Case study
Ghost Theme
Incredible
A custom Ghost theme designed for content-rich publications, combining an image-led editorial layout with a flexible, reader-friendly experience.
Case file #1001: Incredible
Project details
- Role
- Theme Developer
- Platform
- Ghost
- Technologies
- Handlebars, JavaScript, HTML, CSS/SASS
- Base Theme
- Casper 5.8.1
A theme for stories and ideas.
Incredible began with Ghost's Casper theme as its starting point and evolved into a custom publishing experience with a redesigned frontend, tailored layouts, and additional interactive features.
A rebuilt frontend foundation
Starting with Ghost's Casper theme, I replaced its original styling and build workflow with a new frontend structure built around Foundation for Sites, Sass, and Vite. This provided the foundation for Incredible's redesigned layouts, styling, and interactive features.
Publishing experience
Incredible extends beyond the homepage with dedicated layouts for articles, pages, tags, and author archives. Interactive navigation, infinite scrolling, and pagination make it easier for readers to explore the publication, while subtle animations and an About Me modal add another layer to the experience.
Customization and design decisions
Typography beyond the defaults
I added custom Google Fonts support, allowing publishers to use their preferred typography instead of being restricted to Ghost's built-in font options.
A visual identity of their own
Customizable text, background, and accent colors gave publishers control over the theme's visual identity while keeping the underlying layout intact.
Customization within constraints
Ghost's theme validation process flagged themes that exceeded the 15-setting limit at the time. I prioritized options with the greatest impact on the publishing experience, keeping the remaining design decisions within the theme's implementation.
Project status
Incredible was submitted to the Ghost Theme Store for review, but no feedback was received. Development continued on other projects while awaiting a response. The theme's review status remained unresolved when my tenure at the company ended.