Creative portfolio is a Hugo theme ported from the Bootstrapious template of the same name, built to give designers and creatives a clean landing page, portfolio grid, and working contact form without writing frontend code. The theme is maintained by Kishan (kishaningithub) on GitHub, released under the MIT license, and is one of the more popular Hugo portfolio themes with over 450 stars on its repository.
What is Creative portfolio?
Creative portfolio is a Hugo theme for static websites that focuses on a visual landing page and portfolio presentation. It takes Hugo site content — a config.toml file, Markdown content files, and optional static assets — and produces a fully static website. The theme is a port of the Creative Portfolio template from Bootstrapious, and the current version corresponds to base theme version 1.0. It runs on Hugo, the static site generator, and the repository includes an exampleSite directory with a working Hugo site you can copy as a starting point.
Key Features
- Style variants — Change the whole color scheme by setting the style key in config.toml to one of six options: default (pink), blue, green, pink, red, sea, or violet.
- Custom CSS support — Add a custom.css file to the static folder of your Hugo site to override theme styling without editing the theme itself.
- Disqus comments — Optional comments system enabled by providing your Disqus shortname in the disqusShortname configuration key; leaving the key empty disables comments entirely.
- Formspree contact form — A static-site contact form that uses formspree.io as a proxy to email you messages, with a free allowance of up to one thousand submissions per month.
- Google Analytics — Built-in analytics integration activated by adding your tracking code to the googleAnalytics key.
- Landing page layout — A polished landing page design with sections suitable for a portfolio or personal website.
- MIT license — The theme is free to use, modify, and distribute under the terms of the MIT License.
Who is it for?
Creative portfolio is aimed at designers, artists, and other creatives who want a professional-looking portfolio without building a site from scratch. It is also useful for developers who prefer Hugo's content-driven static sites and want a pre-built theme with common integrations already wired in. Anyone who needs a simple personal website with a contact form, comments, and analytics can use the theme as a generic starting point.
What can you do with Creative portfolio?
- Designers and creatives — Showcase work samples in a clean portfolio grid and direct visitors to a contact form.
- Freelancers — Collect client inquiries through the Formspree contact form, which forwards submissions to the email address you set in config.toml.
- Personal bloggers — Add Disqus comments to posts and track site traffic with Google Analytics without adding extra code.
How does Creative portfolio work?
The theme is installed by cloning its repository into the themes directory of a Hugo site, then removing the bundled .git folder. You customize it by editing config.toml — set the style, disqusShortname, googleAnalytics, and email keys — and optionally adding custom.css. Once configured, run hugo server to preview the site locally at localhost:1313, then build and deploy it to any static hosting service such as Amazon S3.
FAQ
Is Creative portfolio free?
Yes, the theme is released under the MIT License, so you can use it for personal or commercial projects, modify it, and redistribute it. The original Bootstrapious theme has its own license you can review on the Bootstrapious website.
How do I change the theme color?
Edit the config.toml file and set the style key to one of: default (pink), blue, green, pink, red, sea, or violet. The theme will apply the corresponding color scheme across the landing page.
How do I enable comments and analytics?
Set your Disqus shortname in the disqusShortname key to enable comments, and add your Google Analytics tracking code to the googleAnalytics key. Leave either key empty to disable that feature entirely.
How do I make the contact form work?
Put your email address in the email key in config.toml, upload the generated site to a server, send yourself a test email through formspree.io, and confirm the Formspree account link. Formspree allows up to one thousand submissions per month on the free tier.
