# Specimen: free WordPress theme URL: https://symelo.com/tools/wordpress-themes/specimen Free WordPress theme. A Swiss-style portfolio theme for graphic designers, creative directors and small studios: oversized type, a project index with hover previews and full case studies. A Swiss-style portfolio theme for graphic designers, creative directors and small studios: oversized type, a project index with hover previews and full case studies. - Price: free (GPLv2 or later) - Category: Portfolio - Version 1.0.0, 2026-10-22. WordPress 7.0+, PHP 7.4+. GNU General Public License v2 or later. - Style variations: Blueprint, Kraft, Mono, Night - Fonts: Schibsted Grotesk, JetBrains Mono - Works with: [Secure Custom Fields](https://wordpress.org/plugins/secure-custom-fields/), a free plugin by WordPress.org, optional ## Description Specimen sets your studio like a printed type specimen: warm paper, black ink, one vermilion accent, oversized grotesk headlines, hairline rules, numbered sections and mono labels. The work is the color. It is built on the Symelo portfolio foundation, so projects are a real content type with their own fields, and everything below works without a page builder: * **Projects**: a Projects menu with disciplines and industries, client, year, role, duration, location, tools, a live link, a summary, galleries in four layouts, a before/after slider, the challenge / approach / outcome of the case study, results, credits, a client quote, a map and the next project. Values are edited with the free Secure Custom Fields plugin (the theme offers to install it) and keep showing without it. * **The project index**: every project as a numbered row (title, client, disciplines, year) between hairlines. With a mouse, the row's cover image follows the pointer; on touch screens it shows as a thumbnail, and keyboard focus shows it too. * **Filterable work**: discipline chips set as mono tags, search and sort; the grid updates without a reload, keeps the address shareable and works without JavaScript. * **Case studies**: a giant title, a mono facts row, the summary as a lede, the cover or featured video edge to edge, a sticky facts column with the live link and "Start a similar project", numbered sections, results as huge numbers, the gallery, before/after, the quote, credits in columns, the map and a full-width link to the next project. * **Your studio**: an availability badge ("Available for work from …") in the header, the hero and the footer; studio details, clients as a marquee, awards as an index table, services as a numbered list. * **Forms**: a project inquiry form (it fills in the project a visitor came from), contact, collaboration request and newsletter forms. Messages are stored in the dashboard and emailed to you. * **Video**: a background-video showreel hero (a bundled loop with a poster), featured videos for projects and posts, YouTube and Vimeo embeds that load only after a click. * **Galleries**: Masonry and Carousel gallery styles and a lightbox with captions, swipe and keyboard support. * **Motion**: clip and word reveals for big type, staggered grids, marquees for clients and disciplines; all of it off for visitors who prefer reduced motion. * **Light and dark**: a switch in the header that remembers the visitor's choice, and five style variations: Paper (the default), Blueprint, Night, Kraft and Mono, each with its own night or day partner. Templates: blog home, single post, page, archive, search (projects, posts and pages together), 404, the project page, the projects archive, discipline and industry archives, plus the custom templates Landing page, Wide and Case study. Template parts: header, header over a hero image, footer and a minimal footer. More than fifty patterns: six heroes (the specimen statement, the project index, the showreel, the latest project, a split portrait and a disciplines marquee), selected work, the project index, the filterable grid, spotlight, services, process, the studio in numbers, clients, awards, testimonials, questions, galleries, video sections, forms, journal lists, calls to action, social links and full pages for Home, Work, Studio, Contact and a Landing page. The demo content (Appearance → Import demo) installs a complete creative studio with nine projects, disciplines, industries, clients, awards and the Home, Work, Studio and Contact pages. ## Frequently Asked Questions #### Where do I add projects and studio details? Projects have their own menu (Projects → Add Project); the project details are below the editor. Your availability, email, phone, address, clients and awards are under Projects → Studio details. Both need the free Secure Custom Fields plugin, which the theme offers to install in one click. Without it, everything already entered keeps showing. #### Where do form submissions go? Every inquiry, message, collaboration request and newsletter signup is saved under **Messages** in the dashboard and emailed to the site's administration email address. To send them somewhere else, open Messages → Settings and enter one or more recipients, or select a form block and set its own recipients in the block settings. Make sure your site can send email (most hosts need an SMTP plugin or service for reliable delivery). #### How does the hover preview of the project index work? On a computer with a mouse, the cover image of the row under the pointer follows it. It uses the project's featured image ("Cover image"). On phones and tablets the image shows as a small thumbnail at the start of each row, and keyboard users see it beside the focused row. #### How do I add a featured video to a project or a post? In the editor, open the document settings and find the **Featured video** panel. Paste a YouTube or Vimeo link, or choose a video file from the media library. The project page shows it edge to edge in place of the cover image. #### Can I turn the animations off? They switch off automatically for visitors who ask their device for reduced motion. To remove an animation from a block, select it and clear the effect in the **Motion** panel (or remove the `sk-…` class under Advanced → Additional CSS classes). #### How does dark mode work? The moon / sun button in the header switches between a light and a dark palette and remembers the choice in the visitor's browser. Every style variation has its own partner: Paper and Night swap with each other, Blueprint has a cobalt night, Kraft a dark brown and Mono a pure black version. Pick the variation in Appearance → Editor → Styles. #### Why does the page title sometimes not appear? The page template leaves out the title when the page opens with its own hero (a heading, a cover or one of the hero and full-page patterns), so it never appears twice. Use the Landing page template to leave it out everywhere. ## Downloads - [Specimen 1.0.0](https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/1.0.0/specimen-1.0.0.zip) (2026-10-22, 2.6 MB, SHA-256 50fc5fdd60beef3edb465ef6c8d6b8fbbb300a980268a7f86570a99c309bf9c3) ## Screenshots - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/shots/home-6ecb4846a7.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/shots/contact-2-ca0c5bb983.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/shots/projects-5ca3eae830.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/shots/projects-fieldnotes-app-1db43ca2ba.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/shots/studio-8586d8ae56.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/shots/work-7d9748e5d7.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/specimen/shots/admin-fields-976ed66f0f.webp - [All WordPress themes](https://symelo.com/tools/wordpress-themes) ## Related pages - [All tools](https://symelo.com/tools) - [Agent documentation](https://symelo.com/llms.txt)