50-cool-themes-for-tumblr-blog-beautiful-themes

Free Themes

Tumblr has always stood out to me as one of the only blogging platforms around with truly stunning free themes. If you’re a designer, the first time you see Tumblr will likely be the last time you look at Blogger!

The collection below is a good representation of the different types of theme design you’ll find across the Tumblr library. I tried to find each little niche and pick out the best looking theme within. However, a few of the themes below are completely out on their own and definitely aren’t weighed down by pre-established norms.

Ava-May

A nice wide content area with a subtle texture background. I really like the layered header, it’s simple but quite attractive.

Grotesk

This one is super classy. There’s lots of contrast to draw the eye in and the generous use of whitespace works well with the condensed uppercase typography. If you’re looking for a clean and minimal yet masculine theme, look no further.

Mellow Yellow

Just like Grotesk, Mellow Yellow uses a condensed uppercase font, but that’s where the similarities end. Here the background is bold and bright with some random scattered dots and each post contains a bold corner treatment.

The Eames

I really liked the typography on this theme. The font is old style with large serifs and lots of contrast between the thicks and thins. It makes for some really attractive headlines.

Floaty

Floaty has a really nice color scheme and layout with lots of nice subtle touches. The background is the element that steals the show though, a large abstract watercolor that almost feels like the reflection of a cloudy sky.

Black Diamonds

Black diamonds is another theme that just feels classy. Most of the page is fairly average but the dark header is a really nice touch.

Inkhorn

Inkhorn definitely has an old school printed feel and contains an efficient two column layout while still keeping the overall content width fairly narrow. One nice touch is the “back to top” button that sits near the bottom and stays with you as you scroll.

Pink Touch 2

Pink Touch 2 has really a really stellar mic of color and texture. The background texture is subtle but adds a lot to the overall design, as do the little 3D banners that wraparound each post.

Revista

Sometimes it’s great to break the mold of linear thinking and a grid of content is one of the most logical and organized ways to do that. This is one of the better free grid templates out there so be sure to check it out!

Glacial simplicity

The design of this one is very similar to Pink Touch above: the slightly textured background and pointy patterned header. However, while Pink Touch is definitely a feminine theme, this brings the same ideas with a more masculine gray-driven color scheme.

Sarah’s Theme

The stripes on this one are admittedly a bit on the busy side, but they do make for an attractive page that really stands out as unique in this list. I also really like the frame treatment on the images.

Diaphanous Theme v1.4

This theme combines lots of transparency effects with stone textured background. The effect is a light, airy feel perfect for the casual blogger.

(More) Important Things

Many of the free themes with a wooden background can be quite hideous, this is one of the better attempts. The large patches of blue really stand out against the wood and help both the aesthetics and the readability.

Last Stand of Stupidity

Here’s another grid-based theme but this time the layout is much more organic due to the variable height of each block of content. The content blocks have rounded corners and the page is topped off with a unique header design.

Boston Polaroid

The header and typography on this theme are super simple but also quite stunning. The biggest thing going for this theme is the increased page width, which makes for huge photos. If you’re a photographer, you’ll definitely want to check out this theme.

Callisto

Great choice of fonts, a nice color scheme, an attractive texture; this theme has a lot going for it. My favorite design element though is the letterpress icons scattered throughout.

Stacky

Another variation on the organic stack idea. This one has a much more horizontal layout and some nice shadow effects that really set the content out from the background.

Brutal Simplicity

Brutal Simplicity is exactly what the name implies, but in a good way! The thick bars with subtle gradients at the top of each post are a very Mac-like touch.

Royal Cameleon

Out of all the themes that I looked at, this one felt completely unique in its design and layout. The colors and texture give it a retro feel but in a way that isn’t cliche or overused.

Pressed

As the name implies, this one is all about the letterpressed borders that adorn each post. The use of the cursive Lobster font here clashes a bit with the clean and technical design, but it’s still a really nice looking page.

Mint

If you’re looking for something that is super clean without being boring, check out Mint. The plain but attractive background keeps your interest and the layout is a solid centered column with some nice contrasting tones.

Shining

Shining is one crazy and random theme. Each post has some random background texture that doesn’t look anything like the one before it. The randomness somehow comes together though and makes for a great looking blog.

Palmatum

The tree image on the left makes for a strong and simple graphic that adds contrast, visual interest and personality to an otherwise simple and efficient theme.

Royal Ribbon

I really love this theme. The typography is stellar, the colors and texture are perfect and the icons are in an interesting round setting with multiple borders. Both the header and the footer finish off the design nicely with their own unique touches. If you’re a designer, this theme might appeal to you.

Not Bright

Sometimes you can’t beat a simple, dark gray radial gradient as a background. This one pulls off the technique nicely and stays very subdued with the post background color varying only slightly from that of the page.

Grey Daze

This one is another dark theme, but it’s much more quirky than the subdued nature of the previous theme. The post styling and icons are fairly unique, be sure to stop by and see the full-size preview.

Modern5

I love the colors on this theme. Despite being called “Modern”, to me it feels straight from the 70s. Everything has a slightly oversized feel to it as well, which really increases the aesthetic impact.

Blue Heron

Blue Heron has a fairly unique layout that utilizes a narrow content area and comparatively wide sidebar. The hard shadow effect and interesting background make for a great-looking page.

Cheshire

Cheshire is a crazy looking theme that sort of strikes me as the 90s meets web 2.0. I really like the little tabs that stick off the top of each post.

Nightnight

If you’re looking for a dead simple theme with almost zero fluff, check out Nightnight. The dark colors make for a serious and dramatic presentation of content, balanced out by the thin and light typography.

Olde Songs That You Love

You can’t miss the impressive border treatment on this theme. It reminds me of something you’d see in an old illustrated children’s book. If you want something that will really strike your visitors as unique, try this one.

Postage

Every good theme collection must have at least one design inspired by the mail, and this collection is no exception. Postage uses many familiar design elements to this genre and looks simply fantastic.

Vanilla Pod

Vanilla Pod is another of my favorites because it’s has a visual style that’s all its own. I like the button post badges and the almost completely transparent post backgrounds.

Stargazer

The handwritten script font and scribbled icons give this theme a homemade vibe that’s perfect for all you artsy types out there that don’t want to run for the cliche scrapbook feel.

Premium Themes

Which Theme Do You Use?

Tumblr is an amazing platform driven by a ton of super talented theme designers. With hundreds and hundreds of options to choose from, the aim of this post was to narrow the selection down a bit so you only have to sift through the truly stellar themes that stand out from the rest in terms of design.

Leave a comment below and let us know which theme you currently have installed and why. Feel free to leave a link to your Tumblr blog so we can take a look!