Through sheer happenstance, I discovered the blogs Symtym and Patent Baristas with a couple days of each other. Their content could not have less in common. Symtym is described as “the meanderings of a board certified emergency physician at mid–career … who tumbled into law school … chasing health, law and technology rabbits.” Patent Baristas focuses on patent news related to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Both are interesting and well written. In fact, Symtym won the Medical Blog Award for best health policy/ethics blog.

While their content has nothing in common, what they do share is striking design. No prefab blogging templates here. This is no coincidence. Both blogs were designed by Moxie Design Studios. Moxie’s portfolio of blog designs reveals dozens of strikingly designed blogs. I turned with fear to Moxie’s prices, only to be pleasantly surprised to see the cost of a custom blog design starting at not much more than $100.

This is a tip, not a commercial. I have no affiliation with these folks whatsoever. But it is interesting to see how creative design can help strengthen the impact of a blog, and it is good to see that such design can be had for reasonable cost.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.