WordPress is now being used for creating all kinds of websites, for designers it is a good choice also, thanks to some great WordPress portfolio themes. In this post I have chosen to display both free and paid templates to make sure to only keep the best.
To chose the perfect theme for your portfolio, you should look at the general design of it as well as its customizability and gallery features. Some features, like customizable colors, headers or fonts, can save you tons of time when preparing your portfolio. It is also important to make sure that the template you chose is appropriate for the type of work you will share in your portfolio.
A few other things to look for when searching for WordPress portfolio themes: responsiveness, retina display capabilities, grid systems,… All those make finding the perfect template a daunting task.
1. Photocrati
Photocrati is one of the most comprehensive WordPress themes for photographers out there. It has tons of page designs, gallery layouts, tools for customization, built-in eCommerce and much more.
2. Gridly
Price: free
As its name suggests, Gridly is a grid-based WordPress portfolio theme. It is minimalist and puts focus on your designs, not on the template of the site itself. It is partly responsive, uses widget zones and has a logo upload feature.
3. U-Design
Price: $55
A very professional looking template, perfect for any web design business. Completely customizable with a large font selection, changeable backgrounds and color selection tools. The theme also includes a widgetized homepage and sortable portfolios tools.
4. Photolux
Price: $45
A responsive portfolio theme designed for photographers first. It comes with advanced gallery features and some pretty cool slideshows.
5. Yin & Yang
Price: $45
Gorgeous minimalist premium WordPress theme for a portfolio. It is well documented and comes with some filters for your portfolio’s work.
6. Workality Lite
Price: free
Another simple portfolio theme that comes with 4 different thumbnail sizes. This responsive template gets a very user-friendly user interface and supports custom post types, supports localization and has nice features for customization.
7. Salient
Price: $55
Salient is the perfect WordPress portfolio theme for designers who like spectacular JavaScript effect. It uses Parallax sliders, has several blog and portfolio layouts, contains a shortcode generator and tons of customizable options.
8. SCRN
Price: $35
A responsive one-page portfolio theme. It is fully localized, comes with tons of shortcodes, and has a lot of options that you can configure through a panel.
9. Imbalance 2
Price: free
Imbalance 2 wasn’t designed only to create portfolios, but it goes perfectly for designers or illustrators, thanks to a grid-based layout. It has two types of layouts: fixed or fluid, comes with a custom homepage and 5 different types of menus.
10. King Size
Price: $50
A full-background theme that works well for the portfolio of a design agency or a photographer. It has tons of features as well as a great video documentation.
Where can you find more WordPress portfolio themes?
Finding nice WordPress portfolio themes is actually quite easy. If you are not satisfied with what you saw in the list above, you can always try the following options: a Google search, the WordPress Codex or ThemeForest.
About the Author
Mirko Humbert
Mirko Humbert is the editor-in-chief and main author of Designer Daily and Typography Daily. He is also a graphic designer and the founder of WP Expert.