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13 Eyecatching WordPress Header Designs

( Note: If you read the article, it will give the massive amount of images time to load for you. Unless I’m really boring the life out of you, in which case, please feel free to scroll down. )

So I was browsing around looking at WordPress themes (again) and I decided to conduct an experiment on my ‘reaction’ to the themes. I ended up collecting a list the 13 most eye-catching, reaction causing (good and bad), non-traditional theme headers I saw yesterday.

Consider this ‘inspiration’ for the non-advertising specialist. Or just use the images as ideas of what you could possibly do with your own site. As a web designer I’m often expected to know what kind of images and text are best for marketing and advertising etc.. Well, I don’t know about you, but my knowledge of that is fairly limited. That’s what advertising and marketing people are for. I know people who work in advertising – they practically have an encyclopedia of "what images cause what reactions in people" and "what works get people to do certain things" and probably lots more I’m unaware of.

However, even with my limited knowledge, I think most people have heard about the ‘above the fold’ importance. That need to grab people and make them at least move their eyes around and possibly stay a bit longer. Attention getting top areas of your site. Something that makes the speed-browser in all of us slow down. All the screen-shots are above the fold for me – only what I could see immediately. For reference, I’m on a wide screen monitor with high resolution, but I also have 7 Firefox toolbars (don’t ask) taking up space at the top.

I look at theme houses (sites that are mega-lists of themes) ALOT, and I realize there are actually a couple of stages you have to go through to get someone to actually look at your theme:

1. The first is that you have to get them to take notice of your design from a little screenshot.
2. Part two is to get them to click that all-important ‘demo’ link so they look closer at it.
3. Part three is getting them not to hit the back button because they hate what is above the fold on site.

If you can keep them there a few seconds, you might actually get them to like the entire theme and consider downloading it.

So, back to the experiment.

I decided to write down what I thought about as I was browsing. I wanted to see which ones got the most reaction out of me based on the header section. Obviously the themes I’m going to show you got me to click on the little thumbnail, but I’m going to share my first impression of some of the themes I looked at yesterday.

Now, hopefully by the time you’ve gotten here, all the images have loaded. So have fun, and feel free to try out the demo links so you can see if your ‘up close’ reaction was anything like mine.

Disclaimer: I am not advocating these themes as great themes. In fact, I don’t like most of them as entire themes. Some are actually just plain broken beyond the header. These are just examples of eye-catching header designs, nothing more.

Odd Note: Some of these themes actually ended up having the same author. This was not intended, I merely bookmarked the designs that got the most reaction and then when I was writing this up I discovered some had the same designer.

#1 – Forbidden Forest

Forbidden Forest screenshot.

Thoughts: "Wow. That’s really cool looking."
Links: Theme page. Online Demo. Designer.

#2 – A Good Catch

A good catch screenshot.

Thoughts: "People just LOVE to use animals to make people go ‘awww.’ Cute sketches."
Links: Theme page. Demo page. Designer.

#3 – Cherry Swirls

Cherry Swirls screenshot.

Thoughs:"Whew, that’s alot of color. I like the sweeping curves. Cutesy and summery but that bright yellow is evil."
Links: Theme page. Demo page.

#4 – City Slicker

City Slicker screenshot.

Thoughts: "Now that’s neat. I like all the graphics at the top… but why so teeny?"
Links: Theme page. Demo page. Designer.

#5 – Desktop

Desktop screenshot.

Thoughts: "I love the collage headers. Always makes me stop and look at all the individual stuff."
Links: Theme page. Demo page. Designer.

#6 – Dreaming Off

Dreaming Off screenshot.

Thoughts: "Lots of color, but I like how it is hanging on the sides like that. It makes a major impression above the fold, but its actually not the ‘header’ that does it but everything that’s around it.
Links: Theme page. Demo page.

#7 – Fleur

Fleur screenshot.

Thoughts: "Gorgeous. Finally, the only one I like the whole page of. Very minimal."
Links: Theme page. Demo page.

#8 – Kukufall

Kukufall screenshot.
Thoughts: "Interesting illustration. Really grabs your attention."
Links: Demo page. Designer.

#9 – Lover Paradise

Lover paradise screenshot.
Thoughts: " Color! Wow. Lots of it. Very neat looking."
Links: Theme page. Demo page.

#10 – Orange Kitten

Orange kitten screenshot.
Thoughts: "Awww. Again, we know about the animals, but now we also have the protective reaction and it looks like the darn kitten is about to fall off."
Links: Theme page. Demo page. Designer.

#11 – My Gerbil

My gerbil screenshot.
Thoughts: "Eep! What a way to freak out your viewers and get their attention. I literally leaned back when this loaded up. Just the thing… a rodent with beady eyes staring at you!"
Links: Theme page. Demo page. Designer.

#12 – She’s Got Style

She's got style screenshot.
Thoughts: "Ooooh… I love that drawing! I wish I could illustrate like that.. I need to find that artist."
Links: Theme page. Demo page. Designer.
(Note: There is a separate artist of the graphic. She has a deviantART page here http://vikifloki.deviantart.com/ and has a great looking gallery of other illustrations.)

#13 – Summer Holidays

Summer holidays screenshot.

Thoughts: "When all else fails… just put the site on the wrong side and scribble all over it."
Links: Theme page. Demo page. Designer.

That’s all folks! Hope you were inspired, and at least not too creeped out by the rodent 😀

~Nicole

Published by Nicole Hernandez

88 Replies to “13 Eyecatching WordPress Header Designs”

  23. Hello
    Has a lot of fun to your pages to browse great! Very impressive!
    Well-structured, detailed explanations Home & attractive design.
    Good luck in the further development of your page!
    Many greetings

    1. @James

      These templates are all designed for WordPress, but if you are comfortable with HTML you can copy the resulting code on a working preview of the theme and it would be able to be turned into a static site. A bit complicated to explain, but you might Google how to convert wordpress themes to html. I’m sure someone has put instructions on the web. If you search and can’t find one, drop me a line and I’ll write an article.

  43. Ein Kompliment für diese tolle Seite.
    Eigentlich bin ich durch Zufall darauf gestoßen und dachte mir,
    einen netten Eintrag und viele Grüße zu hinterlassen.
    _____ \\\!!!///____
    ______( ô ô )_____
    ___ooO-(_)-Ooo___
    Vielleicht schauen sie mal auf meiner Homepage vorbei!

  46. Hallo Leute,
    eine wirklich gelungene Homepage!!! Weiter so. Viele Grüße vom Schönberger Strand an der Ostsee.
    _____ \\\!!!///____
    ______( ô ô )_____
    ___ooO-(_)-Ooo___

  66. Sehr coole Blog-Header. Muss ich schon sagen. Ich tue mich mit meiner Seite an dieser Stelle noch ziemlich schwer. Finde meinen Header persönlich überhaupt nicht gelungen und muss da noch ein bisschen (viel) rumpfeilen. Wenn ich es mal in so eine “Favoriten”-Liste wie hier geschaft habe, dann bin ich zufrieden. ;o)

  67. Wunderschöne Designs sind das. Ich bin auch noch auf der Suche nach einer schönen Header Grafik für meinen Blog. Habe aber hier schon einiges gesehen was mir gefallen könnte. Gruss Jasmine Camtastica

  75. These templates are all designed for WordPress, but if you are comfortable with HTML you can copy the resulting code on a working preview of the theme and it would be able to be turned into a static site. A bit complicated to explain, but you might Google how to convert wordpress themes to html. I’m sure someone has put instructions on the web. If you search and can’t find one, drop me a line and I’ll write an article.

  80. Nice Templates, I really like the forbidden Forest Layout!

    It would be interested in watching the same design with a purple or red background.

    I really enjoyed looking through your designs.

  81. WordPress ist ein hervorragendes CMS-System und die hier vorgestellten Designs finde ich super! Habe jetzt im Moment zwar keine weitere Seite mehr frei, um das eine oder andere Design auszuprobieren, aber was nicht ist, kann ja noch werden.

  82. Sehr coole Blog-Header. Muss ich schon sagen. Ich tue mich mit meiner Seite an dieser Stelle noch ziemlich schwer. Finde meinen Header persönlich überhaupt nicht gelungen und muss da noch ein bisschen (viel) rumpfeilen. Wenn ich es mal in so eine “Favoriten”-Liste wie hier geschaft habe, dann bin ich zufrieden. ;o)

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