The theme you choose sets the emotional tone of the entire memorial page. A soft floral pattern says something different from a deep, dignified navy. TributePoint offers 9+ beautifully designed themes — all free — plus premium and exclusive tiers for funeral homes that want to stand out.
Why the Theme Matters
When a family member or friend opens the tribute page, the first impression comes from the visual design. The theme determines:
- Colour palette — warm earth tones, cool blues, or classic black and white
- Typography — elegant serifs, clean sans-serifs, or a mix
- Layout — how the photo, obituary, and interactive features are arranged
- Mood — a celebration of life feels different from a traditional funeral tone
A well-chosen theme honours the person’s personality. A vibrant, colourful theme might suit someone who was the life of every party, while a minimal, white design might reflect someone quiet and elegant.
The 9 Standard Themes
Every TributePoint user gets access to all 9 standard themes at no cost. Each theme has a unique name, description, and carefully designed colour palette.
To choose a theme, open the tribute editor and click on the Theme tab. Thumbnails of every available theme appear. Click one, and the tribute updates instantly — no save required, no page reload. You can switch themes as many times as you like before publishing.
Not sure which theme to pick? Try the live preview — click the preview button to see the full memorial page with your chosen theme, photos, and obituary text, exactly as visitors will see it.
Premium & Exclusive Themes
Funeral homes on Professional and Enterprise plans unlock additional theme tiers:
- Premium Themes — additional designs with more complex layouts, animations, and typography choices
- Exclusive Themes — top-tier designs available only on the Enterprise plan, with unique visual elements
These themes are stored in dedicated server folders, ensuring they remain exclusive to the plan tier that unlocked them.
Live Preview: Desktop & Mobile
The theme preview page shows both a desktop and mobile screenshot of the memorial, so you can check how it looks on both devices before committing. This is important because most South Africans access tribute pages on their phones.
The Theme Gallery
TributePoint has a public theme gallery at /tributes.php where anyone can browse all available themes. The gallery includes SEO-optimised structured data and an FAQ section, making it easy for families and funeral homes to discover the right design through search engines.
Company Branding
Funeral homes can go beyond themes with full company branding:
- Logo upload — your company logo appears on every tribute your team creates
- Brand colours — set primary and accent colours that override the theme defaults
- Custom CSS — inject your own stylesheet for pixel-perfect brand consistency
- Custom themes — upload or request a theme designed specifically for your company
Consistent branding builds trust with families. When every tribute from your funeral home has the same logo and colours, it signals professionalism and care.
Requesting a Custom Theme
If none of the existing themes fit your brand, companies on paid plans can request a custom theme. TributePoint’s team will design a theme that matches your exact specifications — typography, layout, colours, and visual elements.
Every Theme Is Responsive
Every TributePoint theme is built to look perfect on any screen size — from large desktop monitors to smartphones. Text reflows, images resize, and navigation adapts automatically. Families and visitors never need to pinch or zoom.
How Themes Work Technically
When a visitor opens a memorial page, TributePoint loads the selected theme’s CSS and layout template. There are three levels:
- Standard themes — built into the platform with numbered IDs (theme_1 through theme_9)
- Premium/exclusive themes — loaded from dedicated server folders based on the company’s plan
- Company CSS overrides — applied last, so your branding always takes priority
This layered approach means you get a professional base design with your own branding layered on top — the best of both worlds.
The Psychology of Colour in Memorial Design
Colour sets the mood before anyone reads a word. On a memorial page, the palette you choose is not just a design decision — it says something about the person, their culture, and how their family wants them to be remembered.
White means different things to different people. In many African and Christian traditions, white represents purity and transition — a clean passage to the next life. Zulu funerals often incorporate white in mourning attire. In Hindu communities, white is the mourning colour: the bereaved wear white, and cremation ceremonies are draped in it.
Black is what most people think of when they think of funerals — Western tradition, Afrikaans tradition, formal services. But not every South African culture sees it the same way. Some communities wear black only during the mourning period and switch to brighter colours for the celebration-of-life ceremony.
Gold and warm earth tones say "honour" and "legacy." You see these in memorial materials that celebrate a life well-lived rather than dwelling on loss. In many African traditions, gold and ochre connect to ancestral reverence — the idea that the person has joined those who came before.
Floral and nature palettes — soft greens, lavenders, and rose tones — evoke garden imagery, renewal, and peace. These are popular choices for women, children, and families who prefer a gentle, comforting aesthetic.
When choosing a memorial theme, consider the person's cultural background, their personality, and the tone the family wants to set. A vibrant, colourful theme may suit a celebration of life for a beloved community figure, while a sombre, elegant theme may be more appropriate for a formal, traditional funeral.
Choosing a Theme Based on Personality
The best memorial themes reflect who the person actually was. A retired school principal who wore a blazer every day? Classic navy and gold. A 25-year-old graphic designer who lived in sneakers and neon? Something modern and bold. There is no rule that says a memorial must be sombre — it should feel like the person it honours.
Religious families often prefer themes that incorporate spiritual imagery — crosses, doves, and candles for Christian families; crescent moons and geometric patterns for Muslim families; lotus flowers and flame motifs for Hindu families. The theme should feel familiar and respectful to the community that will visit the memorial page.
Practically, consider the audience. If most visitors will be elderly family members viewing the page on a phone with small text, choose a theme with high contrast, large fonts, and simple navigation. If the memorial will be shared widely on social media, choose a theme that generates a compelling Open Graph preview image — this is what people see when the link is shared in a WhatsApp chat or Facebook post.
Accessibility and Readability
A memorial page will be visited by people of all ages — including the 78-year-old gogos who can barely see their phone screens and have never used a website in their lives. If those visitors cannot read the text or figure out how to scroll, you have lost them. Accessibility is not a nice-to-have; it is basic respect.
What does that mean in practice? Text needs enough contrast against the background (at least 4.5:1 ratio), body text should be at least 16px on phones, headings should follow a logical order so screen readers can navigate, and every image needs a text description for people who cannot see it.
Mobile is not a secondary consideration in South Africa — it is the primary one. ICASA research shows over 90% of South Africans access the internet on their phones. A memorial theme that looks stunning on a 27-inch monitor but falls apart on a R1,500 Samsung from Game has failed the people who actually need to use it.
Browse Themes and Start a Tribute
Explore our theme gallery and create a free tribute today.
Browse Themes
Samuel Mkhawane is a South African software developer and the founder of TributePoint, a free digital obituary platform serving families across all nine provinces. After experiencing first-hand how difficult it is to coordinate funeral arrangements across a large, geographically spread family, Samuel built TributePoint to help South African families share funeral details, preserve memories, and honour loved ones with dignity. He is based in Hammanskraal, Gauteng, and writes extensively about funeral planning, cultural traditions, and bereavement support in the South African context.