Pleasure | Whitney Hess

Resolution Found with the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

October 1, 2009 by Whitney Hess 1 Comment

I’m impressed. Within 12 hours from my initial complaint to the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel about their sub-par conditions, I had received an email apologizing for the discontent. Then within 20 minutes of my response today (to follow), we have received a refund for one night. I am very pleased with the outcome and the [Keep Reading…]

The Sheraton Responds!

September 30, 2009 by Whitney Hess 5 Comments

[This is an update on the disappointing conditions I recently experienced at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel.] Within 12 hours of my critical survey submission to TNS Global — the vendor who handles Sheraton’s customer satisfaction surveys — I received the following email from Sheraton’s Manager of Experience Engineering. I’m really glad they’re listening. Read [Keep Reading…]

U.S. Patent 7,587,349

September 29, 2009 by Whitney Hess 12 Comments

I am thrilled to report that U.S. Patent 7,587,349 was granted on September 8, 2009, and I am named as a co-inventor! This has been more than 4 years in the making. My first job out of grad school in January 2005 was at Digitas as a Senior Interaction Designer, and one of my first [Keep Reading…]

Today is my 1 year anniversary of going solo

August 22, 2009 by Whitney Hess 29 Comments

Exactly one year ago today, I left my job to pursue independent consulting full-time. I took a big leap of faith. I had faith in myself that things would work out. I had faith that even with the odds stacked against me, I could pull it off. I stepped out on my own because I [Keep Reading…]

SeamlessWeb Mobile Site: Easy to Use, But Impossible to Order

August 22, 2009 by Whitney Hess 6 Comments

Usablenet is responsible for some of the most easy to use mobile websites your smartphones can find. They chose a good company name. Their platform powers mobile sites such as JetBlue and Northwest Airlines, Amtrak and NJ Transit, Hilton Hotels, 1800Flowers, and dozens of other sites you’d be surprised to hear. Just point your mobile [Keep Reading…]

TD Bank’s Penny Arcade

August 22, 2009 by Whitney Hess

[UPDATE: I’m getting a lot of visitors from TD Bank’s Intranet. If you are a TD Bank / Commerce Bank employee, please leave a comment on this post with your thoughts!] I save my spare change in a ceramic vase that was given to me by my childhood babysitter. It isn’t cute like a piggy [Keep Reading…]

My New Mexico Travelogue

July 29, 2009 by Whitney Hess 3 Comments

Earlier this month I spent seven amazing days in New Mexico on a solo vacation to celebrate my 27th birthday. No computer. No email. No boyfriend. Just a rental car, my cameras and a few maps. It was a wondrous experience to be alone in the vast spaces of the West. I saw and did [Keep Reading…]

I did the UX design for Brighter Planet

July 20, 2009 by Whitney Hess 10 Comments

I am thrilled to announce that the new Brighter Planet website is now live and in beta. I am proud to have been the user experience designer on this project, blessed with the opportunity to work with an amazing Happy Cog team: Jeffrey Zeldman, creative director; Erin Kissane, content strategist; Naz Hamid, designer; Aaron Gustafson, [Keep Reading…]

The boxee website redesign

July 20, 2009 by Whitney Hess Leave a Comment

A few days ago, boxee announced a big redesign to their website. As their user experience consultant, I helped to make the site easier to use and gave greater prominence to some key features — like finding friends and managing web services. The necessity for these changes became very apparent during the interviews I conducted [Keep Reading…]

Photo of the day: Mister Softee is healthier than Starbucks

July 10, 2009 by Whitney Hess Leave a Comment

Do do, do do do, do do, do do, do do, do do, do do do. Do do, do do do, do do, do do, do do, do do, do do do. Yep, that’s the Mister Softee jingle. And I’m humming it with a huge smile on my face. I treated myself to a cone [Keep Reading…]