Yet another case of a blogger outgrowing a pre-canned WordPress theme.

Irene Seah is a sweet, funny, spiritual woman who (with occasional assistance from her two young daughters) has been writing a blog as part of her micro-business for a year or two.

It had become obvious to Irene that even though her generic blog looked nice, it didn’t really reflect her personality or that of her business. She was ready to take steps to remodel her digital digs — and that’s where I came in.

Because her business is so much about her, we decided to have an illustration of Irene interact with the shiny new logotype in the header graphic — to bring her literally right into the picture.

Simple, clean, calming and cool … we added stars, drenched everything in shades of blue (a colour with powerful spiritual significance for her) and created custom RSS, Email, and Twitter icons for the sidebar.

Irene loves her new online home, and even more satisfying — her daughters are delighted!

Advertisement: Schmooze with me on Twitter

The website’s name translates as “Movies and Stuff”, and that’s what this German-language podcast and blog is all about. It features movie reviews liberally interspersed with thoughts on pop music, Macintosh hardware, and other necessaries of modern life.

The silhouetted talking heads in the graphic represent the male-female duo who review the movies (and stuff) in unscripted conversation. This spirited back-and-forth inspired the vivid colors and funky early ’60s animated style … though it may also have to do with watching too many Dick Van Dyke show re-runs.

A little back story: I began studying German several years ago, and in an effort to improve my ear, started cruising the interweb searching for German-language podcasts that might help. The first one I discovered, in fact my first podcast experience of any kind, turned out to be a brand new effort by a young woman in Munich named Annik Rubens: Schlaflos in Muenchen.

She was so charming, funny and (thank goodness) clear-spoken that I sent her a fan letter, she responded, and a long-distance friendship was born. This illustrated graphic was simply a gesture of gratitude for the countless hours of entertainment (and education!) she provided.

In the intervening years the podcast has made Annik famous; she’s one of the best known internet personalities in the German-speaking world. And the graphic I created — featuring her beloved cat Tiger and Munich’s famous Frauenkirche — still sits atop her blog, enjoyed by thousands.

A factional rivalry

These pieces were developed for the relaunch of “Scooterlounge.com”, a website inspired by and devoted to the fanatical appreciation of vintage Italian scooters.

The world of vintage scooter fandom is split in half; each faction aligned with one of Italy’s two postwar scooter manufacturers — Vespa and Lambretta. The twinned headers for the site communicate both similarity and difference… and the difference is vital; though the vehicles are similar to the untrained eye, devotees of these curvy mechanical icons are as tribally loyal (and fractious) as the Hatfields and McCoys!

Entry graphics — choose a side

The entry page to the site offers the discerning scooterist the option to visit either Lambretta or Vespa territories, serving as well to communicate the mid-century hipster visual tone of the site, a tone deeply ingrained in modern scooter culture: Viva la Scooter!