category filter doesn't work

Question

I am assuming because I don't have a category template it is defaulting to the archive template, would that affect the outcome.

it seems to output all the posts that have categories: http://www.tigerstudiodesign.com/category/branding/

this is source for archive page: http://pastebin.com/a5jxtBSe

Answer 1

this is the problem, starting at line 46:

$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'post'
);

$post_query = new WP_Query($args);

if($post_query->have_posts() ) {
    while($post_query->have_posts() ) {
        $post_query->the_post();
        //stuff
    endwhile;
endif;

you're not using the original query for the page, which contains just posts from the current category, and you're replacing it with a new query that's loading posts of post_type = post, regardless of category.

to use the original query, change your loop to use the default query:

if( have_posts() ) {
    while( have_posts() ) {
        the_post();
        //stuff
    endwhile;
endif;

note the removal of $post_query-> everywhere. this loop will now use the global $wp_query instead, which contains the posts you want to output.