Ever wonder how many “World’s Best Coffee” signs exist in the world? The world is a big place, so that claim may or may not be entirely accurate. These days, with social media being so prevalent, it’s important that your messaging is truthful and that your product or service delivers on those promises. Otherwise you run the risk of losing the trust of your customer base, and scaring away potential users.

Mark Schaefer loves Home Depot. He wrote this blog post about how much. However, in that same post, he talked about a breakdown in the experience of being a Home Depot shopper. I’ve been going to Home Depot for 20 years and have spent untold thousands of dollars on home improvement and landscaping materials. I [...]

Back in November 2009 we asked for you to dig deep into your creative powers and help us name our spring conference. Out of that brainstorm activity, the Web App Masters Tour was born. Well we’re doing it again. During the spring of 2012, (hint: probably late April) we’re producing a new conference. We’re still [...]

The plans for the our Web App Thingy event are moving along quickly. We’ve already lined up some kick-ass speakers on topics like Web App Navigation, Design Patterns, and building in Seductive Interfaces. We’re scoping out the venues to decide which of the four cities we’re gonna bring the tour to. And we’re getting really [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

Every year, I ask each of my graduate students to interview four of their friends, finding what brands they love and what brands they really despise and the reasons for their feelings. These students, being engineers, all go into the experiment thinking that people will either love or hate the products made by the brands. [...]