

Ask HN: Is it "bad" to use Themeforest? - leprofessorr

I am a developer and I can't design for shit. So, I tend to use Themeforest themes for my personal projects and stuff.<p>I had an idea for a site which I think could be really useful and could gain traction - would it be "unprofessional" to use a Themeforest theme?<p>I fund all of my projects from my pocket and have maybe $50 which I can use - I can't afford to hire a designer.<p>Thanks in advance.
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patio11
It is not "unprofessional" to use a ThemeForest theme.

What does that even _mean_ , really? Break it down.

Do you think customers will not buy if you use a ThemeForest theme or Twitter
bootstrap or WooThemes or what have you? If so, empirically denied: I've sold
hundreds of thousands of dollars of product on sites using those options
personally, and many people have had that experience.

Do you think you owe it to the universe to hire a designer? I don't know why
you'd think that, but some people apparently do, so let's time-shift that
owning-designers-money thing into the future, just like designers have
apparently timed-shifted giving-you-more-than-$50-for-your-programming
services into the future.

Do you think "professional" sites necessarily have awesome, jawdropping unique
design? That is not true and would not withstand scrutiny through the WayBack
machine. The biggest Internet companies you can think of all launch withed
worse than what $5 will buy you on ThemeForest. Some of them are still there (
_cough_ Craigslist).

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leprofessorr
No, I'm perfectly fine with Twitter Bootstrap and similar because its highly
customizable and after a few hours coding, it won't even be recognizable.

I'm using an Admin template for a web app and its pretty unique.

I just don't want to be "mocked" because I didn't take the time and money to
make a more unique interface. Like North Korea was mocked because the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea's site (<http://korea-dpr.com>) cost $15
because they bought a template of Themeforest.

I know it shouldn't be a really big problem, but I'm second guessing every
decision I've made because I'm really nervous about this one. (I've switched
between PHP and Python and Linode and Heroku about 15 times now).

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tptacek
Being mocked is a badge of honor. It means you have the hustle to ship and get
things out in front of people. You should worry a little bit if you're _not_
being mocked. Maybe you're that good, but, really, for the most part, the
people who mock new businesses the most tend to be too dumb to tell the
difference. So, not being mocked probably means you're wasting time being too
vain to ship.

Forget the web design stuff. Use Themeforest, or the Boostrap _defaults_ , and
spend your time getting your product to do things people will pay money for.

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leprofessorr
Thanks! I'm learning to see quite a few things in different ways today. :)

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michaelpinto
I'm a designer, so let me flip your question another way:

Is it bad for a designer to use a stock photo if they can't afford a
photographer?

Of course not! Will the design look a bit generic? Yes it will. But that's not
a big sin in the larger scheme of things if you have a low budget project.
Design is about problem solving as much as it is about creativity.

However I will say the following: Just like selecting "off the rack clothing"
use care in picking a theme that best matches your project. In fact for an
extra $50 you could even get a designer to help you pick something that best
matches the project.

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leprofessorr
Interesting view... Difference is that a stock photo is just one part of a
bigger picture (as you said). However, a theme is everything that the users
sees, not just a part.

I'm using Pastel and it seems perfect for the project.

Thanks for the input, it helped.

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michaelpinto
Actually with many designs (and this really print) the photo could be the main
center of attention. In fact a custom photo should communicate the concept of
the design, not just illustrate it. So just think of the difference between
say a cover photo on a magazine (like an Entertainment Weekly issue with a
real Hollywood Star) vs. the generic stock photo. So the photo should be
everything -- and the same with the interface and art direction of a website.

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leprofessorr
I never thought about that... Perhaps I need to take some design courses :D

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michaelpinto
Forget design -- take an art history course! that's the foundation...

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pknight
Where your theme comes from isn't going to concern 99.9999% of your audience
and most wouldn't be able to tell the difference between and handcoded theme
and one bought off themeforest. It's more important to get the project out,
you can always iterate over the design later.

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leprofessorr
Makes sense. If it becomes popular and I make some money, I could use that to
give it a facelift. :D

