The first of a few completed sites I’m late adding to my portfolio. Activate Ireland was a slightly unusual project in that this was an existing site with existing logo, content and layout that just needed to be ported to WordPress and given a new container – a facelift rather than major structural work, if you will. I’m mad keen on the stripes, the flowering growth motif, and the always popular and hilariously named Vag Rounded font.

I love The Proofreading Girl, probably because I got to use one of my favourite fonts and a cute illustration for the header and matching business identity. I think it’s a friendly representation of a professional service that’s obviously backed by a real human, and we had a lot of fun building in content to help visitors understand the real value of outsourced proofreading. (Why Hire a Proofreader still cracks me up.)

“Site launch” is a bit of a misnomer, as the functional but fugly Twitter Mosaic was up and running and already getting loads of attention when Walter Higgins asked “What’s your availability? Can you make Twitter Mosaic pretty?” My answer was “My availability is shit, but yes.”

There’s no time like the present, so Guillermo Moreno and I sat down at midnight to see just how fast we could get design, XHTML and CSS out the door, and Walter woke up six hours later to a brand new Twitter Mosaic.

Michael Kane of CuriousWines.ie had a spec for his website that looked like a €25,000 custom back end job. Working with ecommerce goddess Katherine Nolan, we were able to pull 95% of his wishlist out of the bag with a heavily hacked off the shelf ecommerce system for a tiny fraction of that cost. We also added some very cool features like product tagging and reviews along the way to create a nicely dynamic site.

They’re launching with a very cool giveaway contest for Christmas, and a special 24 hour discount code on Twitter, too!

WeddingDates.ie allows couples to search for available reception venues across Ireland by date and by county. It’s a simple idea that turned into a powerhouse website, and I’m delighted for Ciara Crossan, who has enough energy and enthusiasm for 12 people and will totally drive this to success. Front end design by me, back end Django development by Python god Bartosz Ptaszynski.

The site soft-launched a few weeks ago, but today rolled out a really interesting survey on the recession and wedding budgets, with a very cool prize draw. So if you’re engaged, go check it out and maybe win a swanky hotel get away and golf package!

An updated look for my favourite client and the godfather of Irish telecoms, Pat Phelan. It was a nice surprise to see MAXroam launch their new website this morning. The site redesign coincides with MAXroam’s new mobile data roaming rates, which have already been called a “giant killer” so congrats to the MAXroam team.

It is entirely possible I have been waiting my entire life to do a website for a circus, because I can’t think of a site that’s been more fun to build or a site in my portfolio that I love more than Circus Vegas. The design was just enormously delightful to create, and even though the poor client had to wait a completely rediculous six months, we both think it was worth it. Features a CSS layout and a WordPress blog all about the facinating world of circus life.

I don’t know about you, but the minute I hear the words “used car sales” I brace myself for a deeply unpleasant experience. So we worked hard to put together a site that would set BetterCars.ie apart from its unfortunate cousins in the used car market. Interestingly, although you cannot purchase vehicles online, this site is built on an ecommerce platform – we’ve simply ripped the financial transaction part out and taken full advantage of the cataloguing system. (The site also features a blog, though it’s currently a bit unloved.)

It took two months, but I’m delighted to see Deb Hadley’s Spicendipity launch today. The site features a full catalogue and shopping cart system, products linked to a recipe index, and a blog. (Come to think of it, I think this is my first ecommerce site in Ireland.) For this start-up, I designed the site, logo and branding, and in a rare foray into the world of print – which I hate – I also did the business cards:

Seriously, I hate print, so every time something comes off the press with the correct spelling and even vaguely centred, I’m inordinantly happy. Plus, vertical cards are just cool, man.

When Maz of Style Treaty emailed to ask if I’d be interested in doing a craft blog, I practically whimpered with happiness. It’s nice to take a break and do something that is just plain old fun. Bugger branding; Made Marian is all about the pretty colours, groovy stripes and every woman’s secret affair with duck egg blue.