WordPress themes should enable your creativity and make your site look like an agency built it. That’s exactly the goal Visualmodo had in mind when they started selling beautiful, user-friendly WordPress themes on MOJO Marketplace.

In this Story Behind the Design, Visualmodo tells us about starting their business, and the values behind their designs that they remain committed to, and have brought them success as a WordPress theme developer.

Q: What made you want to start Visualmodo?

I was an agency designer, and before that I was a freelancer, so I completely understand how the right toolkit can change your process… and even your life. When I couldn’t find the right  tools to build websites with, I decided to build it myself and share it with others who aren’t coders. I’ve always used WordPress, so I wanted to add more power and variability to it in a secure, clean way.

Q: What was the biggest challenge in starting your own business?

Conquering space in the market and being ready for changes. And the other hard part was the amount of work. Some days I work something like 14 hours per day.

Q: Who helped you and how did they play a role in shaping the direction of your business?

Claudio Pires takes care of our clients, support, marketing, and the social presence of Visualmodo. Leticia Lopes creates illustrations and user-interface designs. With their hard work and helpful feedback, I have improved SEO, site load speed, and user-experience–all of which make our WordPress themes much better.

Q: Why did you choose WordPress as your platform?

Because of the unlimited possibilities, I really love the freedom that WordPress gives us… with the right theme and the proper support. So, I love to stay in contact with my users and give the best support. I also focus on making the installation and user experiences as easy as possible.

Q: How long have you been developing WordPress themes?

I started building sites with WordPress in 2003, and developed my first responsive WordPress theme in 2009. With my team’s help, I published my theme for sale on the old mojo-themes website. I fell in love with our customers’ positive feedback and reviews, and it motivated me to keep studying and learning to develop better WordPress solutions, responsive themes, page builders, and plugins.

Q: What is your design/development philosophy?

User experience, site performance, and features that allow you to be more creative. All of it needs to be easy and intuitive. I love to create solutions!

Q: What advice do you have for theme developers just starting out?

Wherever you are, just keep learning. New techniques and features appear every day, and you need to be ready to implement and upgrade your products. Prepare a good product and keep working on it. And always be in touch with your users to offer good support and get valuable the feedback.

Q: Do you have any tips for users trying to choose a WP theme for their project?

Explore developer sites to see if they have guides and tutorials available. Try to know as much as you can about the documentation and the theme possibilities, and take a close look at how the mobile version performs. Also, check how often the theme is updated, look at plugin compatibility, and try to contact the developer with any questions you have.

(Click here for more tips on choosing a WordPress theme.)

Q: What would you say your themes are best used for?

This is actually what I’m most proud of. I have themes in my portfolio for almost anything. Whether you want to build an online store, restaurant, photography site, agency, portfolio, or minimal blog, I’ve made something for you. I was an agency designer, so I know how a project can change quickly. So as a developer I try to build real multi-purpose themes that can accommodate lots of changes and variety.

Q: What’s your favorite theme on the Marketplace? Why?

This is a tough one. We believe each of our themes gets better and better as we continue improving all of them. I love to develop niche themes like SPORT and FOOD, but I also have a creative and smart theme called RARE with video backgrounds and a lot of solutions and possibilities for any site style.

Q: Where do you want to take Visualmodo in the future?

I want to power sites for every single purpose and offer tools for every step of the website creation process, from the code base to templates, plugins, icons, and images, offering the fastest site loading experience.

Q: What do you do when you’re not coding?

I love to read, study, design logos, and also practice some sports. Nowadays, I’m working in on .org site that will help other designers and developers get projects done faster by offering a free download of my .svg font-icon designs.

Real Life Websites Built with Visualmodo Themes

For the next part of our Story Behind the Design with Visualmodo, we’re going to look at some real, live sites that were built with Visualmodo themes. This will give you some idea of what you can accomplish using one of these amazing multipurpose or niche designs.

1. firstfreerockford.org is a website for a church in Rockford Illinois. Their website provides information for churchgoers and newcomers, as well as media that can be watched or read right from the website. This site was created with the Beyond theme.

2. ofioremio.it is the website for an Italian pizza joint, and makes great use of the stylish design behind the FOOD WordPress theme by Visualmodo.

3. ciclismoyrendimiento.com is home to a cool Spanish bike shop, which utilizes the stylish and flexible design tools offered with the SPORT WordPress theme by Visualmodo

4. sharmatic.com is a classy design agency website created with the EDGE WordPress theme.

5. bhealthandfitness.co.uk is a gym website that features some nice animations and an easy to use navigation, created using the SPORT niche WordPress theme from the Visualmodo store.

6. mr-brush.com is a stunning graphic design and art portfolio created with the PEAK premium WordPress theme by Visualmodo. Check out the sleek grid layout and floating navigation header.

7. freeup.com isn’t just a website–it’s a product. FreeUp connects businesses and freelancers using Visualmodo’s RARE Creative Multipurpose WordPress theme.

8. parryspizza.com supports Parry’s Pizza in Denver, CO. This website, built with the PEAK WordPress theme, helps Parry’s list locations, menus, events, and even take job applications.

These are just a few examples of what you can do with the user-friendly, flexible designs and tools that Visualmodo’s WordPress themes include. You can’t shake a stick at it, but if you do… these themes can handle it.

Visit the Visualmodo storefront and try some of these demos.

If you have any questions about Visualmodo or how these example websites were built, mention it in the comments below, and we’ll set you up!!