Semplice

Short verdict: Semplice is a quiet, white portfolio for a photographer who sells commissions: four projects with full credits, a services page with day rates and a licensing table, an archive with a keyboard-friendly photo viewer and a small journal. It loads a single small script file and, unlike several Lexington demos, has real page titles. The contact form is the gap: on the demo it posts to a page that answers with an error and leaves visitors on a blank screen. It suits a freelance photographer with a handful of strong projects; a studio that represents several photographers needs Riflesso or a custom build.

How we reviewed it: On 30 October 2026 we used the live Astro demo, rebuilt by Lexington Themes on 30 September 2026, in Chromium at 1,440 px and 1,000 px wide and on a 390 px phone screen. We opened all 28 pages in its sitemap, dragged the photo ribbon, switched the work views, filtered the archive and paged through its viewer with the keyboard, submitted the contact form while logging network requests, and ran Lighthouse 12.8.2 once on the home page and once on a project page. We did not buy the theme, so we can't judge the source code or the Sanity and EmDash editions. Prices and license terms come from lexingtonthemes.com on the same day.

Disclosure: Our links to Lexington Themes carry a referral tag.

What you get for $89

What we found in the demo

A photo ribbon you can drag

The home page belongs to a sample photographer, Maren Vik in Bergen. Under a two-line introduction, a ribbon of photos sits on a slight 3D curve: it drifted about 20 px in two seconds on its own, moved with the page scroll, and a 300 px drag moved it 259 px. Each frame links to one of the four projects. With reduced motion requested, the ribbon stays still and flat and smooth scrolling is off. Below it come selected work, an index table, a profile with subjects and clients, and an availability line ("Booking commissions from November") that also sits in the header next to a live Bergen clock.

Projects with credits, in a grid or an index

The work page switches between a staggered grid and a monospace index with date, category, client and image count; hovering an index row shows a 352 by 440 px preview. The choice is not remembered after a reload. Each project page lists client, category, date, styling, hair and makeup, models and assistant, numbers its frames (01/04 to 04/04) and links to the next project. The demo ships four projects of four frames each, one per subject: fashion, beauty, interiors and still life.

Rates and licensing on the services page

Services sets out four commissions with what each includes and a starting day rate, from €2,400 for still life to €3,800 for fashion campaigns. A licensing table then explains what the day rate covers: web, social and editorial use for a year worldwide, with print and packaging (+30%), outdoor and retail (+50%) and full buyouts priced on top. Five common questions open and close as native disclosure elements.

An archive with a real viewer

The archive shows all 16 frames on one sheet, filtered by subject (four each). Selecting a frame opens a native dialog labelled "Photo viewer" with the project name, a counter such as 5/16, previous and next. Focus lands on Close, the arrow keys page through the frames, Escape closes the dialog and returns focus to the thumbnail, and with a filter active the viewer pages only through that subject. This is the best-built interaction in the theme.

A contact form that fails on submit

The contact page asks for name, email and a message (required, checked by the browser), plus company, project type, dates and budget. On submit the browser posted the fields to the contact page itself, the host answered "405 Method Not Allowed", and the visitor was left on a blank white page. Before launch you need a form service or your own endpoint, plus a success message. The journal has four posts with tags, reading time and an RSS feed. On a 390 px screen we found no sideways scrolling, the menu opens from a single button, and the archive drops to two columns.

Performance and SEO

One Lighthouse 12.8.2 run per page and form factor, 30 October 2026:

Lexington lists 100 in all four categories. The home page transferred about 600 KB on mobile, nearly all of it photos, and the largest paint, a ribbon photo, came at 2.8 s. Every image is WebP from Astro's image pipeline with responsive sizes and fixed dimensions, and photos below the first screen load lazily; Lighthouse still estimates 190 KB of savings from tighter sizes. The two fonts, Switzer and Fragment Mono, come from Fontshare and Google Fonts and add about 50 KB. On desktop the project page lost points to a layout shift of 0.115, above Google's 0.1 threshold for a good score.

Each of the 28 pages has its own title, and 11 have their own description while the rest share the site description. Canonical URLs, the sitemap and the RSS feed use the placeholder domain yourwebsite.com until you set your own, there are no share images, and the demo has no structured data.

What you still have to build

• Form delivery. Connect the enquiry form to a form service or your own endpoint, and add a confirmation.

• Your domain and share images. Set the site URL so canonical tags, the sitemap and RSS point at it, and add share images.

• Your work. Replace the four sample projects, rates, licensing terms and client names; four projects is enough to show the layouts, not a finished portfolio.

• Anything beyond a portfolio. The redesign removed dark mode, the extra landing pages, the gallery, team and store pages and search, per Lexington's changelog.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Services, day rates and a licensing table, ready for a commercial photographer.

• An archive viewer that works with the keyboard and keeps focus where it should.

• Light pages: one 19 KB script file, WebP images and lazy loading; performance 92 to 97 in our runs.

• Real titles on every page, accessibility 100, and reduced motion respected.

Cons

• The contact form ends on a blank error page.

• Only four sample projects, so you can't see how the grid and index hold up with thirty.

• No dark mode or second color scheme after the redesign.

• The work view and archive filter aren't kept in the URL, so a filtered view can't be shared.

How Semplice compares

• Riflesso ($89, same maker) is, per Lexington, a dark, minimal theme for studios that represent a few photographers, with artist pages, films and an archive. Pick it for a roster rather than one name.

• Horizon by Cosmic Themes is a free Astro photography theme with portfolio collections, bento image grids, a pricing section and a contact form. It was last updated on 9 May 2025 and runs Astro 5; choose it if budget matters more than the licensing page and viewer.

• Hive by Shadcnblocks ($79) is an agency portfolio template with Next.js and Astro editions built on shadcn/ui and a Figma file, which Lexington doesn't provide. Choose it if you work in React or need design files.

See all Tailwind templates for more options.

Who should buy Semplice

Buy it if you are a freelance photographer, especially in fashion, beauty, interiors or still life, who wants a calm, print-like portfolio with your rates and usage terms on the site, and can connect a form service. Look elsewhere if you represent several photographers, want a dark design, need a shop or client galleries, or expect the enquiry form to work without any setup.

FAQ

Does Semplice's contact form work out of the box?

No. On the demo it posts the enquiry to the contact page, the host answers with a 405 error and visitors see a blank page. Connect it to a form service or your own endpoint before launch.

Is it cheaper to buy Semplice alone or Full Access?

Semplice alone costs $89 for the Astro edition. Full Access Personal costs $99 (shown as 50% off $198) and includes Semplice and the other 52 Lexington Astro themes, so for $10 more you get the whole catalog.

Do the Sanity and EmDash editions have the new design?

Yes, according to Lexington's changelog for 30 September 2026: both CMS editions were rebuilt on the new design, with projects, journal posts and legal pages editable from the CMS. They cost $129; we could only test the Astro demo.

Does Semplice have a dark mode?

No. The September 2026 redesign is white only, with near-black text and greys, and Lexington's changelog lists dark mode among the removed features.

Can I use Semplice for client sites?

Yes. Lexington's license allows unlimited websites for yourself and for clients, with no attribution. You can't resell the theme or share the repository beyond the seats you bought.