Designing and Shipping Scalable Website Templates for Astra
Website templates for Astra, one of the most widely used WordPress themes powering millions of websites globally. Designed in Figma and built for Elementor & Spectra.
Team
My Role
Details
Industry
WordPress Ecosystem
Date
November 2024
Tools
Figma, Elementor & Astra
About Astra
Astra is one of the most widely used WordPress themes, powering millions of websites globally. Starter Templates is its companion library that helps users launch ready-made websites across industries in just a few clicks.
Astra Template Library existed, but many older templates:
Key Problems
Functionally and visually outdated designs
Lacked clear structure for modern businesses
Not always optimized for easy customization
Relied heavily on placeholder (lorem ipsum) content
The Real Challenge
Designing templates wasn’t just about making them look good. It was about solving, How might we design modern, conversion-ready templates that are easy for non-designers to customize while working within WordPress builder constraints.
At the same time, templates must
Work across multiple industries
Be easy for non-tech to edit and customize
Stay within Elementor & Spectra web builder constraints
Maintain performance and scalability
The Real Question
❌
It wasn’t:
“How do we design better-looking templates?”
✅
It became:
How do we design templates that non-technical users can easily make their own without breaking anything?
Designing for Reality,
Not Ideal Scenarios
👍 Every decision I made was grounded in real constraints:
Templates had to work inside Elementor and Spectra Wordpress Builders
Users needed speed, not complexity
Designs had to remain lightweight and flexible
⛔ No to things that might look good but don’t scale well:
Heavy animations
Overly complex layouts
Hard-to-edit sections
Each template was Built on Astra’s Customization Foundations
Bridging Figma design systems with Astra’s global customization for real-world usability. Since these templates are built for Astra users many of whom are non-designers it was essential to align every design decision with Astra’s built-in customization system.
One of the biggest gaps in older templates was content. They looked like templates not real websites.
So I shifted the approach:
Replaced lorem ipsum with meaningful, contextual copy
Structured sections to reflect real business needs
Used tools like GPT to shape clear, relevant messaging
✅
This helped users not just edit templates
…but actually understand how to use them.
Designing Templates
Across Industries
Designed in Figma, each template was created to feel complete, modern, and easy to adapt across industries balancing visual quality with real-world usability.
Not Just a landing page.
A Complete Website.
Every template you see here is a fully designed website not just a landing page. Each one includes all the essential pages: Home, About, Services, Contact, and even Privacy Policy and Terms. Built as complete systems, these templates are ready to be used, extended, and scaled.
