If I was going to keep a blog during my trip, I wanted it to look like no other blog that exists today.

It had to be gorgeous. It had to be fun. I wanted visitors to feel like a child before a new toy full of buttons that beep and rattle and thrill.

One name immediately came to mind: Laurent Lasalle.

I had never met Laurent, but I had seen his work on other blogs. Twitter contacts of mine publicly thanked him for doing amazing web design their own blogs. Like Michelle Sullivan, a public relations whiz who I’ve worked with on a few assignments as a journalist

Once I saw Laurent’s own blog, I was converted. (Note: he has redesigned his blog, and it has little resemblance to the one I saw almost two years back).

When I finally hired him, he had joined a team called MA14, whose own website, if you look, is visually exceptional. Their approach was new to me: I met with not only Laurent, the designer, but also Mélanie Millette, the strategist, who both listened to my goals and came back with very good suggestions.

Several months and a few discarded prototypes later, the final design for Mojotrotters was approved.

And the compliments are pouring in. Some have asked me if this is some kind of startup. That’s how good it is: it’s being taken for a serious business venture, not just a personal project.

To Laurent, Mélanie, Isabelle Lopez, and Marc Boivin: Merci. Merci beaucoup.