Eric Stonestreet says, “Johanna Stein is like Erma Bombeck crossed with Louis CK, but without all the f*cking curse words,” which pretty much sums it up.

I met Johanna after a standup piece she did for The Moth where she confessed to having impure thoughts about Steve from Blue Clues. Her book (How Not to Calm a Child on a Plane) pubs next month and I was lucky enough to build her site. I had no idea when I met her how accomplished she was/is.

She writes for major channels (HBO, Nick, Oxygen), collaborates with big stars (Alanis Morissette, Jeff Garlin), and has done some hilarious video shorts. Spend some time on the site–she’s got tons of hilarious videos, excerpts from her book, and an excellent blog (Mother Eff’ed.)

I’m super excited about the launch of this site. Vicky Vlachonis is an osteopath who has worked with everyone from Princes William and Harry (!) to Elton John (!!) and Cameron Diaz (!!!). Gwyneth herself is such a fan that she wrote the foreword for her new book. Here, you can learn some common causes of–and treatments for–pain. Better, she provides a strategy for living a healthy, pain-free life.

I have worked with author Sara Paretsky for years–she was one of my first clients in my new business and has endured as one of my favorites. I love how creative she is whenever she is promoting a new book. In this piece I wrote for BookPromotion.com, I interviewed her about the online-only epilogue she wrote for her new book that was published exclusively her site, the link given only to her most loyal readers.

Lynne Raimondo started her career as a high-powered lawyer both corporate and government clients. In 2004, she took what she thought would be a short sabbatical, after years of late nights and living in hotel rooms. Now, she is a published author with two books and excellent reviews for her mystery series featuring blind psychiatrist Mark Angelotti as her protagonist. I redesigned her site in anticipation of her new book and spruced it up with some social media integration and new photography.

Johnny Dodd is a staff writer for People Magazine who has traveled the world interviewing fascinating people, both famous and infamous. He is currently in Sochi covering the Olympics, and was on the Today Show this morning as a correspondent. We got this site up in a week in anticipation of both events (an Olympic feat itself). You can read more than 30 stories and read more about books he’s written on the site.

I used a raw wood background coupled with a typewriter font to contrast the difference between the experience of digital and analog. For the logo, I used a cool CSS trick that make it look like his name was being typed out. And we brought the Twitter front and center so he could issue dispatches from the road.

 

I love it when my clients return with ideas to redesign their site or somehow make it better. When I first designed Pamela Druckerman’s site, she had a new book coming out (Bebe Day By Day). Recently, she took on a role as a columnist for the New York Times, and wanted the site to help her promote articles as they came out. We brought the blog to the homepage. We also added pages for all the many translations her books have been published in–from the Ukraine to Korea.

And yet another site launch for this week–Mission Cycling! This might be my favorite site that I’ve ever done in terms of design. It was hella complicated (integrating Instagram, Strava API, WordPress), but entirely worth it. The end result is a dynamically-updated site that captures the spirit and passion of this cycling group and automatically creates weekly stats as they happen for members. And on a snowy Chicago day, the lush photography makes me miss the Bay Area just a little more.

Your Life SPRUCED is a New Orleans-based personal organizing service that does everything from home organization to staging to project management. The client wanted the site design to be as tidy and clean as her offerings, while having the copy reflect the personal touch she brings to every job. We kept it simple and showed off some inspiring before and after shots in the gallery.