Why I Build Every Divi Theme From Scratch

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There is something I have always found quite frustrating about the website template industry.

From the outside, it can look as though creating a website template is simply a case of designing a beautiful homepage, changing a few colours and fonts, swapping the images around and calling it a new theme.

And, to be fair, there are template businesses that have built very successful collections around a recognisable design system. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a strong visual style or a system that makes creating websites more efficient.

But that's not how I work.

When I create a new Divi child theme, I don't start with an old theme, change the colour palette and move a few sections around.

I start again.

And there is a reason for that.

Every business needs a slightly different story

A photographer doesn't need the same website structure as a coach.

A wellness business doesn't need the same user journey as an interior designer.

A copywriter needs to demonstrate their work and expertise in a very different way to a wedding photographer.

Even businesses within the same industry can have completely different personalities, audiences and goals.

So when I start a new theme, I'm thinking about those things before I'm thinking about whether the buttons should have rounded corners.

Who is this website for?
What does the visitor need to know?
What should they see first?
What information needs to be easy to find?
Where should the calls to action sit?
What needs to happen on mobile?
How can the design feel beautiful without getting in the way of the content?

Those decisions influence the design from the beginning.

Pretty isn't the whole point

Of course, I want my themes to be pretty. That's rather important considering the name of my business! But a pretty website that is awkward to use isn't a good website.

I spend a lot of time on the details that aren't necessarily obvious when you first look at a theme.

Spacing.
Typography.
Section hierarchy.
Mobile layouts.
Button placement.
Image proportions.
Content flow.
Hover states.
Responsive behaviour.
The relationship between one section and the next.

And all the little things that make a website feel easy to use rather than simply nice to look at. Sometimes I'll spend far longer fixing something that most people will never consciously notice.

And that's actually the point.

If I've done my job properly, the customer shouldn't be thinking about the technical decisions I've made.

They should simply think:

"This feels really easy to use."

I don't want all of my themes to look like the same website

When I'm creating a new collection, I want each theme to have its own personality.

That doesn't mean every theme has to look completely unrelated to the others. There will naturally be elements that form part of my overall design style. But I don't want someone to buy three different themes from me and feel as though they've simply bought the same website three times.

That's particularly important as I'm creating more Divi 5 themes.

Divi 5 gives me even more opportunity to experiment with layouts, interactions, spacing and design systems, and I want to make the most of that.

So rather than taking an existing theme and giving it a new coat of paint, I would much rather sit down and ask:

What would this website look like if I designed it specifically for this business?

That's where the fun starts.

Starting from scratch takes longer

There is, of course, a downside.

It takes me longer. Much longer.

It would be considerably quicker to take an existing design, change the colours, replace the photography, move a few things around and have another product ready to sell.

But I've never wanted to build my business that way.

I genuinely enjoy the process of designing websites.

I like working out how a page should flow.

I like experimenting with layouts.

I like refining the details.

And I like taking something that started as an idea in my head and turning it into a complete, working website.

The extra time is part of the product.

The theme is only the starting point

I also want my customers to understand that buying one of my themes doesn't mean they're getting a website that is going to look exactly like everyone else's. The theme gives you the foundations. You bring your own branding, photography, words, personality and business.

That's why I put so much thought into creating flexible layouts.

You should be able to make the theme feel like your website.

Change the colours.
Change the fonts.
Replace the photography.
Rewrite the sections.
Move things around.
Add your services.
Add your own story.
Make it yours.

The design should give you a head start — not put you in a box.

Why this matters to me

I know there are a lot of website templates out there.

There are some incredibly talented designers creating beautiful work, and I have a huge amount of respect for the people who have built successful template businesses.

But I also know that when you're comparing themes, it isn't always obvious how much work has gone into the one you're looking at.

A screenshot doesn't show you the hours spent making a layout work properly on a phone.

It doesn't show you the testing.

It doesn't show you the adjustments.

It doesn't show you the pages that were redesigned three times because the first version just wasn't quite right.

And it certainly doesn't show you the thinking behind the layout.

That's the part I care about.

I don't want to create more templates for the sake of having more templates.

I want to create websites that I would genuinely be proud to put my name behind.

Beautiful, feminine, thoughtful websites that give small business owners a professional starting point without making them spend weeks staring at a blank WordPress installation wondering where on earth to begin.

And yes, that takes time.

But I think it's worth it.