One of the best things about my job is theme shopping. I love going through theme stores to find the perfect theme for my website or a clients website.
I am a big fan of using themes on new start up websites instead of a full custom design. There are a few reasons why:
Themes are affordable. For less than $200AUD you can have a beautifully designed site.
Themes are customisable. You are able to make the theme your own using the theme settings to change colours, fonts and images.
Themes have been tested. The themes have already been thoroughly tested and are bug free.
Get to market quicker. You can launch your new store or website much quicker with a theme because a lot of the hard work has already been done for you.
You know exactly what you are getting. You can demo the theme before you use it so you have a clear idea of exactly what functionality your store will have before you launch it. There is no confusion.
You get support. If you use a theme you get the support of the theme developer. They know the theme inside out and back to front and they can fix any issues quickly.
There are a few places that you can find Shopify themes. You can find them on the Shopify theme store. You can also find themes on site like Theme Forest. The main difference between the themes on the Shopify Theme store and the external sites like Theme Forest is the testing and code verification. The themes on the Shopify theme store have been more thoroughly tested and the coding work tends to be cleaner and tighter. The support from the approved Shopify theme developers tends to be better as well.
So here are my two favourite themes right now. Both these themes have great layouts particularly on the mobile. They are both available on the Shopify theme store.
Theme One: Canopy
Here are the 5 things that I like about the Canopy theme.
Key usability feature such as accessing the main menu, login, account and the cart and visible as soon as you land on the homepage
Large banner image that dominates the homepage and grabs the visitors attention
I like the masonary layout for the collections under the main banner area. This gives you the space to communicate 6 key message about your product, brand and story
Collection pages have large engaging header images and the sort feature has already been added
The product pages have a neat and engaging layout that allows the product images to dominate.
Theme Two: District
Here are 7 things that I like about the
Ability to add text overlay and call to action button on the main banner image
Subtle movement on the two collection boxes under the banner
Instagram integration with subtle hover over feature
Announcement bar that can be activate to promote free shipping or new product arrivals
The top header area contain the important elements for usability including cart, login etc
Clean, effective product page layout with add to cart button high on the page above the fold
Persistent menu on scroll to access the cart at all time
If you need help to select the right theme for you. Please contact me.