Be sure to visit part 2 of this tutorial on how to code the Corporate WordPress Style Layout.
This is the final result

1. The first thing we want to do is to create a new document with the dimensions of 1024×1478 (it can vary to your liking).
2. Next thing we want to do change the overall background color to #1e2329 using your paint bucket tool
3. Now, use your rectangle marquee tool make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #383d43.

4. Next lets go ahead and add our dummy links in the top right of our header. My link color is #FFFFFF and the dividers are #525961 (see image below for example)
5. I also chose to place some text on the left side providing a telephone number with the same choice of colors as well. For our ‘logo’, the text color for ‘corporate’ is #FFFFFF, and the text color for ‘layout’ is #65b8f9. you should now have something that looks like this
6. The next step is to add a little divider between the two background colors. To do so create a new layer and use your rectangle marquee tool to make a selection 2px high and fill it with #FFFFFF. Make sure it spans across your whole document

7. On this newly created layer, input the following blending options
8. Next thing I did was find a stock photo to use in my header. I choose to use one I found at sxc.hu (great free stock photo website), and added a 1px stroke with this color #505255

9. Next lets go ahead and make a search field. For this step I simply used a rectangle marquee tool to make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #FFFFFF

10. I then used the following blending options on its layer
11. The next step we need to take is to create a search button. To do so I used my rectangle marquee tool again and made a selection similar to the following and filled it with #FFFFFF.

12. I then proceeded to add the following blending options onto its layer. Before you close out of your layer style’s box please read the next step.
13. Now we will be using this very same gradient and drop shadow on other elements to come in this layout, so we will save ourselves some time by using the ‘Styles’ menu in our blending options. Choose the ‘New Style…’ button from the right side and name your style ‘blue gradient’
14. You will notice that a thumbnail is now added to the list for you to use, and you can go ahead and hit ok to continue.

15. Now just add some white text that says ’search’ and you can add some text in your input field if you’d like and your document should look something like this

16. The next step is to create a main navigation menu that will go horizontally under our stock photo. To do so, lets go ahead and use our rectangle marquee tool to make a selection similar to the following and fill it with any color (it won’t matter)

17. Next we want to right click that layer and input the following blending options
18. Now we want to go ahead and add some links to our menu. Using the text tool make something similar to the following. The font color I used was #CBD9E7
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19. To display our active link we want to do something special. Making sure this is under your newly created text layer, using your rectangle marquee tool make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #FFFFFF

20. Now this is where your ‘Blue Gradient’ comes in. Go to your Blending options and then to the styles menu and select it and you should now have something like this

21. Lets go ahead and step back and look at our layout right now to see where we are
22. Looking good I’d say. The next thing we want to do is to add a sidebar. Using your rectangle marquee tool make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #26292E

23. Now using your rectangle marquee tool again (or rectangle tool, which ever you prefer), make a selection similar to the following. It is going to represent what our sidebar headings look like

24. Just use your ‘Blue Gradient’ on that layout and then add some text to name the section and you’ll have something that looks like this

25. Repeat those steps for as many boxes as you want and I came up with this

Yes, I do realize I used the same text under most popular and recent comments (I can be lazy too)
26. For the left side where our posts would be displayed, I have variation backgrounds. For the first post the background color is #2F3338 and for the second it is #2A2D32. Your document will look like this

27. The last step I did was to add some fake content and to add some footer links and this is your final result


Get a commercial/public use licence for this PSD (More info)
Remember if you have any questions or comments about this tutorial to leave your responses in the comments below and we will get back to you very quickly.
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62 Responses
psaddict
Added to http://www.psaddict.com
Rolando Mota
nice tutorial, great colours!
Matthew Heidenreich
No problem. The next tutorial will be on how to make a design studio layout.
Cain
Fantastic result! Absolutely beautiful colors and layout. I’ll be basing some aspects of my wordpress on this design. Keep up the great work Matt.
Eric Shafer
Featured here: http://www.presidiacreative.com/web-picks-9/
Sajid Iqbal
Very nice tutorial. I like the header part specially.
Liora
Clean design and well-explained.
Jess McKenzie
Hello,
Is there a download somewhere of the theme/PSD
Matthew Heidenreich
@Jess
Look at the bottom of the post, there is a rather large icon that says, “Download PSD” on all my posts. To make it easier just go to this link…
http://psdvibe.com/tutorials/corporate_layout/psd.zip
Anto
Someone should code this for wp 2.7 would be cool as hell.
Timothy
Great layout. Really clean and slick.
Jess McKenzie
@Matthew,
I was looking for it all ready made and ready to use but included a psd as well must be somewere
Matthew Heidenreich
Sorry Jess, I have yet to make it into a functional WordPress theme as of now. I have not decided if I am going to or not. If there is enough of a request for it, I will go ahead make it.
Tiger
nice colour
devlim.com
Great tutorial, love it
Zach @ Ideas and Angles
I would pay money for a working theme for this in WordPress.
Matthew Heidenreich
@Zach well that’s good to know
I have a feeling I will go ahead and offer this up for free to anyone who would like it when/if I code it up, as I don’t think you should have to pay for it
Jess McKenzie
Can I alter (remove wordpress Stuff) your template matt and code it into html and css
Matthew Heidenreich
Yes Jess thats fine. As long as your not selling anything you can do what ever you would like with it. Same goes with every other tutorial here
Zach @ Ideas and Angles
@ Matthew Great to hear you will be working on this! I appreciate your time. Should I keep a eye out on this site in the future for when it gets completed or would that be announced somewhere else?
Matthew Heidenreich
@Zach It will be announced here for sure, and i’ll probably have it in the user link feed on psdtuts and other places. You can always subscribe to our feed to get the latest updates, or follow me on twitter
Jess McKenzie
What fonts were used
Matthew Heidenreich
I believe I only used Myraid Pro and Helvetica, and Helvetica Neue
Web Mahsülleri Ofisi
nice tutorial, thanks.
Free Wordpress Themes
very cool..
Free Wordpress Themes
very nice sir! special thanks!
Daniel
Very Nice, but I don’t how to code it to wordpress =(
There is any tutorial about how to do this?
Saro
Really nice tutorial. The image is just a little to big in my opinion. And a tagline would be nice. Succes on selling it.
Matthew Heidenreich
@Saro
I actually won’t be selling it, if it ends up getting coded it will be for free
Paul
Now how would you export it to a web design suite? Are there any tutorials on exporting layouts to the web?
Matthew Heidenreich
@Paul
I actually just added a new post on a list of the best tutorials out there for that:
http://psdvibe.com/2009/03/03/13-tutorials-for-turning-your-psd-into-xhtml-and-css/
Paul
@ Matthew Heidenreich
Thanks for the layout, I have made one very similar. Which tutorial do you feel works best for this specific layout?
Matthew Heidenreich
I think you could get good results looking into how they coded this one
http://hv-designs.co.uk/2008/05/20/psd-htmlcss/
Obviously everything is not the same, but the design is laid out similar to the Corporate theme. Use it as a guide to understand how to use the different options when coding. Hope this helps you out!
coder
Hi nice tutorial i will code this for free to a working wordpress template and blogger
maybe i should post a link here for your visitors to download it after i’ve coded it ?
Matthew Heidenreich
that would great if you did. I’d go ahead and add a link to it in the post and be sure to give you full credit.
coder
ok matthew i will comment with the link when i’ve finished thanks
Will
Here is a link to convert everything to Wordpress. However you will have to break it down into an XHTML and CSS before you can convert it to wordpress, I don’t think that would be to difficult to do.
http://www.jestro.com/web-design/convert-xhtml-css-to-wordpress/
Michael Adams
Thanks. I was having so much trouble trying to come up with web designs to the point I was ready to quit. Then I came across your site and I am first amazed at how good your sites look. Secondly, so happy that your tutorials are so easy to understand. Thanks again so much for creating this site.
Michael – Austin, Texas
Matthew Heidenreich
@Michael
Happy you enjoyed the tutorial. I try to make it detailed enough that most users can follow them as I’ve gotten angry following tutorials that were not well written. I do understand that some very novice users will not be able to follow these though as well.
coder
what about the header image do they get that free with the layout ?
Matthew Heidenreich
It’s a open source image from sxc.hu
Lawny
Hi thanks for the nice tutorial i have coded this into a working blogger template see the result here http://corporate-layout.blogspot.com/
however i still have some tweaks todo and test’s across a few browsers i couldn’t get the alternative post styling to work in blogger but i will convert this to wordpress and get it all working when i get time and post you a link so your visitors can download it thanks for the tutorial once again
Lawny
Matthew Heidenreich
@Lawny
Looks great! Will be nice once you are complete
Lawny
Hi i have just released this theme for blogger and give you credits on my blog at http://lawnys-templates.blogspot.com/2009/03/corporate-style-2-column-blogger.html and in the template footer i hope you don’t mind thanks for the nice tutorials
per
Good design !!! but what is the font type?
Matthew Heidenreich
I believe I used Helvetica throughout this template.
Business Card Printing
I think I’ve come across the same tut before, or maybe that was a different layout. This is really nice, clean and professional layout. Thanks for coming up with this!
CgBaran Tuts
Nice layout thanks
Al Chan
Nice tutorial!
Easy to understand!
I’m a beginner,I am very confident of myself now.
Matthew Heidenreich
thanks for all the commments
@Business Card Printing
You probably saw this tut on here when the site design was different
As this ’should’ be the only site this tutorial is on. If you see if on another site, please let me know.