A ligature is what happens when two letters are drawn as one connected form instead of two separate strokes set side by side. A small typographic decision most readers never consciously notice, and the reason a considered typeface reads as considered. Ligature the theme is built for the kind of studio that makes decisions at that resolution: design studios, creative agencies, and independent consultancies whose site has to carry actual client work, not a generic “our services” page.
The case-study-lead pattern is built around a real project narrative: client, brief, decisions, result, rather than a portfolio grid of thumbnails with no context. A process-section pattern lays out a numbered method with an accent rule. A client-roster pattern, built on the WordPress Interactivity API, presents logos or names as a genuinely interactive list rather than a static grid.
Newsreader carries the LCP-critical headline on every template, the largest-paint element, preloaded as a single variable file rather than several discrete weights. Block styles include an overline for section labels, a pull-quote treatment for surfacing a client’s key result, and a credential-list style for sector or award listings, all built around what a studio’s actual case-study content looks like, not a generic “features” grid.
Three dedicated image crops cover the three photo shapes a studio site actually needs: a 16:9 case-study opener, a 3:2 work-index card, and a 1:1 portrait for the hero, the archive thumbnail, and the maker’s own picture.
Closest sibling: Selvedge for maker and craft studios. Every theme in the collection is free and shares the same accessible core.
What it does well
- A case-study-lead pattern built around client, brief, decisions, result, not a thumbnail grid with no context
- A client-roster pattern built on the WordPress Interactivity API for a genuinely interactive logo or name list
- Newsreader variable font carrying every headline, preloaded as one file rather than several discrete weights
- Overline, pull-quote, process-stage, and credential-list block styles built around real case-study content
- Three purpose-built image crops: a 16:9 case-study opener, a 3:2 work-index card, and a 1:1 portrait
- Zero front-end JavaScript outside the one interactive pattern, self-hosted fonts, WCAG 2.2 AA
Preview
Download
Ligature is free and open source under the GPLv2 license. Download the zip from GitHub and install it manually, or install from the WordPress theme directory once the review is complete.
License: GPL v2 or later · Requires WordPress 6.7+
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