brilliance is stiffled … well, it’ll just erupt onto a canvas of pixels like a volcano somewhere, at some point. It can’t be bottled up. It shouldn’t. It’s a gift. It needs to be shared.

Again, I’m an admirer, not an artist, so I’m speaking selfishly of the sharing aspect.

Speaking of this kind of brilliance … here’s your gallery tour of some of the best blog designs (3 parts, no guide needed, plan to waste some time browsing, no photos please – it could damage the art). The design charts are great too.

I could look at these all day and did for the first part of this one.

It’s the kind of art gallery I’d love to stroll through and be captivated by.

And yeah … I’m still jealous of this freakish genius.

I tour these sites to get inspired … and depressed.

… and then I move on and paint by numbers.