Site Template Declined for 'Uniqueness' - Give Up?

This is my 2nd attempt at submitting to ThemeForest and it’s really disheartening me with design now. My first 1 I spent ages creating, submitting, tweaking, resubmitting only to just give up on that one. This one has taken me ages and I took care to make sure the code was clean, documentation included and stylesheets organised, but again this one has been shot down for not being unique enough.

I really tried with this one and it’s upsetting that this one still hasn’t made the grade. Is it worth trying to tweak this and resubmitting or is it back to the drawing board? If I have to give up on this template I might just give up on design and go back to being a PHP developer.

Dan

Please note: There’s a few small code errors in the preview version which I corrected before submitting (blockquotes not showing on centered version, label padding not there) – I’ll upload a corrected version later – but is it even worth it lol.

=== Why We’ve Declined Your Submission === 1) Your template does not provide a unique enough design with the necessary design quality, features and options to compete in the marketplace at this time. As higher quality templates become available in the marketplace, approval requirements will increase to maintain appropriate marketplace quality.

2) You might consider improving your design with more unique features and graphics in order for it to stand out among other marketplace items. However, a unique design will be a key factor for approval.

3) You might consider improving your design with more unique graphics in order for it to stand out among other marketplace items.

4) This theme falls under “similar themes” and it doesn’t show any uniqueness to make it stand out.

5) I know it’s frustrating to be rejected citing uniqueness but recently, we’ve gotten a large number of template with the same overall features and presentation and we have to draw the line somewhere.

First things first – NEVER give up. Even though it seems like you won’t get there, you’re actually pretty close. Here is my advice:

- Add more content to the homepage, and make this linkable through the detail pages. E.g. All the recent work items are the same image, and don’t go anywhere?

- Add some more page templates. This will allow users to create more unique sites from your template, which is key on ThemeForest.

Overall though, it’s a great start and I dont see why it wouldn’t be accepted with some improvements.

Keep your head up

- Ed

Hi Ed,

Sorry for the rant, I’m going through a rough patch at the moment and design is something I find relaxing and enjoyable, to be told it’s still not good enough is annoying.

I wasn’t aware content mattered so much? Dummy images were just borrowed from Dribbble. I suppose I could alter the content but from the response from the reviewer it seems the entire theme is boring?

I’m not great with fancy graphics, buttons, shapes and frills – but I feel the site needs more of all of these. Should I delete the home page content and start again? Or just modify it all and have another go?

I understand how it feels. It’s hard, but I promise you when you manage to get it accepted it will feel so good and you’ll realise that the reviewer has done the right thing in pushing you to make your template as good as it can be.

Content does matter a huge amount. This will be what varies the users use of the template, and stop it from looking too similar from one user to another. You need to think of it how the user will see it when they browse it through the marketplace. They will want to see a content-rich template so they can visualise what they can do with it.

What you’ve done so far on the homepage is a good start. I think you could improve it by including more recent work items (all with different images), making sure they link through to something, and adding a ‘recent posts’ section.

Hopefully that can help you on your way

- Ed

Thanks Ed, I’ll re-do all the content, make some page templates and maybe toy with some spacing.

iDemonix said
Thanks Ed, I’ll re-do all the content, make some page templates and maybe toy with some spacing.

Good luck! I’ll keep an eye out for the topic so post your updates when you’re done

- Ed

-Scott

I see headings (Recent Work, Our Services) and splitter as one line, on Scott’s screenshot headings fall underneath the splitter, probably something wrong with the code.

As for the uniqueness… well, a difficult thing to achieve, but anyway try not be looking like many others, try to search more in depths of your own fantasy and imagination rather than in already existing themes. Forget for a moment what other people made, try to think how could you make it. Wish you good luck!

Scott – Thanks that’s helpful and you’ve hit the “spacing issues” I want to address, I’ll have a shuffle later.

Virtuti – thanks for pointing that out, they are meant to be inline, I tested in a few different browsers and didn’t see that problem but I’ll use browsershots and see what the problem is.

Thanks all, I’ll update this when I’ve made changes although I’m currently elbow deep in University coursework.