First glimpses of Project M's design

After about six complete redesigns, I’m somewhat happy with the look I’ve come up with for Project M’s new site.

The good news for you all is that I’ll probably use some of those discarded designs in future themes. I’ve went from retro to corporate, from blog to magazine style, and this is what I’ve come up with.

(Click on the image below for the full screenshot of the home page.)

A WordPress community for everyone

I wanted to keep the layout simple but let users have quick and easy access to all parts of the site from the front page. I still need to add a login form, subscribe area, and search box, but those will come.

Let me know what you think. What needs to be changed? What would make it better? Too blue?

By the way, this has all been built on the Structure theme.

What's left before official launch?

I still have to finish this design and port it over to bbPress for the support and ideas forums. Those things are on the top of my list right now.

I have to complete the updates for the Structure and Options themes.

A new version of the Visionary theme is also on its way, which is still seeing heavy downloads despite both Options and Structure.

New themes

On launch day, I plan to have two new themes ready for everyone.

Photoblog theme: The work on this one has been pretty exciting. Basically, I’m taking the backend from both Structure and Options and building a theme for you photo bloggers out there.

Normal blog theme: Sometimes, you just have to get away from all the advanced functionalities of the magazine-type themes. I’ve been happy just working with something a lot simpler for a change. This won’t be your typical theme though. It’ll definitely pack a punch when it comes to functionality.

Don’t worry if you like the advanced stuff though. I’ve got new stylesheets, bbPress themes to match, and lots more on the way.

Let me know what you think of the design

I really want to hear some user feedback on this.

One of the hardest things to do is design your own site. I’m always questioning every little thing, so I figured it’d be best to open it up a little to the community.

Also, a few of you have given me some great name suggestions, but I’m still undecided for now. If you still have any, let me know through the contact page.