Thad Allender
Photography was Thad Allender’s first love. A wish to precisely control how his photographs were displayed on the web and in print inspired him to learn the art and science behind design. He made his first WordPress theme in 2005, and with that, Graph Paper Press, a design firm dedicated to minimalist themes and building plugins for creative people, was born.
“In college, I made zines that focused on bike culture, music, and photography,” says Thad. “Making zines, coupled with classes in art and design, made me fall in love with the interplay between photography and design. After graduating from college, I worked as a photographer at a publication and I wanted total creative control over how my images were displayed, both in print and online. I picked up a couple books, learned html, css, and started dabbling in php, largely out of frustration with how my images were displayed on the web. In 2007, I released my first WordPress theme on my photo portfolio website. I had a massive traffic spike. Soon thereafter, I launched GraphPaperPress.com, which to this day still focuses on building solutions for photographers, artists, and other creative people using WordPress.”
Thad started using WordPress back in 2005 and has never looked back.
“In 2005, I moved to New York City where I worked as a freelance photographer,” says Thad. While in NYC, I also landed my first web design client, a small architecture firm. I built the site using MoveableType and hated it. Soon thereafter, a friend introduced me to WordPress and I started building themes. I haven’t looked back since!”
As a photographer and designer, Thad understands the needs and wishes of creative folks. Graph Paper Press’ work focuses on making sure content takes centre stage.
“I have always worked in the creative industry, first as a photographer and later as a multimedia producer for USA Today,” says Thad. “I’d like to think that I know the needs and frustrations of creative folks pretty well. For most creatives, the perfect design is invisible. Content is king. Our themes cater to this.”
Todd Owyoung is a rock and roll photographer based in New York City.
Andrew Tolson, a photography director at a Toronto magazine.
Plugins are also a big part of Graph Paper Press’ work.
“Like our themes, our plugins attempt to solve common problems that creatives face when publishing work on the web. We’re actually getting ready to release a new plugin that turns attachments uploaded into WordPress into products that buyers can license and download. There are hosted solutions that provide this service, but many could simply exist inside WordPress. A web presence that is splintered around the internet with no cohesive branding or design sensibility can get expensive, confusing, and becomes a major time suck to maintain. We think there is a lot of room for growth in this area. For us, WordPress is becoming more of an application for solving design, ecommerce and archiving issues facing creatives.”
Thad learned of VaultPress during a talk Matt Mullenweg gave in Washington, D.C.
“I remember hearing about VaultPress from your very own Matt Mullenweg, who spoke at the WordPress DC meetup group we used to sponsor in Washington, D.C.,” says Thad. “VaultPress has saved our butts a few times. It’s worth every penny.”
We’re proud as punch to have graphpaperpress.com in the vault. You can learn more about how VaultPress can protect your content, theme, plugin, and site settings and customizations. Contact us with questions, or you could make our day, and sign up to protect your site.