A new site looks good with the default Archive preset. These steps make it yours in about fifteen minutes. All of them are on the theme's settings page (Appearance › Themes › Configure Theme), or in Customize if Design Studio is installed. Click Save Changes at the end.
1. Choose a style preset
Under Style preset, pick the one closest to your organization. A preset sets colors, fonts, header and footer styles and card styles together. Every setting you leave blank, or set to Use preset, follows the preset, so you can switch presets at any time without losing your own choices. See Presets and colors.
2. Add your colors
Under Colors, type your brand's primary color as a hex code such as #2d5f8b, and a secondary and accent color if you have them. Leave Guarantee readable contrast on: Vitrine adjusts a color only where text would otherwise be hard to read.
3. Add your logo and site icon
Under Header, upload a Logo (PNG, JPG or GIF, up to 1 MB). Under Site icon & sharing, upload a Site icon for browser tabs and phone home screens, and a Default sharing image for link previews. See Site icon and sharing.
4. Set up the header and footer
Choose a Header layout and, if you want one, a Header button such as "Visit" or "Donate". In Footer, add your address and hours to the columns, your social media links, and your contact, accessibility and privacy pages. See Header and footer. The menu itself is Omeka's: arrange it under Appearance › Navigation.
5. Build your home page
Under Home page, upload a Banner image (or give the number of an item whose picture to use), write a heading, a sentence and a button, and a few lines of Welcome text. Choose how many featured exhibits, items and collections to show, and mark them Featured in the admin. See Home page.
6. Choose what item pages show
Under Item pages, choose how files are shown and which panels the sidebar holds: rights, citation, sharing, subjects and tags, downloads. See Browse and item pages.
7. Check the result
Visit your home page, a browse page, an item page and an exhibit, on a phone too, and switch between light and dark with the button in the header (when your Dark mode setting offers it). With Design Studio, you can check all of them in its preview before publishing.