Probama PSD file Now Available

The Probama theme reached 1000 downloads today, which is great news, but we’ve also had many users requesting the PSD file so they could develop non-Obama designs. So for anyone who found Probama via my blog, I thought I’d announce it here that the PSD is now available and free to use.

Political Themes

Since the launch, there have been some really nice write-ups about the design and functionality. I’ve been surprised and amused, though, at many other comments ranging from (paraphrased)…

“Hard to believe someone is so fanatical about political figures that they devoted an entire Wordpress theme.”

…to…

“Great design and functionality. Sad the theme is political.”

I’d be the first to admit, politics is the Great Divider and can bring out the worst in anyone. I’m not exactly bothered by the reactions - we’re all entitled. But it proves how easily intentions get misread on the web.

I think the commenters would be disappointed to know that we didn’t toss together the theme in a midnight frenzy after a particularly foamy-mouthed political discussion. As a design firm, we’d already decided to advertise ourselves as Wordpress developers by releasing experimental and intentionally-niche themes (which is how Mimbo began back in August — niche + experimentation). We’d already seen hundreds of pro-Obama blogs, but few had a compelling design or strong features. We tried to fill that demand as we would with any non-political subject matter.

Politics and Branding

In 79 Short Essays on Design, Michael Beirut talked about the backlash he received whenever he’d post political topics on the Design Observer blog. He pointed out that political messages (wrapped heavily in branding and organization, these days especially) inevitably overlap with issues of design and problem-solving. Therefore, he argued, his political postings were not out of place nor were they something to fear. Read more about Beirut’s thoughts on the Obama ‘brand’.

I’m curious if anyone thinks political themes are taboo and/or bad for the Wordpress world. What are other examples of themes that have inspired controversy, political or otherwise?

Read it at the source

This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 10:11 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.