Mark Hurst interviewed Brian King, VP & Global Brand Manager for Courtyard by Marriott about the new design of their hotels. It’s a great read, talking about how you revitalize a cash-cow business by creating a great experience. One of Brian’s comments jumped out at me: We took our knowledge and created, in a warehouse [...]

In our next UIE Virtual Seminar, Wednesday, September 9 (09/09/09!), Bill DeRouchey shows you examples of how to tackle this question – What is the essence of your product? Interaction with a product is more than how it’s used or how it behaves. It’s about a connection between two sides. One side is the customer, [...]

This week I wanted to share my interview with Brian Kalma, Director of User Experience and Web Strategy for darling of Internet retail, Zappos.com. In case you’ve somehow missed out on their meteoric rise to top of online retail, now conducting over a billion dollars in sales a year, you’re in for a treat.

The security challenge question on Bank of America’s site seems innocuous: In what year (YYYY) did you graduate from high school? But, what if the user didn’t graduate high school? (Little known fact: I didn’t graduate high school, so I’m a little sensitive to this question.) Should the user enter the date they would’ve graduated [...]

If we want to see how brand engagement works, we don’t have to look any further than the Cuisinart Popcorn Maker. Williams-Sonoma is featuring this intriguingly designed popper on their site. It’s received 3.6 stars from the 25 reviewers. Only 9 (36%) of those reviewers gave it one, two, or three stars. Amazon is selling [...]