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# Whitney Hess

Improving the human experience one day at a time

## Posts

- [Pleasure & Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/)
- [We have been recertified as a B Corp!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/07/09/we-have-been-recertified-as-a-b-corp/) - I am thrilled to share that our company Vicarious Partners Inc. has completed its first B Corp recertification! We are so proud to be recognized for our outstanding social and environmental impact, and remain steadfast in our commitment to use our business as a force for good. We are now a Certified B Corporation through
- [10 Years as a Certified Coach](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/06/06/10-years-as-a-certified-coach/) - 10 WHOLE YEARS ago today I certified as a coach with New Ventures West. It’s been a decade?!! 🤯 I still pinch myself every day that I get to do this work in the world. I am living my calling. And I’ve only just begun! Thank you thank you thank you to every single one
- [Client Testimonial: Chetana Deorah](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/02/06/client-testimonial-chetana-deorah/) - Chetana DeorahFormer Design Director, Coursera, Netflixhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/chetanadeorah/Auroville, India, and San Francisco, CA Whitney showed up with the boldness, the softness, and the depth that I thrive on." Chetana is a fellowship partner at Coho, inspiring the next generation of global design leaders. She was formerly the director of product design at Coursera and Netflix,
- [Client Testimonial: Liam Hutchinson](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/01/30/client-testimonial-liam-hutchinson/) - Liam HutchinsonGroup Director of Product, ZALORA Grouphttps://www.linkedin.com/in/liamhutchinson/Bangkok, Thailand I knew from this moment it would be perhaps the single best investment I make in my career." Liam leads 50-person team across product management, UX, analytics, growth, and data/business intelligence at ZALORA Group, a top fashion e-commerce platform headquartered in Singapore. He was formerly
- [Client Testimonial: Nguyet Vuong](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/01/23/client-testimonial-nguyet-vuong/) - Nguyet VuongCo-Founder and Head of Product Designhttps://newwaydesign.com/Washington, D.C. This was an incredible, positive change for the team. Whitney’s coaching gave me the confidence and support I needed to convince and work with my team towards our own concrete goals and objectives—by asking for what we needed." Nguyet is a startup founder and head
- [Client Testimonial: Julie Regina](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/01/20/client-testimonial-julie-regina/) - Julie ReginaFounder, Tidy Into Joyhttps://www.tidyintojoy.com/Madison, WI Having worked with countless clients in every scenario imaginable, Whitney’s approach and technique is like having access to a Swiss army knife of design leadership tools." Julie is a professional organizer on a mission to help people discover the joy underneath all their stuff. She was formerly
- [NYC UX Holiday Party 2023!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/12/15/nyc-ux-holiday-party-2023/) - THANK YOU to everyone who made it out to the NYC UX Holiday Party!! (a.k.a. the thing I randomly threw together on this LinkedIn thread and people magically showed up to.) It was such a fun night and filled my heart. I’ve missed you all so much, and really enjoyed meeting some special online friends
- [Aleatha Singleton's path to XR UX Design — and independence!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/01/10/aleatha-singletons-path-to-xr-ux-design-and-independence/) - I'm so grateful to Aleatha Singleton of Ninja Robot Studio for sharing her passion for XR UX Design with the world, and for getting to be a part of her journey in designing a career that honors her whole self. Watch Aleatha's whole video on why and how she made the transition to designing for
- [Pleasure & Pain at Sweet Sixteen](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2024/01/10/pleasure-pain-at-sweet-sixteen/) - This blog Pleasure & Pain turns 16 today. I know blogs aren’t cool or whatever anymore, but I’m holding out hope they make a comeback. I really don’t understand us being unpaid content creators for other people’s platforms. I’m grateful for the platform *I* created for *me* and for many many other people who needed
- [“Home for the Holidays” with Seidenberg School alumni and friends](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/12/02/home-for-the-holidays-with-seidenberg-school-alumni-and-friends/) - Yesterday was a dream. I spent the day with my long-time clients at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems in a day-long event designed to re-engage alumni across the decades and help build a more powerful and interconnected alumni network. Here are some snaps from a workshop in which we asked,
- [I've joined the Board of Directors of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/11/28/ive-joined-the-board-of-directors-of-the-cape-elizabeth-land-trust/) - I’m in the paper! I am delighted to have joined the Board of Directors of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust (CELT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to land conservation, stewardship, and education in the town of Cape Elizabeth—the coastal community in southern Maine that Fredrick and I call home. We’re a small org with a big
- [Keynote at New England Drupal Camp 2023: “The Inner Work of Being a Public Good”](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/11/21/keynote-at-new-england-drupal-camp-2023-the-inner-work-of-being-a-public-good/) - I was so honored to be invited to give the keynote at the 10th anniversary New England Drupal Camp this weekend at Rhode Island College. The Drupal community has always been so good to me, and NEDCamp was no exception. Thank you so much to John Picozzi, Leslie Glynn, Stephen Cross and the whole crew
- [I am Jewish](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/10/13/i-am-jewish/) - I am Jewish. If you know me personally or have followed me online for any period of time, you should already know this. Being Jewish is a central part of my identity. It’s not just a religion or belief system I follow, or how I was raised—it’s who I am. It’s literally in my blood.
- [Thank You for 15 Years of Independent Employment](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/08/22/thank-you-for-15-years-of-independent-employment/) - Fifteen years ago today was my last day at my last ever full-time job. I’ve been independently employed every day since. Thank you to every single one of you who ever made that possible for me. If you’ve ever been a client, a colleague, a collaborator, a referral partner, a mentor, a mentee, an organizer,
- [The 10th Anniversary of Christy's Death](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/09/05/the-10th-anniversary-of-christys-death/) - Today is 10 years since my coaching instructor Christy Svanemyr’s tragic death. My heart is with her husband Vegar Svanemyr and daughter Isa, sister Suzanne Moses Kanick and family in their grief and remembrance today and every day. I remember her dancing with abandon in the classroom on Geary, and flashing that thousand-watt smile. She
- [Shana Tova 5784](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/09/15/shana-tova-5784/) - Shana Tova to all our family and friends who celebrate. Wishing you and yours a sweet new year filled with good health, good fortune, and many many blessings. May this be the year we create peace and prosperity, equity and justice, healing and unity for all beings on Earth. Happy 5784! 🍎🍯
- [When Clients Become Friends](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/05/31/when-clients-become-friends/) - The most rewarding gift of my life as a coach is when clients become dear friends. Beautiful humans whom I count amongst my nearest and dearest—with whom I can be my most vulnerable, tell my whole truth, feel the most seen and known by, experience the most unconditional love with—have grown from relationships that began
- [Featured Guest on Sprints & Milestones](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/06/15/featured-guest-on-sprints-milestones/) - It’s not often I share my stories of utter embarrassment, clumsiness, and defeat. But when my fellow Happy Cog alumni Brett Harned and Greg Storey asked me to be on their podcast Sprints & Milestones to talk about one of my “failures,” this is the one that immediately came to mind. And it’s a
- [Designing Yourself is 10 Years Old](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/07/09/designing-yourself-is-10-years-old/) - TEN years ago today, Paul McAleer and I dropped the first episode of our podcast Designing Yourself. Paul and I had met at the IA Summit that April. Soon after we started chatting on the phone regularly; I was beginning my coaching journey and Paul was ramping up on the speaker circuit. It was apparent
- [My 2022 Annual Report](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2023/07/18/my-2022-annual-report/) - Highlights • Coaching Results • Clients & Revenues • Lifetime Stats • Podcasts • Continuing Education • Charitable Giving • Kind Words • And Personally Introduction The theme of 2022 was loss. We had a string of deaths in our lives starting in October 2021 through October 2022—a dear dear longtime client and friend who
- [Reflecting on 4 Years as a B Corp](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2022/06/01/reflecting-on-4-years-as-a-b-corp/) - Four years ago today my coaching and consulting company Vicarious Partners became a certified B Corp. It took months of visioning, research, assessments, strategy, concepting, documentation, testing, and iteration. I never could have done it (or ever would have dreamed of pursuing it) without the support of my partner Fredrick Selby. Fredrick has been devoted
- [8 Years as a Certified Coach](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2022/06/06/8-years-as-a-certified-coach/) - I became a certified coach 8 years ago today. I’ve since accrued 3200+ coaching hours with 160+ clients in 6-12 month coaching engagements. 60% my clients have re-upped their coaching packages. 87% of my clients come from referral. I have clients in 71 cities and 17 countries. My coaching certification through New Ventures West changed
- [Client Testimonial: Liz Petoskey](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2022/04/17/client-testimonial-liz-petoskey/) - Liz PetoskeyChief Operating Officerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/lizpetoskey/Chicago, IL Whitney has become a partner in my career. Working with her helped me frame who I want to be as an executive. Liz is a startup operator who drives meaningful employee experiences at scale. She was the COO of Green Key Technologies through its acquisition. What was
- [Client Testimonial: Nate Hylan](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2022/04/04/client-testimonial-nate-hylan/) - The very act of participating in coaching has changed my own approach to how I develop and support team members. Nate HylanProduct Management Leaderhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/natehylan/Boston, MA Nate helps teams work better together to build products people love. He leads product strategy and process improvement at Thoughtworks. What was the moment you realized you
- [I coach people at these companies](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2022/03/24/i-coach-people-at-these-companies/) - In a few recent prospect calls, I’ve had folks ask me if I coach people at any companies they would know. “Um, yeah…all of them,” isn’t the best answer. It’s made me realize I don’t do a very good job of naming the spaces in which I work. I suppose I center people over business.
- [My 2021 Annual Report](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2022/02/13/my-2021-annual-report/) - Highlights • Coaching Results • Clients & Revenues • Lifetime Stats • Continuing Education • Charitable Giving • Kind Words • And Personally Introduction Last year was rough. Rougher than any of us could have anticipated. While 2020 was a shock, 2021 was sustained suffering. The collective distress has permanently affected all of us in
- [My 2020 Annual Report](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2021/01/04/my-2020-annual-report/) - Introduction • Highlights • Coaching Results • Clients & Revenues • Lifetime Stats • Continuing Education • Charitable Giving • And Personally Introduction You don't need me to remind you that 2020 was one hell of a year. The COVID-19 pandemic, a global stock market crash, the crushing of the global supply chain, work from
- [My 2019 Annual Report](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2019/12/30/my-2019-annual-report/) - Introduction • Big Changes • Our Results • Clients & Revenues • Lifetime Stats • Continuing Education • Charitable Giving • And Personally Introduction As we bring this decade to a close, I feel especially compelled to reflect. What have I accomplished? How have I grown? What challenges have I overcome? Who have I supported?
- [My 2014 Annual Report](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/12/31/my-2014-annual-report/) - Hello friends, family, clients, future clients and supporters! I have some exciting news. 2014 was hands down my best year in 10 years of business. It would be impossible to tell you every amazing thing that has happened (because there were a lot of them!), but here are a few highlights: Big Wins in 2014
- [Are you on a mission to put humanity back into business?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/10/14/are-you-on-a-mission-to-put-humanity-back-into-business/) - The energy of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is “Why the fuck should I ever have to apologize for anything I do?” It’s the energy of power and self-protection, of personal ease and stability. I value contribution and care, personal growth and progress. That’s just me. I want to do meaningful work with people who share
- [Celebrating 15 Years in Business](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/08/03/celebrating-15-years-in-business/) - 15 years in business today. What started as freelance web design for small businesses turned into UX consulting for renowned institutions and has since become executive coaching and culture change for progressive leaders. I am filled with so much gratitude to get to do this work. I am in love with my clients. I am
- [Sample Coaching Program: Creative Director](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/04/15/sample-coaching-program-creative-director/) - Purpose: To lead your agency in becoming more of a strategic partner to your clients, enabling everyone to do their best work. Outcomes: You will offer your innate gifts to meet critical organizational needs. You will learn new methods that adapt your creative skills to a more technical environment. You will develop junior staff through
- [Client Testimonial: Colleen Carroll](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/08/31/client-testimonial-colleen-carroll/) - Colleen CarrollManaging Director, People & Culturehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-carroll-56277b18Chicago, IL I am a better leader, mother, and woman because of my coaching sessions with Whitney. Colleen is Managing Director of People & Culture at One Design Company. Previously, she was Director of Operations at Palantir.net. What was the moment you realized you needed support? I
- [Client Testimonial: Michelle Zassenhaus](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/08/30/client-testimonial-michelle-zassenhaus/) - Michelle ZassenhausProduct Design Leader and Fine Art Photographerhttp://www.zhaus.co/Brooklyn, NY Whitney listened and asked profound questions, whilst also providing some tactical support. Michelle is a product design and research consultant, and a professional fine art photographer. Previously, she was Senior Director of UX and Design at TheLadders. What was the moment you realized
- [Client Testimonial: Heather O'Neill](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/09/01/client-testimonial-heather-oneill/) - Heather O'NeillStrategic Partner and CEOhttp://pixelsforhumans.com/Boston, MA Whitney always had such confidence in me that eventually I started to have that same confidence in myself again. Heather is the CEO of Pixels for Humans, a SaaS growth company. She is the author of Before You Code, and creator of Measured UX, a quant-data course
- [Client Testimonial: Chris Chiusano](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/08/16/client-testimonial-chris-chiusano/) - Chris ChiusanoProduct Designer and Certified Coachhttp://chrischiusano.com/Medford, MA Working with Whitney helped me build my confidence, trust myself and stopped me from judging success based on others’ opinions. Chris is a Product Manager and Designer at PathAI, as well as a certified professional coach. Previously, he was Senior Manager, User Experience at athenahealth, and
- [Client Testimonial: Stacey Billups](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/08/20/client-testimonial-stacey-billups/) - Stacey BillupsUser Experience and Product Management Consultant for Blockchain and AIhttps://www.staceybillups.com/Great Barrington, MA, and Brooklyn, NY The future has never looked brighter. Stacey is the Co-Founder and CEO of YoJonesy, Inc., an independent consultancy leveraging AI and machine learning. Previously, she was Director of User Experience at Moody's Analytics, Thomson Reuters, and Big
- [Client Testimonial: Kaitlin Maud](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/04/25/client-testimonial-kaitlin-maud/) - Kaitlin MaudFounder and Business Strategisthttps://twitter.com/kaitlinmaudLos Angeles, CA, and Austin, TX My habits started to change from the very beginning of our engagement together. Kaitlin is the Founder of Current Forward, an independent research and strategy consultancy. Previously, she was Director of Strategy at T3. What was the moment you realized you needed
- [Client Testimonial: Kellie Brownell Sukhi](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/02/07/client-testimonial-kellie-brownell-sukhi/) - Kellie SukhiWeb Project Manager, Stanford Universityhttps://kelliesukhi.com/Palo Alto, CA In the truest sense of a partnership, she had heard me and went beyond the limits of where I could see at the time. Kellie is a Web Project Manager at Stanford University, with a focus on environmental sustainability and wellness in the workplace. She
- [Client Testimonial: Megan Sanicki](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/09/15/client-testimonial-megan-sanicki/) - Megan SanickiOpen Source Executivehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/megansanicki/Boise, ID, and Tuscon, AZ I learned to better trust my values, instinct, and vision in order to drive my ideas forward with more confidence. Megan is a force for good in open source. She leads research and strategy for Google's Open Source Program Office, and was previously the Executive
- [Client Testimonial: Sarah Baker Mills](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/01/14/client-testimonial-sarah-baker-mills/) - Sarah Baker MillsHead of Designhttps://sarahbakermills.com/Chapel Hill, NC Whitney showed me that I already had the toolbox to approach leadership challenges in the same way as design problems. Sarah is Head of Design for ConsenSys where she cultivates a decentralized and distributed team of designers worldwide. She was previously Product Design Leader for Blockchain
- [Client Testimonial: Zachary Lang](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/01/07/client-testimonial-zachary-lang/) - Zachary LangDirector of Digital Strategyhttps://halfbetter.us/Atlanta, GA Since working with Whitney, my mental resiliency and sense of “what if” has grown. Zachary is the co-host of Half Better, a podcast by and for partners developing themselves together. He leads development and digital strategy for an email marketing agency. What was the moment you
- [Client Testimonial: Rachel Reynard](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/09/15/client-testimonial-rachel-reynard/) - Rachel ReynardSenior Director, Experience Designhttps://www.rachelreynard.com/San Francisco, CA Whitney's compassionate yet no-bullshit approach is a powerful combination! Rachel is the Senior Director of Experience & Design at AppDynamics, and is a volunteer UX Mentor for Backstage Capital. Previously, Rachel was UX Director at SAP Labs. What was the moment you realized you needed
- [Client Testimonial: Anita Stubenrauch](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/04/13/client-testimonial-anita-stubenrauch/) - Anita StubenrauchSocial Impact Speechwriter and Storytellerhttps://www.causeeffectcreative.com/Murphys, CA Whitney felt like a mirror in which I was reflected back as more powerful than I ever imagined. Anita helps social impact leaders tell their hero story and runs a 14-acre retreat center in the Sierra Foothills. She authored Apple's credo and was Angela Ahrendts' personal
- [Sea Change Yogathon at Home](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/03/29/sea-change-yogathon-at-home/) - Spending the day in the Sea Change Yogathon, a full day of yoga (from the comfort of my own home) to benefit this amazing organization that offers trauma-informed yoga classes to populations who would not generally have access to the healing practices of yoga. I attended the Sea Change Yogathon in person last year, and
- [In Memoriam: Barbara and David Young](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/04/08/in-memoriam-barbara-and-david-young/) - It’s been a rather intense week. My glamorous Great Aunt Barbara passed away on Monday, just five weeks after we laid her husband to rest, my beloved Uncle Davey. They were inseparable in life, and now are together again forevermore. Dave is the youngest of my maternal grandmother’s siblings. Their entire generation is now gone
- [Interesting conversations I had this week](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/02/28/interesting-conversations-i-had-this-week-3/) - Last month I decided to start capturing the array of interesting conversations and meaningful insights I have each week. Here's what's sticking with me today. The unique grief of losing a beloved family member who you wanted to pass on because they hadn't been themselves for far too long. That moment when you find out
- [Interesting conversations I had this week](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/01/31/interesting-conversations-i-had-this-week-2/) - Last week I decided to start capturing the vast array of interesting conversations I have each week. Here's what's sticking with me today. Every tooth is an organ, and a root canal is a way of keeping a dead, diseased, toxic decaying organ inside of you. This made a lot of sense to me. And
- [Interesting conversations I had this week](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2020/01/23/interesting-conversations-i-had-this-week/) - I've decided to start capturing some of the most interesting tidbits or nuggets of wisdom from conversations I have each week. As a coach, I have a lot of conversations, with a lot of different types of people, from all over the world. Topics range from design and careers and business, to vision and strategy
- [Six Years of Coaching](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2019/11/09/six-years-of-coaching/) - Are you or is someone you know in need of a life boost? I'm now accepting clients as part of my coaching certification. Please get in touch! — Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) November 3, 2013 Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 6 years! So much has changed since then. These posts drew in my first
- [Getting back into our bodies](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2019/03/30/getting-back-into-our-bodies/) - As I take a step back and look around, I’m beginning to notice that a lot of what I do as a coach, as a writer, as a speaker, even as a designer, is helping people get back into their bodies. This has been the focus of my own self-care and inner work since the
- [Taking care of myself](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2019/03/27/taking-care-of-myself/) - So I’ve been doing a lot of taking care of myself since we moved to Maine. I’ve been writing every day (thank you 750words.com — 36-day streak!), going to yoga almost every day (sometimes twice a day!), sleeping late, lying on the couch a lot, eating the best foods for my body (so much local
- [What the customer actually wanted](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/01/what-the-customer-actually-wanted/) - A few weeks ago Orian sent me a hilarious but sad cartoon on the all-too-familiar process of cumulative error and product dilution during a project life cycle: customer request -> finance -> engineering -> manufacturing -> marketing -> delivery. Not only do we fail to deliver on what was proposed, but what the customer said
- [My MacBook Air finally arrived!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/08/my-macbook-air-finally-arrived/) - I ordered a MacBook Air the day of the Steve Jobs keynote at MacWorld Expo, and today the package arrived, four days ahead of schedule. Specs: 13.3-inch glossy widescreen LED screen 2GB memory 1.80GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor 64GB solid-state drive Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR 3.0 pounds I also bought
- [Nationwide Insurance demonstrates user research with NationPam](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/18/nationwide-insurance-demonstrates-user-research-with-nationpam/) - As an independent consultant, I pitch my services a lot. I consider myself fortunate that I get the opportunity to chat with so many great companies (okay, and some not-so-great ones) about what user experience is and what value it could provide to their businesses. Without a doubt, the most difficult service for me to
- [Text message your order to Amazon](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/02/text-message-your-order-to-amazon/) - Amazon launched a new service yesterday called TextBuyIt in which you can look up and compare product info via SMS and purchase with your pre-existing account. I tried it out this morning by texting "Purple cow" to short code 262966 ("Amazon" on the keypad). A moment later I got a response that read: Reply w/1
- [Photo of the day: Trash Can Copywriting](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/17/photo-of-the-day-trash-can-copywriting/) - I get my hair cut at Bumble & bumble's downtown salon. Not only does Dante always give me a great cut, but Bb creates one of the most exceptional customer experiences of any service in my day-to-day life. They're a high-end salon, but a key aspect of their brand is a playfulness that they inject
- [NY Tech Meetup -- February 2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/09/ny-tech-meetup-february-2010/) - This month's NY Tech Meetup was titled Rally for the Future. With almost 700 people in attendance at FIT's Haft Auditorium, NYTM veered off its typical format of 7 presenters for 5 minutes each. Instead a wide variety of people gave impassioned arguments about how to bring New York to the forefront of the technology
- [PayPal's Live Chat Falls Short](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/19/paypals-live-chat-falls-short/) - I just had a very strange interaction with a PayPal sales rep. I suppose I was sitting on the Website Payments Standard Pricing page for a while, so I was a prime target for a sell. A pop-up appeared (that I failed to capture) asking me if I needed help, so I decided to say
- [Whit Hour - Week 12](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/03/whit-hour-week-12/) - Thank you so much to the 35 people who showed up for the twelfth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour (new
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Avinash Kaushik's Web Analytics 2.0: Rethinking Decision Making in a '2.0' World](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-avinash-kaushiks-web-analytics-20/) - Web analytics is a sort of side interest of mine, having been responsible for navigating through and analyzing years of metrics during the EarthLink site redesign (while working at Tribal DDB). Understanding metrics, knowing what to track and when, and being able to make sense of the results are essential skills for an user experience
- ["Web Navigation Design" Workshop with James Kalbach](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/27/web-navigation-design-workshop-with-james-kalbach/) - On Tuesday I attended James Kalbach's one-day workshop on "Web Navigation Design" organized by Smart Experience, a small independent design school run by Victor Lombardi. The workshop took place in a conference room at the lovely Center for Architecture on LaGuardia Place in Manhattan. Victor invited me to attend the sold out workshop, and I'm
- [52 Books in 2017](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2017/01/05/52-books-in-2017/) - One of the big, lofty goals I decided to give myself for 2017 was to read 52 books in the year. Here are some I've picked, in no particular order. There are more than 52 here, so I still give myself some choice. Have you read any of these? What did you think? Which must-reads
- [Nine Reasons Why I Love the Roomba](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/17/nine-reasons-why-i-love-the-roomba/) - I love my Roomba so much I wrote a blog post about him. Roomba is the best vacuum I've ever had. Easy to use, and I don't have to do a thing.
- [The conditioner bottles at The Hampton Inn](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/29/the-conditioner-bottles-at-the-hampton-inn/) - When I was in Austin for SxSW Interactive, I stayed at the Hampton Inn a block away from the Austin Convention Center. I chose the hotel because it was convenient, even though the room rate was out of control -- $299/night (which I got reduced to $259). I recognize that when 10,000 geeks descend upon
- [TD Bank's Penny Arcade](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/22/td-banks-penny-arcade/) - [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
- [My New Mexico Travelogue](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/29/my-new-mexico-travelogue/) - 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
- [A Hippocratic Oath for User Experience Designers](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/02/a-hippocratic-oath-for-user-experience-designers/) - I have made some slight adjustments to the Hippocratic Oath, the ethical code of conduct for medical doctors, in order to serve as a vow for user experience practitioners. Please join me in reciting this oath and pledging to uphold the principles defined herein. The UX Hippocratic Oath I swear to fulfill, to the best
- [Independently employed? What's your retirement plan?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/16/independently-employed-whats-your-retirement-plan/) - I've been independent since August 2008, and prior to that I had been contributing to my company-sponsored 401(k) since college (at each of my three previous full-time jobs). When I went solo, I was given the option to keep my money in my last company's 401(k) plan indefinitely -- but obviously without their matching contributions.
- [Netflix Recommends: Art & Design Documentaries](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/10/netflix-recommends-art-design-documentaries/) - I've been watching a lot of Instant Netflix lately, ever since I canceled my cable and bought a Roku (another more in-depth post on that experience at some point). Netflix never ceases to amaze me. They've been learning my tastes from the films I watch, rate, and add to queue. At this point they know
- [What I Did on My Summer Vacation](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/09/12/what-i-did-on-my-summer-vacation/) - You might have realized I haven't been here in a while. That's because I've been everywhere else. I spent my summer doing deeply meaningful client projects and traveling the world sharing my passion for making people's lives better. I met a ton of interesting new people along the way -- people who inspired me to
- [Whitney Hess is raising $30K for Farm Aid for her 30th birthday](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/07/11/whitney-hess-is-raising-30k-for-farm-aid-for-her-30th-birthday/) - There is only one thing I want for my 30th birthday: to save America's farms. That's why I'm raising $30K for Farm Aid. Something that many people may not know about me is that I'm a locavore – the vast majority of the food that I eat is locally grown and produced. This means I
- [Building Self-Awareness Through Another Person's Eyes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/04/16/building-self-awareness-through-another-persons-eyes/) - How well do you see yourself? And how does it compare to how others see you? Skin care company Dove wants you to know that you are more beautiful than you think. According to their research, only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. The other 96% spend so much time focused on
- [The Thief and The Healer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/09/07/the-thief-and-the-healer/) - I was on Skype conducting a stakeholder interview with a client in London when my boyfriend returned to the apartment. He had just left for an appointment 5 minutes earlier. "So sorry to bother you, honey," he whispered, "but your car was broken into." I went deaf for a moment as my client continued answering
- [Foreword to Digital Product Management](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/05/08/foreword-to-digital-product-management/) - Digital Product Management: Design websites and mobile apps that exceed expectations written by Kristofer Layon was published by New Riders earlier this year. It's a wonderful book on the product management process, from understanding the market and defining your value, to prioritizing features and creating a roadmap, to testing an MVP and measuring your success.
- [User Experience, Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness at SAP](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/12/user-experience-emotional-intelligence-and-mindfulness-at-sap/) - Last spring, Siva Sabaretnam, VP of User Experience at SAP, invited me to conceive a full-day event for the 100+ member UX team at SAP America, Inc. Palo Alto. I proposed that we focus on the role of emotional intelligence and mindfulness in user experience, and Siva adamantly agreed. With the pervasiveness of technology in
- [We Create Our Own Stress](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/02/11/we-create-our-own-stress/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #18: Under Pressure (originally aired July 24, 2014), with minimal editing for readability. I require deadlines. When I don’t have deadlines, and things are open-ended, they just don’t get done. When someone makes a request of me, even something totally benign
- [Are you the designer of your own career?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/04/13/are-you-the-designer-of-your-own-career/) - Take a moment to think about what the final moments of your life will be like. I hope it will be a very, very long time from now. But put yourself there, in your last days, reflecting back on your life. What legacy will you be leaving behind? Will your future self be proud of
- [Because I Didn’t Smile](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/07/23/because-i-didnt-smile/) - Originally published on Medium two years ago today on July 23, 2013 “You haven’t smiled even once today,” he growls at me. “Yes I have.” “No…you haven’t.” And I sulk some more. So what if I’ve been lost in thought today? I have a lot going on. There’s a lot on my mind. Why do
- [Home is Where the Heart Is](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/10/10/home-is-where-the-heart-is/) - Originally published on the Pastry Box Project one year ago today on October 10, 2014 I'm writing this from my parents' guest bedroom. It's odd being a guest in your own parents' home. Despite this being the place where I was born, it hasn't felt like home for quite a while. This room used to
- [My 2016 Annual Report](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2017/01/06/my-2016-annual-report/) - In planning for the year ahead, I find it very useful to take stock of the past year, and decide what I want to maintain and what I hope to change. What follows is a quantitative and qualitative look at my business in 2016. Big Wins I ramped up to a full-time coaching practice with
- [Intentions over Resolutions in 2016](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2016/01/06/intentions-over-resolutions-in-2016/) - resolution: a determination to do or not do something; a decision intention: a determination to be a certain way; a purpose I've written New Year's Resolutions for as long as I can remember. I refer to them many times throughout the year to see how well I'm sticking to them and achieving my goals. Looking
- [Living Life as an Observer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/05/19/living-life-as-an-observer/) - On being a loner and grappling with loneliness Originally published on Medium two years ago today on May 19, 2013 For as long as I can remember, I expected to spend my life alone. I’m an only child and got used to playing by myself at a very young age. I was never one for
- [Using our energy as a force for good](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2019/03/15/using-our-energy-as-a-force-for-good/) - Every day I learn something new about the work I do. Today, while staring at the ocean, I realized something that moved me. I help leaders to manage their energy and be a force for good. Society tries to teach us that nature doesn’t exist; because for its survival, it needs us to care more
- [I'm Writing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2019/02/13/im-writing/) - I have had a book (or books) living inside of me for as long as I can remember. I'm finally making it a priority to get it out. Life has recently conspired to make this possible. My coaching business is fruitful and sustainable after several years of growth. I've said No to a few big
- [The Staggering Story of My Past Year Plus](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2016/08/23/the-staggering-story-of-my-past-year-plus/) - By June 2015, we knew we needed a change. It was already a year since I’d become a certified coach. It was almost a year since Fredrick had become a professional chef. I had built a full-time coaching practice. He had been promoted twice. We were bored. We’d been living on our sailboat Jenny for
- [Practicing Self-Love](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/08/25/practicing-self-love/) - Like pretty much everyone, I have a long list of things about myself I wish were different. I struggle with my weight. My voice is annoying. My skin is too sensitive. I have a shitty attitude. I'm always in some kind of pain. I'm lazy. I'm hypercritical. I don't try hard enough. I wish I
- [Reflections on 10 Years of Self-Employment](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/08/22/reflections-on-10-years-of-self-employment/) - I just tweet-stormed about my 10 years of "self-employment." Here it all is. It's humbling to look back at August 22, 2008 when I walked out of my last full-time job and published I'm Going Solo. Can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring! Today marks 10 years since I gave up
- [Where Have I Been?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2018/08/14/where-have-i-been/) - Enough. I am tired of doing nothing but reading the news all day, hiding and eating ice cream, waiting for the pain to stop. I have decided to fully commit to using my business as a force for good in the world, more than I ever have before. That means evolving the coaching practice I've
- [I Have a Dream](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2017/01/16/i-have-a-dream/) - that everyone starts by loving each other and goes from there that people can make their own peace that reality can be changed by choosing how to see it that everyone on earth is free from pain that my daily actions reflect my truest intentions that everyone can know the privilege I’ve known that people
- [Happy 9th Twitterversary to Me!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2017/01/07/happy-9th-twitterversary-to-me/) - It all started with this tweet: Thinking about how to expand my professional network— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) January 7, 2008 Nine years ago today, I signed up for this thing called Twitter, even though I had no clue what it was. I created an account, sent my first tweet, and went to bed. When I
- [The People Who Were Killed By Hurricane Sandy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/11/05/the-people-who-were-killed-by-hurricane-sandy/) - [Updated: Thursday, November 22, 12:58am ET] My deepest gratitude to New York Magazine for publishing my memorial to the people who lost their lives to Hurricane Sandy. Their researchers have helped to fill in some of the blanks on previously unidentified victims. You can continue to find the latest information here, as I have been
- [What I want](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2016/08/21/what-i-want/) - What I want:My friends’ kids to be healthyMy clients to find peaceThose in need of support to find meJoy in my partner’s heartSelf-love— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) August 21, 2016
- [The Purpose of a Business is to Create a Customer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/13/the-purpose-of-a-business-is-to-create-a-customer/) - A customer is defined as a person who pays a business for goods and services. If a person does not pay, they are not a customer. The nebulous term of "user" is assigned when a person is accessing goods and services without directly paying for them. Call them a visitor, a prospect, a constituent, whatever you want. Until they pay you, they're no customer of yours -- and you have not fulfilled upon your purpose as a business.
- [So you wanna be a user experience designer -- Step 1: Resources](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/30/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experience-designer-step-1-resources/) - Wanna be a user experience designer? Here are resources to get you started: blogs, books, events, organizations, webinars, workshops, conferences, classes &more
- [Designing a More Self Aware Life](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/11/10/designing-a-more-self-aware-life/) - It was such an honor to be interviewed by Srini Rao for The Unmistakable Creative podcast in an episode titled, Designing a More Self Aware Life. He asked such deep and thought-provoking questions, it enabled me to give my deepest, truest, most authentic answers. It may have been my best interview yet! Thank you so
- [Eager to advance? You need traction.](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/11/03/eager-to-advance-you-need-traction/) - In my last post, I asked if the work you're doing today is getting you closer to your ideal tomorrow. The overwhelming and consistent response: You don't like where you are You don't see where to go You don't know how to get there No coordinates. No map. No compass. In a word: Stuck. That
- [Location Agnostic, Context Specific](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/02/07/location-agnostic-context-specific/) - At the end of last year, I contributed to a year-end roundup piece in A List Apart called "What I Learned About the Web in 2011." I shared the most impactful lesson I had learned from various user research projects last year. CONTEXT IS KING The most important thing that 2011 taught me about web
- [Is today getting you closer to your ideal tomorrow?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/10/26/is-today-getting-you-closer-to-your-ideal-tomorrow/) - Do you sense there's so much more you could be doing, but you don't know what it is? I've been there. I've experienced the dread that comes when your day begins and the work ahead no longer feels like it's enough. And I bet you have too. If you could do anything in the world,
- [How to Evaluate a UX Designer for Your Company, or, What Makes a Great User Experience Designer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/09/17/how-to-evaluate-a-ux-designer-for-your-company-or-what-makes-a-great-user-experience-designer/) - Friends and colleagues often ask me what they should be looking for when hiring a user experience designer. They want guidance on how to evaluate candidates for the position and don't know what questions they should be asking. Whether it's full-time or contract, my answer remains the same: It's all about mentality. Below I've outlined
- [You’re not a user experience designer if…](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/23/youre-not-a-user-experience-designer-if/) - The UX field is booming. It seems like the number of user experience practitioners has doubled in the last year -- from newbies who've just entered the workforce, to mid-career changes, to folks who've been doing this all along but finally found out what to call themselves. It's incredibly reassuring to finally see a long
- [My Best Advice for Conducting User Interviews](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/07/my-best-advice-for-conducting-user-interviews/) - In a previous life, I was a Professional Writing major and part-time journalist. I contributed to my school's student newspaper, as well as the faculty and staff newspaper, and almost every week for two years, I wrote an arts column for the Pittsburgh City Paper -- Western PA's leading alternative newsweekly [read my old clips].
- [So you wanna be a user experience designer -- Step 2: Guiding Principles](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/23/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experience-designer-step-2-guiding-principles/) - [This is part of a series titled So You Wanna Be a User Experience Designer. Check out the previous post, Step 1: Resources] Five months ago I wrote a post titled, "So you wanna be a user experience designer," in which I gathered all of the resources in my UX arsenal: publications and blogs, books,
- [Practice UX on Your Home Turf](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/10/01/practice-ux-on-your-home-turf/) - Give yourself permission to practice UX every day Progress takes practice. You have to work at it every single day. Regardless of your circumstances, when you practice UX every day, you: Build empathy with your colleagues Better meet your customers' needs Become more strategic in your approach Make more informed design decisions Resolve conflicts with
- [Three Key Ingredients to Giving Yourself Permission](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/09/29/three-key-ingredients-to-giving-yourself-permission/) - The thing about giving yourself permission is that it's a process. You don't just do it once and then live in freedom forever. You have to say Yes to yourself over, and over, and over again. Every day, I coach people through the process of giving themselves permission. They got tired of waiting for things
- [We're All in the Same Boat](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/09/27/were-all-in-the-same-boat/) - Friend, I tell you this because I think you need to hear it: You have to make yourself. We all do. Everyone has to grind it out in places that don’t get what we do or why it matters. Even the greats...especially the greats! But the ones who ultimately succeed don’t wait around for someone
- [Do You Give Yourself Permission?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/09/25/do-you-give-yourself-permission/) - Whether you're my best friend or we've never even met, I know a secret about you: you're capable of more than you realize. How can I be so sure? Because the 70+ people I've coached over the last 14 months have proven it to be true. Over and over and over again, I watch people
- [Proud to be Whitney Hess, PCC](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/09/25/proud-to-be-whitney-hess-pcc/) - I am so proud to announce that I have earned my official designation as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from the International Coach Federation​ —credentials I’ve been pursuing for a year! I received my coaching certification from New Ventures West​ in June 2014, and since then have accrued more than 750 hours of client contact.
- [On a Year as a Certified Coach](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/06/06/on-a-year-as-a-certified-coach/) - Today is my one-year anniversary of being a certified coach. On June 6, 2014, I became a certified professional coach through New Ventures West, and was set off on a whole new adventure. My business and my life have changed dramatically. I went from a decade as a user experience practitioner serving businesses exclusively to
- [Your mind is a garden](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/04/27/your-mind-is-a-garden/) - Variant of the William Wordsworth poem: Your mind is the garden Your thoughts are the seeds The harvest can either be flowers Or weeds.
- [Where the Spirit Meets the Bone](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/04/28/where-the-spirit-meets-the-bone/) - Compassion by Miller Williams Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.
- [Speak and Be Seen](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/04/27/speak-and-be-seen-2/) - Originally published on Ladies in Tech on March 12, 2013 My mom loves to tell a story about when she and my dad came to see me in a play at day camp. I was six. I had the very important job of carrying title cards from stage-left to stage-right, which depicted time passing between
- [A Lifetime of Bullies](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/05/10/a-lifetime-of-bullies/) - Originally published on the Pastry Box Project one year ago today on May 10, 2014 It started when you were five on the kindergarten school bus. An older girl threatened to punch your mom if you didn't bring her caramels. Your mom caught you stealing caramels from the kitchen drawer, found out, and it stopped.
- [If Not Now](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/07/10/if-not-now-then-when/) - Originally published on the Pastry Box Project one year ago today on July 10, 2014 I turn 32 tomorrow so I've been thinking a lot about growing up. To the aspiring practitioners I coach and mentor every day, I'm a senior in the field. To the people who met me when I was just starting
- [Lean On](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/08/10/lean-on/) - Originally published on the Pastry Box Project one year ago today on August 10, 2014 I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I’ve had a lot on my mind. Building my coaching business. Finding a new place to live. Trying to buy a sailboat. Negotiating contracts on upcoming speaking gigs. Rewriting a book proposal for what
- [I Need Help](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/09/10/i-need-help/) - Originally published on the Pastry Box Project one year ago today on September 10, 2014 If you want something done right, do it yourself. That’s what we’re taught anyway. So we hone our self-reliance over a lifetime of hardship. We convince ourselves of others’ inadequacy and marvel in our own superiority. Everyone else is simply
- [A New Way to Be](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/06/01/a-new-way-to-be/) - Originally published on Medium two years ago today on June 1, 2013 Finding my spirituality. Doing yoga on the beach. Starting to meditate. Searching for retreats. Wondering about Buddhism. Reading about mindfulness and mindlessness. Eating better. Sleeping more. Waking up at the same time every day. Riding my bike. Spending less money on frivolous things.
- [What's Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/10/18/whats-your-problem-putting-purpose-back-into-your-projects/) - [This is the written form of my presentation What's Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects] Our story begins in the 1980s at Procter & Gamble, the largest consumer goods company in the world. They make Bounty, and Mister Clean, and Dawn and lots of other brands you know and love. P&G was raking
- [Photo of the day: Unattended Kids](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/02/photo-of-the-day-unattended-kids/) - This one wasn't exactly a submission (I asked for it), but like yesterday's it was snapped by someone other than me -- the luminous Andrew Hinton. While we were in Memphis for the IA Summit, Andrew was enjoying a meal at the Flying Fish when he spotted this sign. WE LOVE KIDS, BUT PLEASE KEEP
- [Photo of the day: Elevator button or fire alert?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/01/photo-of-the-day-elevator-button-or-fire-alert/) - Folks, this post marks a special occasion. My "Photo of the day" posts have become so famous that I'm starting to receive submissions -- well, I got one, from a very nice friend. When I ran into Brian Shaler at SXSW, he told me that he had a great photo for me. He snapped it
- [Photo of the day: But if you teach me to organize...](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/20/photo-of-the-day-but-if-you-teach-me-to-organize/) - A few months ago I was walking down the street in TriBeCa and noticed this amazing poster in a window on Hudson Street. I didn't have my camera with me so I sent a triptych-tweet with the words instead. If you give me a fish you have fed me for a day. If you teach
- [Problems Cannot Survive in the Present](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/02/09/problems-cannot-survive-in-the-present/) - We had been under sail for the last hour, at meager speed, hugging Point Loma. Just as we passed the point and finally crossed over from San Diego Bay to the Pacific Ocean, we picked up a lot more wind and we were soaring. As the wind changed, so did the waves. Big rolling waves
- [MFA in Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts in NYC](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/06/mfa-in-interaction-design-at-the-school-of-visual-arts-in-nyc/) - Starting in the Fall of 2009, the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC will offer a Master of Fine Arts in Interaction Design. As the program website states, "the MFA in Interaction Design program trains students to research, analyze, prototype, and design concepts in their business, social, and cultural contexts." The full-time two-year program
- [Photo of the day: The Huanting in Connecticut](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/31/photo-of-the-day-the-huanting-in-connecticut/) - I just loathe public misspellings. There's something about the laziness of it all and total disregard for its intended "user" that really pisses me off. Now I know this isn't one of my clearest photos. I made the mistake of leaving the house without my camera, and when Orian spotted this I insisted he take
- [Photo of the day: A 90-year-old's cell phone](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/04/photo-of-the-day-a-90-year-olds-cell-phone/) - You know how you share one set of grandparents with your first cousins? I'm sad to say that my grandparents have all passed on, but I'm still very lucky to still have one nonagenarian in my life -- my first cousins' other grandmother. Her name is Jill and ever since I was a little kid
- [Photo of the day: Tropicana grocery display](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/05/photo-of-the-day-tropicana-grocery-display/) - I don't want to beat a dead horse here. We all know that Tropicana redesigned their cartons and there was a major backlash from consumers. In the end it was pulled from the shelves, but not before Matt Knell was able to snap this unbelievable pic: Matt showed me this photo on his iPhone recently
- [Photo of the day: Whirlpool dishwasher utensil tray](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/06/photo-of-the-day-whirlpool-dishwasher-utensil-tray/) - A few years ago I went out with a guy who made me dinner in his apartment. I'm going to refrain from saying what I thought of the food. But at the end of the meal as we brought the dishes into the kitchen, I noticed that his dishwasher had a unique design that I'd
- [Photo of the day: Bottom loading instructions](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/07/photo-of-the-day-bottom-loading-instructions/) - While at Graceland, I came upon a truck with operating instructions posted on the side. These might be the most confusing instructions I've ever seen. I'm well aware that I'm not the intended audience for this, but there's so much jargon and such poor grammar that I can't imagine anyone can understand what this is
- [Photo of the day: No breastfeeding](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/08/photo-of-the-day-no-breastfeeding/) - Mike Dizon and I went out for lunch around New Work City one day. We walked past Pepe Rosso, a pasta take-out joint on Sullivan St. that Mike insists is the best around. So I poked my head in to take a look, and saw this sign hanging in the entrance: No breastfeeding in Pepe
- [Photo of the day: Elvis had cheap gas](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/11/photo-of-the-day-elvis-had-cheap-gas/) - Elvis's Automobile Museum at Graceland is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. More than 50 vintage cars in absolutely pristine condition. If you ever find yourself in Memphis, the cars and the house are not to be missed. Among the cars was this old Tokheim gas pump from what must have been the
- [Photo of the day: 12 Gay Street](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/18/photo-of-the-day-12-gay-street/) - Today's photo comes courtesy of my friend Mike Singleton over at drop.io. This door is at 12 Gay Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. According to Mike, this sign on the front door (DANGER!! NO INTERIOR FLOORS!!) is the only sign that there's any construction going on inside or around the building. It's
- [Photo of the day: Mister Softee is healthier than Starbucks](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/10/photo-of-the-day-mister-softee-is-healthier-than-starbucks/) - 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
- [Photo of the day: Vietnamese Sandwishes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/18/photo-of-the-day-vietnamese-sandwishes/) - I saw this sign in the window of a local eatery and did a double take. I love collecting photos of misspelled signs, so I immediately took out my phone to snap a pic. As I was capturing the shot I noticed something even more hilarious than the misspelling itself -- looking closer I saw
- [Photo of the day: LLUP to open](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/26/photo-of-the-day-llup-to-open/) - Peace & Love Café is one of my favorite local spots. They've got free wi-fi, amazing sandwiches, and lots of comfy seating. The perfect alternative to a Starbucks. And how can that name not make you feel great? I've been going to Peace & Love for several years, and always noticed that their inner door
- [Photo of the day: Departures and Arrivals](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/22/photo-of-the-day-departures-and-arrivals/) - Tuesday morning I was sitting in the Amtrak waiting area at New York's Penn Station when I glanced to my right to see if my track number had been announced. There were two screens, one stacked on top of the other, with two metal plaques that indicated Departures on the top and Arrivals on the
- [Photo of the day: The Non-Intersection of Duane and Reade](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/16/photo-of-the-day-the-non-intersection-of-duane-and-reade/) - Not all New Yorkers realize that the omnipresent drugstore Duane Reade gets its name from its very first location in downtown Manhattan, on Broadway between Duane and Reade Streets. I suppose that's why they think they can get away with this billboard ad that shows the intersection of Duane and Reade -- which simply doesn't
- [Photo of the day: A man in need of an iPad](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/11/photo-of-the-day-a-man-in-need-of-an-ipad/) - ...or a Kindle, or a nook. I recently spotted this man at a Starbucks in SoHo. He was clearly settled in for the day, his keyboard propped up against the wall behind him, feet kicked up, book in hand...and in the other hand, a magnifying glass to help him read the damn thing. That very
- [Photo of the day: The corner of W 13th St and W 4th St](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/16/photo-of-the-day-the-corner-of-w-13th-st-and-w-4th-st/) - For anyone who's ever been to Manhattan, or perhaps even heard of Manhattan, chances are you know that our roads are based on a grid -- Streets are east-west and are numbered, Avenues are north-south and are numbered or named. 62nd Street and 2nd Avenue 106th Street and Park Avenue 1st Street and 1st Avenue
- [Photo of the day: Follow this line](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/11/photo-of-the-day-follow-this-line/) - I walked into the Barnes & Noble on 18th Street and Fifth Ave the other day, and found something curious. Lines of colored tape along the floor. As I approached a sales guy for help finding something, I overheard him talking to the gentleman before me: "Just follow the yellow line to the end and
- [Historical Technology: Machines of Times Gone By](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/11/historical-technology-machines-of-times-gone-by/) - The Museum of the City of New York has one of the most extensive photo archives of historical NYC in existence. They made a significant portion of it (13,895 photos to be exact) available online last December, and when I first read about it on Gothamist, I must have spent hours combing through it all
- [Photo of the day: Negative Floors](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/10/19/photo-of-the-day-negative-floors/) - Some buildings label their 1st floor as 1, others as L for lobby or G for ground floor. I've even seen it as 0 in European cities where the "1st floor" denotes the first floor above ground level -- what Americans consider to be the 2nd floor. But never have I ever seen this: Negative
- [Photo of the day: Pen Pocket](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/10/28/photo-of-the-day-pen-pocket/) - All men carry pens, right? But putting a pen in your pants pocket can be a bit of a pain -- it rolls around with your keys, sticks out to one side, the cap tears at the pocket lining. Sitting next to my friend Nik Agharkar at a dinner party, I noticed him reach inside
- [Getting Ready to Change](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/26/getting-ready-to-change/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #16: Ready Set Go (originally aired July 1, 2014), with minimal editing for readability. Two weeks ago I was finally certified as a professional coach. I was in this yearlong certification program where I was trained to be a professional coach
- [What to Show for My Success](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/24/what-to-show-for-my-success/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #15: Growing Up (originally aired May 30, 2014), with minimal editing for readability. We got rid of a lot of stuff when we left New York. We could only keep what fit in the Jeep. That was it. So it required
- [Rewriting my story (again)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/19/rewriting-my-story-again/) - [Below is the latest iteration of my About page, where I attempt to tell the story of my life thus far with clarity and meaning. Life is messy, and so is writing about it. But I keep trying.] . . . Whitney Hess, Certified Coach I help people bring their whole selves to their work.
- [Just Do Some Thing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/16/just-do-some-thing/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #14: The Breakthrough (originally aired May 23, 2014), with minimal editing for readability. [To Roz Duffy] So much of what you're talking about is about trying and doing, which are actions that you take, as opposed to fear and anxiety, which
- [Transforming Work into Life’s Work](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/13/transforming-work-into-lifes-work/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #13: Making Things Happen (originally aired May 7, 2014), with minimal editing for readability. It’s really too bad that we don’t have another word for this, because it ends up giving work a bad name. This precise thing, this feeling of
- [What the Mind Alone Can Never Know](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/09/what-the-mind-alone-can-never-know/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #12: High on Life (originally aired April 7, 2014), with minimal editing for readability. "Your body language shapes who you are." Amy Cuddy is a researcher, and she speaks with the science rhetoric. What her study found and the way she
- [And I’m brought back](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2015/01/05/and-im-brought-back/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #11: Good Intentions (originally aired March 3, 2014), with minimal editing for readability. At the beginning of a yoga class, when all of us are sitting on our mats, taking our initial deep breaths, getting centered and trying to be in
- [Recap: Designing Yourself – Season 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/12/28/recap-designing-yourself-season-2/) - For many of us, deeper understanding comes only in conversation with another. That is often the case with my friend Paul McAleer and me. After meeting at the 2013 IA Summit, we immediately realized that many of the same topics were on our minds and questions in our hearts. We started having some pretty spectacular
- [12 Months of The Pastry Box](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/12/28/12-months-of-the-pastry-box/) - In 2014, I had the privilege of sharing 12 months of my innermost thoughts on The Pastry Box Project. It's a place where 30 people a year, leaders from a variety of fields, are brought together through collaborative sharing and interweaving of stories to reveal undeniable truths about the human condition. Below is a roundup
- [Today is my 6th anniversary of going solo](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/08/22/today-is-my-6th-anniversary-of-going-solo/) - Six years ago today, also a Friday, was my very last day at my very last full-time job. Two weeks prior, I had finally worked up the courage to walk into my boss's office and quit. It was a cushy job with great pay, reasonable hours, and somewhat interesting work. But that was no longer
- [Drupal.org User Research: Stakeholder Workshop](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/07/14/drupal-org-user-research-stakeholder-workshop/) - At DrupalCon Austin 2014, we officially kicked off the reimagination of Drupal.org with a full-day workshop with Drupal Association staff, Working Groups, select board members and advisors, facilitated by our user experience coach Whitney Hess. In the morning, we did the serious business of defining our objectives, target audiences, metrics for success (KPIs), partners and
- [If Not Now](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/07/10/if-not-now/) - In my July contribution to The Pastry Box Project, If Not Now, published on the eve of my 32nd birthday, I share my lifelong struggle with seeking approval — and that perfect intersection of readiness and permission where everything seems to click. When I turned 30, I suddenly had this realization that I was officially
- [The 100 Most Influential Tech Women On Twitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/05/23/the-100-most-influential-tech-women-on-twitter/) - Thank you to Business Insider for listing me among the 100 most influential tech women on Twitter. Proud to be number 76! I'm usually a skeptic about these sorts of lists (even when I'm on them). For this one, Business Insider used PeerIndex, a social media analytics tool that assigns users a score of 0-100
- [User Experience Coaching for Drupal.org](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/05/03/user-experience-coaching-for-drupal-org/) - Yesterday the Drupal Association announced that I will be their user experience coach for the reinvention of Drupal.org. It is such an honor to have been awarded the opportunity to guide their extensive user research and product strategy initiative over the next several months. Many organizations would prefer to outsource to agencies to solve their
- [Equality and Transparency at Conferences](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/05/02/equality-and-transparency-at-conferences/) - Yesterday I received information that speakers at GiantConf were being unequally compensated. [Their response] I did not take the news well. I got angry and I reacted harshly rather than respond with mindfulness and compassion. Feeling deceived, I went to a negative place rather than attempt to make the situation positive. I appreciate that the
- [May you be inscribed in the book of life](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/29/may-you-be-inscribed-in-the-book-of-life/) - Yesterday was Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day of the year for Jews. I have never been particularly religious, but fasting on Yom Kippur is something I've done since I was a kid. Not because my parents told me to or because it was expected of me, but because the significance of the day is
- [DIY UX at An Event Apart Chicago 2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/20/diy-ux-at-an-event-apart-chicago-2009/) - Last Monday, October 12, 2009, I presented DIY UX: Give Your Users an Upgrade (without calling in a pro) to a sold out 500-person crowd at An Event Apart Chicago. DIY UX: Give Your Users an Upgrade (Without Calling In a Pro) I gave this talk for the first time (minus a couple test
- [Darlin' Do Not Fear](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/03/darlin-do-not-fear/) - Sometimes the perfect song just finds you. When I arrived in my own set of clothes I was half a world away from my home And I was hunted by the wolves and I was heckled by the crows Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know Alongside my innocence I laid in bed
- [Happy New Year to You](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/05/happy-new-year-to-you/) - 2010 is here and I can hardly believe it. A new decade. A new period of time to look forward to with high expectations and even higher hopes. At this time.... ...ten years ago, I was starting my last semester of high school and looking forward to the freedom of college. ...five years ago, I
- [I am (more than?) a bunch of adjectives](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/16/i-am-more-than-a-bunch-of-adjectives/) - I think like a lot of us, I have an incessant need to see myself reflected by others in order to believe that I am who I think I am. Positively and negatively. I save adjectives like souvenirs, reminders of when I got them and from whom. I wear them as badges, as armor. When
- [I admit it: I'm always five minutes late. And it stops now.](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/10/i-admit-it-im-always-five-minutes-late-and-it-stops-now/) - I was just smacked in the face by a recent blog post by my dear friend Jeffrey Zeldman, Free advice: show up early, about the consequences of being late to client meetings. Why? Because it forced me to finally fess up to one of my major flaws: I'm always five minutes late. Sure, five minutes
- [Can Leadership Be Learned?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/03/06/can-leadership-be-learned/) - The words both start with L-E-A, but can leadership really be learned? As a consultant, I have the pleasure and challenge to work with a variety of different teams. I am a team of one, but I collaborate with agency teams (such as Happy Cog, whom I'm working with on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
- [SXSW Interactive: Never As Good As the First Time](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/03/26/sxsw-interactive-never-as-good-as-the-first-time/) - I'm behind on summing up my thoughts on this year's SXSW Interactive. A lot of people have panned the conference, saying "SXSW sucks," "SXSW is dead," and more constructively, "the conference isn't that good." Fast Company called the keynote with Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams, "the most horrifically devastating keynote presentation in SXSW history,"
- [Questions show passion, not doubt](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/10/questions-show-passion-not-doubt/) - I was recently contacted by someone to contribute to a project they're working on. It was a well-connected and well-respected person whose work I've followed for years, so naturally I was quite excited by the inquiry. The initial email was a bit sparse -- describing the project in just a couple sentences -- and while
- [Being a godmother is like being a user experience designer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/11/being-a-godmother-is-like-being-a-user-experience-designer/) - On April 18, 2010, Griffin James Lam Konig was born at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasett, NY, weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz. Griffin's mom Donna is the 39-year-old daughter of my childhood babysitter Theresa (who I've always called T-T). The day after Griffin came home from the hospital, twenty-seven years after Theresa
- [Undercover Boss: Just How Badly is Your Company Screwing Itself](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/14/undercover-boss-just-how-badly-is-your-company-screwing-itself/) - Undercover Boss is one of my favorite new shows. Why? Because we desperately need to encourage upper management to get in touch with what's really going on inside their companies. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and it's harming employees just as much as customers, if not more. I was
- [Whit Hour - Week 10](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/06/whit-hour-week-10/) - Thank you so much to the 35 people who showed up for the tenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.justin.tv/whitneyhess. Whit
- [Whose life is this?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/12/whose-life-is-this/) - As my 28th birthday comes to a close, I can't help but reflect on the past year. I experienced the deepest love, faced my greatest fears, and found accomplishments I never knew I could have. Life feels like it's happening to me, like I'm largely out of control. And perhaps I am, but I need
- [Fun Times in Mini-Apple-Us](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/31/fun-times-in-mini-apple-us/) - When I was asked to speak at An Event Apart Minneapolis, I thought, "An Event Apart, yes! Minneapolis, whatever." I wasn't expecting much from my trip to the Twin Cities -- but I was dead wrong. Flying over Minnesota for the first time a week ago today, all I could see was a flat expanse
- [The 5-Year Anniversary of My LLC](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/04/the-5-year-anniversary-of-my-llc/) - With all of my elation yesterday, I completely forgot to acknowledge that on August 3, 2005, I signed the paperwork that established my LLC. I was 7 months into my first full-time job at Digitas, and struggling to make ends meet. Since friends and family were already asking me to "just help them" with their
- [If the product doesn’t work, its “user experience” doesn’t matter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/18/if-the-product-doesnt-work-its-user-experience-doesnt-matter/) - I recently edited an article for UX Magazine (When You Startup with UX) in which I interviewed four startups on what User Experience means to them. Of all the things that people said, the quote that stood out to me the most was from Mike Singleton, a developer at Foursquare: "...when you only have three
- [My 2nd Indie Anniversary](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/23/my-2nd-indie-anniversary/) - On the afternoon of Friday, August 22, 2008, I "left work" for the last time. It was my last day at my full-time job and I was officially self-employed. The last two years have been a whirlwind, and the benefits and repercussions of that single action have been far more significant than I ever could
- [Whit Hour - Week 14](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/23/whit-hour-week-14/) - Thank you so much to the ~27 people who showed up for the fourteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Literally Desperate](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/18/literally-desperate/) - There's something I have to metaphorically get off my chest. You literally don't have a clue what "literally" actually means. Literal is defined as: actual; absolute. Literally is defined as: in the explicit meaning of the word; without embellishment or exaggeration; not as an idiom or metaphor. I'm not the first person to plead this
- [A Plan of Action](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/22/a-plan-of-action/) - "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?" -- Luke 14:28 It's not every day I quote the Bible. All the rarer that I quote from the New Testament, given the fact that I'm Jewish. But I happened
- [Constructing Your Personal User Interface on Harvard Business Review](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/05/15/constructing-your-personal-user-interface-on-harvard-business-review/) - The inspiring Whitney Johnson invited me to contribute to her latest post on Harvard Business Review, titled Constructing Your Personal User Interface. Published yesterday, the piece takes five of my principles for designing user experiences and shows how they apply not only to human-computer interaction but to human-human interaction as well. There's already a great
- [Who Do We Think We Are?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/04/10/who-do-we-think-we-are/) - In my April contribution to The Pastry Box Project, Who Do We Think We Are?, I share my frustration with the rampant intellectual bullying I have observed in our community, and how I've overcome my own tendency to contribute to it. Now we’ve all heard the saying about the cobbler’s children having no shoes, and
- [Writing for Huffington Post](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/03/14/writing-for-huffington-post-healthy-living/) - A month ago today, I flew up to San Francisco to attend the Wisdom 2.0 Conference. Though it is now in its fifth year and had more than 2,000 people in attendance, I hadn't heard about it until just a couple months prior. I happened upon it when doing research on meditation programs inside organizations,
- [My 10 Principles for Designing Organizations on Huffington Post](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/04/03/my-10-principles-for-designing-organizations-on-huffington-post/) - Last month I got the green-light all the way from the top to publish my writing on Huffington Post. I don't know the exact numbers, but according to comScore in August 2013, Huffington Post had upwards of 46 million monthly U.S. unique visitors and 78 million monthly global unique visitors. That's about 3 times the
- [My 10 Principles for Designing Experiences Applied to Designing Organizations](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/03/26/my-10-principles-for-designing-experiences-applied-to-designing-organizations/) - It's hard to believe that it was way back in 2011 when I first began giving my presentation Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX. Three years later, I've given that talk at more than a dozen conferences around the globe, from Hong Kong to Bogotá to Tel Aviv and beyond. It has been a tremendous
- [Who Gets Billion-Dollar Acquisitions?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/03/26/who-gets-billion-dollar-acquisitions/) - Oculus VR acquired by Facebook for $2 Billion in 2014 WhatsApp acquired by Facebook for $19 Billion in 2014 AirWatch acquired by VMware for $1.54 Billion in 2014 Nest acquired by Google for $3.2 Billion in 2013 SoftLayer acquired by IBM for $2 Billion in 2013 Tumblr acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 Billion in 2013
- [Season 2 of Designing Yourself](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/03/14/season-2-of-designing-yourself/) - Guys, so much awesome stuff is going on, I just can't contain myself! You know Paul McAleer and I host a podcast called Designing Yourself, right? On March 3, we finally released our first episode of 2014, titled Good Intentions and featuring an AMAZING interview with Gina Trapani. Gina is the founder of Lifehacker, Todo.txt
- [Searching for Space](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/03/14/searching-for-space/) - In my March contribution to The Pastry Box Project, Searching for Space, I share the story of why I left NY to find what I was looking for, and how I eventually found it within myself. My heart started racing. My palms got sweaty. I couldn’t breathe. I felt faint. Out of nowhere I screamed
- [Awakening to Buddhism](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/24/awakening-to-buddhism/) - I've been a Buddhist my entire life — though I didn't know to call it that until recently. I made a career out of reducing human suffering. In 2002, I was called to Human-Computer Interaction to reduce the suffering caused by technology, the result of a lack of mindfulness and compassion in the design and
- [Where Compassion is Born](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/20/where-compassion-is-born/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #9: Embracing the Suffering (originally aired October 1, 2013), with minimal editing for readability. The things we don’t like in others are the things we don’t fully understand. It's a sign we haven’t gone out of our way to develop empathy
- [Listeners of Designing Yourself: We Want to Hear from You!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/19/listeners-of-designing-yourself-we-want-to-hear-from-you/) - As Paul and I head into our second season of Designing Yourself, we want to bring new voices into the mix. We'll be interviewing guests, taking audience questions, and finding new ways to extend the conversation beyond Paul and me. If you have a question you want us to answer on-air, a topic for a
- [I am a Writer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/17/i-am-a-writer/) - An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #8: Sam I Am (originally aired September 24, 2013), with minimal editing for readability. I was a Professional Writing major in college — after I switched from Computer Science and before I picked up Human-Computer Interaction as a double major. Writing
- [Nothing is Permanent but Change](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/14/nothing-is-permanent-but-change/) - No man ever steps in the same river twice for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus We talk about change as though it's something that happens once in a while, we're "going through a period of change," as though it isn't happening all of the time. Change is
- [Going back to the cave](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/11/going-back-to-the-cave/) - John J. Locke, in a comment on Where in the World is Whitney? San Diego posted January 16, 2014. I can relate to "going back to the cave" to regroup and reinvent yourself. Life is a series of stages. We never *really* know what's going to happen next, although we try to plan it. I
- [Confidence on the Inside](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/11/confidence-on-the-inside/) - I don't want to be invulnerable. I don't want to be in a state where I can't be penetrated, where I can't be influenced, where I can't be molded in some way. I want to be vulnerable. I just want to be at peace with that vulnerability, and that's something I haven't been able to
- [You down with OPP (Yeah you know me)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/11/you-down-with-opp-yeah-you-know-me/) - Other People's Podcasts! What what! Hosting your own podcast is a heck of a lot of fun (or co-hosting, in my case, with Paul McAleer!), but every now and then it's nice to be on the other side of the mic, so to speak. I've been lucky to be a guest on a few great
- [More Is Less](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/10/more-is-less/) - There are all of these devices that attempt to let me to do a lot more than I was able to do before they existed. It creates this new normal where now I am a superwoman. I start doing more than I was ever capable of before. Then other people start to get used to
- [A New Perspective](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/10/a-new-perspective/) - Shifting your perspective isn't only necessary to offer empathy to others, but it gives your own views much more depth. Here's an excerpt from my February post for The Pastry Box, published today: On our first day of class, the teacher led us out of the building and brought us a few blocks away to
- [A Little Bit](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/07/a-little-bit/) - One of the assignments that was given to me in the first session of my coaching course is a daily meditation or "sitting" practice. The assignment, as it is written on the sheet of paper in my binder, is to sit for 30 minutes in a chair, eyes gently closed or looking down in front
- [Empathy for Ourselves](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/06/empathy-for-ourselves/) - We’re in this situation where we have a finite period of time, we really need to pay close attention to this person. We need to concentrate. We need to focus. And we need to go into it with the intent of gaining understanding, of challenging our assumptions, of teasing out the problems and needs and
- [I Love Fear](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/05/i-love-fear/) - I love fear because confronting my fears has allowed me to get to know parts of myself that I was denying. There is something very important about who you are based on the things that you fear. I used my fears to avoid things. That's what we're taught: Fear is a good thing. It keeps
- [The Only Thing We Control](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/04/the-only-thing-we-control/) - I think it’s likely there's a grander scheme of things, a master plan. But I don’t believe our decisions are being made for us. And I don’t believe that there’s a puppeteer pulling the strings, causing our behavior. I really don’t. I think we are in this together, and perhaps the grander vision is being
- [Designing Yourself for everyone – now with transcripts](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/04/designing-yourself-for-everyone-now-with-transcripts/) - When Paul and I started a podcast to publicly explore the often sensitive domain of self-development, we hoped we would handle topics in a way that would appeal to the broadest audience possible. But we made one huge mistake: we didn't make it accessible for all. We're thrilled to finally announce that all 10 episodes
- [What UX did or didn't do](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/02/04/what-ux-did-or-didnt-do/) - Some usual suspects are engaged in a feverish discussion on what UX "did" to this or that related practice — and now is the time to stop it from further destruction! Let's be clear: UX cannot do anything to anyone. UX is two letters of the alphabet, representing a philosophy, a process, a practice of
- [Why Coaching Matters](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/01/31/why-coaching-matters/) - Everyone could benefit from seeing themselves from a different perspective. Our beliefs, our blind-spots, and our self-imposed limitations are all too often barriers to becoming who we're really meant to be. This is especially true of professionals entering a new phase of their career or students entering a new course of study. The inner critic
- [User Experience is...](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/01/28/user-experience-is/) - The folks at GiantUX (organizers of the GIANT Conference in Charleston, SC, where I'll be speaking in June) asked me to describe UX in 200 words or less. Here's what I gave them. User Experience is a commitment to developing products and services with purpose, compassion, and integrity. It is the never-ending process of seeing
- [The Song of Peace](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/01/20/the-song-of-peace/) - Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood." — Martin Luther King, Jr. Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech We are all each other's brothers and sisters. We all come from the
- [The UX Career Path: From Wireframes to Coaching](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/01/17/the-ux-career-path-from-wireframes-to-coaching/) - I have attended the IA Summit every year since 2008. This year's event takes place in my new home of San Diego, so naturally I'll be there. It's hard to believe it will be my 7th consecutive year when I still feel like a newbie. I love this community, I love this conference, and I
- [My Year to Live](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/01/16/my-year-to-live/) - I am so excited to be one of the bakers over at The Pastry Box Project for 2014. The collection of authors is astounding and I'm very grateful to be among them. I'll be published on the 10th of every month, so keep your eyes peeled. For my first piece, My Year to Live, I
- [Where in the World is Whitney? San Diego](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2014/01/15/where-in-the-world-is-whitney-san-diego/) - After a year of balancing on a rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we packed up the Jeep, wrapped up the boat, and left Key West for the West Coast. Two weeks and 3600 miles later (we took a few pleasure detours), we arrived at another water's edge: the rocky coast of the
- [On Losing a Teacher: Remembering Christy Svanemyr](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/10/03/on-losing-a-teacher-remembering-christy-svanemyr/) - I was camping in Acadia National Park when I got the news. As we pulled onto the highway, I regained cell service for the first time in two days and my phone buzzed with incoming emails. I had promised myself a week away from email, but scrolled through them quickly just to make sure there
- [5 Years of Independence](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/08/22/5-years-of-independence/) - Happy anniversary to me! Today marks five years since I left my full-time job to go indie — and what a hell of a ride it's been. I want to thank all my clients who have valued what I could contribute to their organizations and the countless friends, colleagues and strangers who pointed them my
- [Minor in Tech](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/08/06/minor-in-tech/) - When I was 13 and about to finish the 8th grade, a teacher I hardly knew approached me in the hall. "Whitney, I'd like to talk to you about next year." "What about next year?" "Well you'll be entering high school next year, and you'll be asked to pick your electives soon. I think you
- [The First Four Episodes of Designing Yourself](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/08/02/the-first-four-episodes-of-designing-yourself/) - It's been a whole month since Paul McAleer and I started our podcast Designing Yourself and we've already launched four hour-long episodes. Whoa. We pick a topic each week, usually one word, and just start talking. No script, no outline, just impromptu, fluid conversation. If you've listened, you've probably noticed how candid and personal we
- [Give Us the Answer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/07/31/give-us-the-answer/) - "You are an expert," he told me. "We want you to give us the answer." "Then I'm not for you." I guess I could have just taken the money, but it would have cost me my integrity. Many companies don't believe they have time to learn a new way to work. They just want someone
- [The Evolution of User Experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/07/29/the-evolution-of-user-experience/) - When I started my career in user experience, my purpose was to make digital products easier and more pleasurable to use. Interfaces were poorly organized, poorly labeled, and took forever to learn—and I wanted to fix them all. I applied my knowledge of best practices and emerging trends. I used design patterns and standard elements
- [On Empathy and Apathy: Two Case Studies](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/21/on-empathy-and-apathy-two-case-studies/) - The suffix -pathy means "feeling" or "suffering" The prefix em- means "within" or "inside" The prefix a- means "not" or "without" By definition, empathy is the opposite of apathy. Empathy is defined as "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another" -- within + feeling or inside + suffering. Apathy is defined as
- [Empathy is Not a Buzzword](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/07/19/empathy-is-not-a-buzzword/) - Empathy is not a buzzword; it's a life pursuit. The wings of wisdom and compassion have been taught by Buddhism for 2500 years. This isn't new. What's new is the movement to integrate compassionate practices into business. Particularly in the tech industry which is often so dehumanizing. Left unchecked, technology turns people into proxies. That's
- [Designing Yourself](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/07/17/designing-yourself/) - At some point along the way, I realized I was putting so much energy into growing my business that I was stunting my own growth. All of the decisions I made were to benefit the work, not the woman. I've designed hundreds of digital experiences, I've designed dozens of organizational experiences, but what effort have
- [Connecting and Disconnecting](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/06/10/connecting-and-disconnecting/) - We have become a society of people who avoid each other. Our instinct is no longer to extend ourselves to help a fellow human being in need, but rather to protect ourselves, our feelings, our time. We hide. We prefer to be alone. We prefer to sit back and observe. We prefer to climb inside
- [Email is People](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/06/03/email-is-people/) - We all complain about too much email. We just can't find the time to get to it all. Too many emails, too much to read through. We already have too much to do. Inbox Zero. GTD. Three sentences. Email bankruptcy. We keep telling each other that email is stress, it's a necessary evil, it is
- [Give Your Team a UX Jump-Start](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/05/21/give-your-team-a-ux-jump-start/) - Craft a product strategy and design framework using the principles and techniques of user experience...in two days. Are you being told what to build, but you don't agree it's what your customers need? Is your feature list out of control, but you can't figure out how to pare it down? Are members of your team
- [Beginning to experiment with Medium](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/05/19/beginning-to-experiment-with-medium/) - You may have heard of Medium, the latest venture by Ev Williams, creator of Twitter and Blogger. If tweets are short-form and blog posts are long-form, Medium is somewhere in the middle (hence the name). When I was first invited to test the service, it just seemed to be a place where the Internet elite
- [FONC and the Impostor Syndrome](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/20/fonc-and-the-impostor-syndrome/) - Last week, Caterina Fake wrote about a social observation she made at SXSW which she called FOMO -- Fear Of Missing Out: people checking their Twitter and Foursquare feeds to see who was where, doing what, to make sure that they were in the right place at the right time with the right people. And
- [The Design Advisor: Why Every Startup Needs One](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/20/the-design-advisor-why-every-startup-needs-one/) - All startups start with an idea, a founder’s desire to invent something new. They invest time and money into bringing the idea to life, and a series of thoughts become a product. But more often than not, these thoughts are instincts, not insights. And eventually the product fails. Design turns an invention into a solution.
- [Living a Compassionate Life](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/05/13/living-a-compassionate-life/) - Despite the fact that I make my living helping people build their capacity for empathy, I still feel I could do a much better job of living a compassionate life. For me, empathy is easy; I can't turn it off. But in order to feel compassion for another person, I have to want it. While
- [Embodying Empathy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/05/09/embodying-empathy/) - The funny thing about empathy is that everyone thinks they have it, and yet so few people show it. Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. But it's not enough to understand, we have to act. Understanding happens in the mind. Action happens in the body. To care
- [My Natural Next Step: Becoming a Coach](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/05/01/my-natural-next-step-becoming-a-coach/) - My life’s mission is to put humanity back into business. As a user experience consultant, guiding technology companies on how to make their products easier and more pleasurable to use, I get to work towards this every day. But I’ve come to realize that user experience is not enough. Designing the product is all for
- [The one thing you can do today to make the world a more peaceful place](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/04/20/the-one-thing-you-can-do-today-to-make-the-world-a-more-peaceful-place/) - Whether you work in an organization of 10 or 10,000, there is probably at least one person you're particularly not fond of. You think they're loud and opinionated, or lazy and irresponsible, melodramatic or insensitive, too silly or too serious. You avoid them in the hallways and elevators. You cringe when they comment in meetings.
- [How We Pose Shapes How We Feel](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/04/29/how-we-pose-shapes-how-we-feel/) - In all the research I've done on empathy, the biggest driver I've found of someone's ability to empathize with others is their own self-awareness. We all know the saying: you can't love anyone else until you love yourself. Well, it's true. Empathy starts with self-love. And the road to self-love starts with self-awareness. The funny
- [War Stories: Stories of War](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/19/war-stories-stories-of-war/) - [Originally published in the series War Stories on Steve Portigal's All This Chittah Chattah] I interviewed Holocaust survivors. Four words that still send shivers down my spine. Their stories were meant to shape my research; they ended up shaping me. It was the project of a lifetime. I was asked to conduct user research for
- [Customers First](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/14/customers-first/) - Choose Your Customers First, said Seth Godin in his post yesterday. "First figure out who you'd like to do business with, then go make something just for them." It's a message I've been evangelizing for the past year: define the problem before devising the solution. Research > Strategy > Design. If you don't know why
- [To Those Who Aim to Cause Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/04/15/to-those-who-aim-to-cause-pain/) - Today you chose hate instead of hope. You chose to hurt instead of heal. You chose power over patience. You chose judgment over justice. You chose enslavement over enlightenment. You made a choice today. A choice that will forever alter the course of your life and the lives of those around you. The lives of
- [Would You Treat Them Differently?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/15/would-you-treat-them-differently/) - All of our minds are filled with things that no one else will ever know. "If you could stand in someone else's shoes, hear what they hear, see what they see, feel what they feel, would you treat them differently?" This is the question asked by the Cleveland Clinic, one of the top hospitals in
- [I'm Going Home](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/04/07/home/) - Home. The last year of my life has been an exploration of that word. I came to a point where I finally had to admit that I no longer felt at home, in my home, in my city. And in a search for a new home, I had to admit that I no longer felt
- [The value of personas](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/24/the-value-of-personas/) - I've never been completely convinced that personas are a valuable design tool. And I think that's because I've been confused all along. To me, personas are the total sum of silly names, stock photography and forced lists of likes and dislikes. The act of creating the personas is worthwhile because I solidify in my mind
- [Design -- Architect -- Engineer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/04/design-architect-engineer/) - I'm talking about the verbs, not the nouns. To design. To architect. To engineer. These words are often conflated -- a common source of despair for those of us in the related fields, misunderstood and misidentified. This issue has been tackled by many people far more seasoned and insightful than me. But if I may
- [IA Summit 2008 Opening Keynote: "Journey to the Center of Design" by Jared Spool](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/12/ia-summit-2008-opening-keynote/) - Jared Spool did the opening keynote presentation early this morning at IA Summit 2008. His talk, titled Journey to the Center of Design, was funny enough to keep us awake and provocative enough to keep us listening. He opened it up by flatly stating: "User-centered design has never worked." He went on to talk about
- [Google's Design Principles](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/28/googles-design-principles/) - I owe you a proper recap of Leah Buley's earth-shattering presentation at the IA Summit, but because my computer battery had died and I was taking notes on paper, I've been lazy about typing it all up. In any case, one of the things she talked about was the importance of using Design Principles to
- [UX Bookshelf](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/19/ux-bookshelf/) - In the right sidebar of my blog I promote my UX Bookshelf. I use Amazon Associates just to get the smallest kickback (I've never actually made any money with this, but I'd like to!). The other day I noticed that they have a new carousel widget (released in April) that allows you to display up
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: "10 Tips for Creative Environments" with Adaptive Path's Bryan Mason and Sarah Nelson](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-10-tips-for-creative-environments/) - The last session I attended on Thursday at Web 2.0 Expo NY was a talk by two members of Adaptive Path. Sarah Nelson is a design strategist and Bryan Mason is the former COO and currently a board member. My Twitter notes from the session: The Neo-Futurists: 30 plays in 60 minutes. 2-12 new plays
- [Who coined the term "wireframes"?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/02/who-coined-the-term-wireframes/) - Wireframes, wireframes, wireframes. It's one of the those "insider" terms that gets thrown around the user experience design community all the time. We go to great lengths to explain what they are -- to our colleagues, our clients, and our friends ("What exactly do you do again?"). [Dan Brown's explanation on Boxes and Arrows; Sarah
- [Personas in the 2008 Presidental Election](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/02/personas-in-the-2008-presidental-election/) - I've talked before about how designers use personas to capture user needs, behaviors and motivations. If you were ever wondering how those insights help guide the product design, this pretty much says it all: [via gregoire] Questions?
- ["Using Mental Models for Tactics and Strategy" webinar with Indi Young](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/12/using-mental-models-for-tactics-and-strategy-webinar-with-indi-young/) - Do you know about the new webinar series co-produced by Rosenfeld Media and Smart Experience called Future Practice? It's a great new series with some of the best voices in user experience talking about how they see best practices turning into next practices. The first webinar was "Modern Web Form Design with Luke Wroblewski" and
- [Maimonides' Eight Levels of Charity Applied to Building Your Personal Brand](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/18/maimonides-eight-levels-of-charity-applied-to-building-your-personal-brand/) - I've been thinking a lot about acts of giving lately. It's been an incredible year for me and so many people have given me so much. It seems impossible to give back. In Judaism, it's common to follow Maimonides' Eight Levels of Tzedakah (the Hebrew word for charity or justice). The aim is to give
- [Redesigning the boxee experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/18/redesigning-the-boxee-experience/) - It's been a few weeks in the making, but today boxee announced that they've hired me to help redesign their user experience from the ground up. If you haven't heard of boxee, where have you been hiding? They've been in the top 10 trending topics on Twitter for the past month. They're blowing up the
- [User Centered Design is now closed](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/18/user-centered-design-is-now-closed/) - Last year at IA Summit 2008, Jared Spool declared that it was time for us to retire the dogma of user-centered design, citing that the most effective design teams don't follow a specific methodology, but instead have a whole toolbox of techniques and tricks to use when the time is right. Flip through his slides
- [Whit Hour - Week 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/09/whit-hour-week-2/) - Thank you so much to the 20 or so folks who showed up for the second week of Whit Hour -- my new weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Join me next week on Sunday, August 16, 9-10pm
- [Whit Hour - Week 3](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/17/whit-hour-week-3/) - Thank you so much to the 20 or so folks who showed up for the third week of Whit Hour -- my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Sorry for the last-minute day change. I was stuck in
- [Whit Hour - Week 4](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/26/whit-hour-week-4/) - Thank you so much to the 25 or so folks who showed up for the fourth week of Whit Hour -- my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Join me next week on Sunday, August 30, 9-10pm Eastern
- [Whit Hour - Week 6](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/21/whit-hour-week-6/) - Thank you so much to the 41 people who showed up for the sixth week of Whit Hour -- my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. I really appreciate everyone's flexibility in moving over to Ustream at the
- [The UX Design Process for the Boxee Beta](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/27/the-ux-design-process-for-the-boxee-beta/) - More than a year ago I very proudly announced that Boxee, the much-loved social media center software company, had hired me as the user experience designer for their beta. In the five months that I worked with them, I conducted user interviews and usability testing to identify people's needs, behaviors and frustrations, and redesigned the
- [See For Yourself on Johnny Holland Magazine](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/03/18/see-for-yourself-on-johnny-holland-magazine/) - Yesterday the wonderful Johnny Holland Magazine published my essay, See For Yourself: About the Power of Observing. The article, or more accurately, rant, is all about how imperative it is for user experience designers to actively observe the world around us on a regular basis. Re-reading it now, it feels quite different than most of
- [My 20 Guiding Principles for UX Design on Monster.com's InsideTech](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/03/26/my-20-guiding-principles-for-ux-design-on-monster-coms-insidetech/) - Last month I mentioned that UX Magazine would now be syndicating some of the content from Pleasure and Pain. A couple weeks ago they republished my Guiding Principles for UX Designers post, which then in turn got picked up by Monster.com's InsideTech, a "meeting place for IT professionals." The article has more than 2,600 views
- [Whit Hour - Week 19](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/10/19/whit-hour-week-19/) - Thank you so much to the ~26 people who showed up for the nineteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Whit Hour - Week 21](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/15/whit-hour-week-21/) - Thank you so much to the ~28 people who showed up for the twenty-first week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Designing for Startups in Smashing Magazine](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/02/26/designing-for-startups-in-smashing-magazine/) - A big thanks goes out to Andrew Maier whose article "Designing for Startups: How to Deliver the Message Across" in Smashing Magazine included some thoughts from a blog post I wrote a few months ago titled "A Plan of Action." In it he features my three approaches to design: Reactive, Preactive, and Proactive -- the
- [Why I detest the term “Lean UX”](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/02/27/why-i-detest-the-term-lean-ux/) - Any user experience designer worth their salt takes the needs of the company they're serving into account and adapts their approach accordingly -- identifying the appropriate process, methods and tools to get the job done. This has been the case for as long as information architecture and interaction design have been in practice. Rigid methodology
- [Knowing Why Beats Knowing How](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/06/knowing-why-beats-knowing-how/) - Last year around this time, I started following an eating plan called The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. At the same time, I was feverishly traveling the globe presenting my talk Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX. Midway through the book, Tim begins a chapter with a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson that draws a
- [If VCs Understood UX...](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/09/13/if-vcs-understood-ux/) - They would... ...value design, not design value. ...seek out mentality, not ideas. ...fund process, not product. ...demand customer insights, not instincts. ...prep for testing days, not demos days. ...commission research, not follow trends. ...study anthropology, sociology and psychology, not just management, economics and statistics. ...foster collaboration, not competition. ...care about people, not percentages. ...cherish sign-ins,
- [The User Experience Process for the Seamless iPad App](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/25/the-user-experience-process-for-the-seamless-ipad-app/) - "By far the best menu application available for iPad..." "I couldn't imagine not having it..." "Fantastic app that I use almost daily..." "Much better than fighting your way through a difficult conversation by calling a restaurant." Less than a year later, Seamless has just announced that mobile devices account for more than 40% of order
- [The truth about the presentation process](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/21/the-truth-about-the-presentation-process/) - Having the opportunity to speak to an audience who cares what you have to say and believes they can learn something new from you is a totally surreal experience. Especially when you consider that months of work pours out of you in under an hour. I've been speaking at conferences since the fall of 2008.
- [Empathy is the Core of Design Thinking](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/26/empathy-is-the-core-of-design-thinking/) - David Kelley is the founder and chairman of IDEO, probably the world's best-known design innovation consultancy. Though not quite a household name, Kelley has arguably made as much of an impact on the field of design as the late Steve Jobs -- in fact, it was under Kelley's leadership that IDEO designed the first mouse
- [How Little You Really Know](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/26/how-little-you-really-know/) - You have no idea how little your users really know. And that shows just how little you know. You work in technology for a living. You've been using a computer since you were born. You are obsessed with learning new things. You are a nerd and you hang out with other nerds. You constantly think
- [Ten Best Things and Five Worst Things About the BlackBerry](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/16/ten-best-things-and-five-worst-things-about-the-blackberry/) - Ten Best Things about the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition: Battery status is expressed in 5% increments, so you never have to estimate how much juice you have left "Convenience key" can be set to open any app, or can be used to lock the device (you choose!) Unlimited custom profiles give you detailed control of
- [The Locks on My Front Door](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/13/the-locks-on-my-front-door/) - I've lived in this apartment for almost two years, and yet I still haven't developed the muscle memory for which way to turn the key to open the locks on my front door. No, I'm not a total dolt. I'm pretty mindful of it actually, and have attempted to come up with a mnemonic. I
- [Why iHate This iPhone](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/13/why-ihate-this-iphone/) - As told to me by my good friend Leo Campbell of Mount Vernon, NY, a manager of a storage facility and an all-around nice, normal guy. Anything I've put in quotes are golden nuggets of truth right out of Leo's mouth. 1- Touch screen keyboard. He can barely type. His "fat fingers" always hit the
- [Facebook helps users "clean up" their profiles](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/17/facebook-helps-users-clean-up-their-profiles/) - Facebook has finally realized that people's profiles are out of control. Yes, it's great that they allow users to run third-party applications in their profiles as a form of self-expression and entertainment (free to the user and the developer), but when you're just looking for someone's contact information it can be impossible to find in
- [Microsoft Download Center](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/19/microsoft-download-center/) - Apparently Microsoft forgot that people read from top to bottom. I have a file that was created in Microsoft Word 2007 and I need to open it on my home computer, a Mac with Word 2004. The new extension is .docx, and as a result my computer can't read it. After some Google research, I
- [CrowdVine Schedule problems](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/22/crowdvine-schedule-problems/) - IxDA Interaction 08 is using CrowdVine for pre-conference social networking. I think it's an awesome idea, and so far CV has been great. I've been able to connect with a bunch of fellow attendees, including a good friend of mine from grad school who I didn't know would be there. It's a great way to
- [Auto-flush toilet has a mind of its own](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/27/auto-flush-toilet-has-a-mind-of-its-own/) - I had the most ridiculous bathroom experience at the American Airlines terminal at LaGuardia Airport on Friday. I went into the stall, put down the protective paper, and sat down. Less than 10 seconds later, I leaned forward ever so slightly and the toilet's auto-flush went off. Water sprayed all over me. I waited for
- [Bloglines vs. Google Reader: A Usability Evaluation](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/05/bloglines-vs-google-reader-a-usability-evaluation/) - Which is better: Bloglines or Google Reader? Here is a usability evaluation of Bloglines versus Google Reader, feature by feature so you can decide
- [(In)Consistency in keyboard shortcuts](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/07/inconsistency-in-keyboard-shortcuts/) - More and more I've been using web apps in lieu of the traditional desktop applications I used for years. Primarily it's because, like many of you, I have a home computer and a work computer; storing information online makes it far easier to access from both locations, particularly when one's a Mac and one's a
- [My BlackBerry Wishlist](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/17/my-blackberry-wishlist/) - RIM, Mike Lazaridis, if you're out there, listen up. Here are my recommendations for improving the BlackBerry user experience: 1- Provide the ability to "Add To Existing Contact." I don't want to have to copy a new phone number or e-mail address from a message and paste it into the entry in my address book.
- [WordPress 2.5 is released](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/20/wordpress-25-is-released/) - Two days ago WordPress released a sneak peek of their latest version, 2.5. Redesigned from the ground up by the team at Happy Cog Studios, the WordPress Admin area now has improved navigation, organization and integration. The visual design looks pretty sleek, too. The folks at WordPress included a lot of screenshots in their post
- [People you may know](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/30/people-you-may-know/) - Earlier this week, Facebook released a new feature called "People You May Know." Three random friends of friends are displayed in the right sidebar of your homepage in the hopes that you'll make more connections. When you click the "see all" link, a longer list of possible friends is offered up. Of the 27 people
- [Flickr introduces video](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/09/flickr-introduces-video/) - Flickr announced today that they are now offering video. Now when you log in to Flickr, this is what you see: Before I go any further, I have to admit that while I watch a lot of video online, I don't post much video online. Aside from helping my mom post her videos to YouTube,
- [Facebook Chat](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/11/facebook-chat/) - Facebook chat was introduced in April 2008. It shows your Online Friends and their Status: online, away, or idle. You can also see your latest notifications.
- [The User Experience Relationship](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/21/the-user-experience-relationship/) - Last week a co-worker forwarded these images on the differences in how people communicate to the customer based on their role, e.g., marketing vs. advertising vs. branding. I thought the design one was pretty clever, but of course I had to add my own for user experience. For user experience designers, it isn't about us.
- [Group Video Chat: A Usability Evaluation](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/23/group-video-chat-a-usability-evaluation/) - Back in January when I started this whole "getting to know the community" thing, I met a couple guys named @matto and @snook, a.k.a. Matthew Oliphant and Jonathan Snook respectively. Matthew had been following me based on David Armano's recommendation, and I had followed him back because, well, I basically didn't know anybody on Twitter.
- [Plurk You](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/20/plurk-you/) - I've been wanting to write about Plurk for a while. Everyone seemed to be so enamored with it when it first launched, but maybe that was because Twitter was experiencing serious downtime and people were pissed off -- not because it was anything actually worth being excited about. The first time I logged on, I
- [Bluefly don't bother me](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/13/bluefly-dont-bother-me/) - It's been hot in NYC lately. Very hot. So it's time to buy some more dresses. But being the busy woman that I am, I don't have a ton of time to go shopping. I decided to check out a few websites to see if anything caught my eye. I've never shopped at Bluefly.com, but
- [My Beef with the NYC Taxicab Touchscreens](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/07/my-beef-with-the-nyc-taxicab-touchscreens/) - If you've ridden in a NYC taxicab in the past 6 months, you've likely noticed the touchscreen TV in the back seat. At first I thought this was a great innovation -- GPS-powered maps to show the distance between me and my destination, real-time local news, restaurant reviews and events listings. Then I tried using
- [TweetDeck stream of consciousness](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/14/tweetdeck-stream-of-consciousness/) - Preamble In my opinion, Twitter is a powerful vehicle for synchronous communication (Asychronous = e-mail; Synchronous = AIM). It's happening in real-time, and while it's often called a micro-blogging platform, I think that's a misnomer. It's quite different than a blog -- a centralized stream of content curated by one or many people. By contrast,
- [UI13: Peter Merholz and Andrew Crow's "Design Strategy and Planning"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/03/ui13-peter-merholz-and-andrew-crows-design-strategy-and-planning/) - This year Jared Spool's UIE put on its 13th User Interface conference. That is an incredible accomplishment for a practice that still feels so new. But Jared is a pioneer in the field; he's been focused on product usability since 1988 (I was in the 1st grade!). Given UIE's immense experience in the space, it
- [UI13: Scott Berkun's "The Myths of Innovation: How to Lead Breakthrough Projects"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/03/ui13-scott-berkuns-the-myths-of-innovation-how-to-lead-breakthrough-projects/) - On Day 3 of UI13, I attended a full-day session by Scott Berkun on "The Myths of Innovation: How to Lead Breakthrough Projects." Innovation is a word that gets thrown around the tech world haphazardly, so I was particularly interested to hear how Scott would legitimize the topic and discuss the ultimate value of forward-thinking.
- [UI13: Kim Goodwin's "Where Usability Meets Desirability: Goal-Directed Visual Interface Design"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/03/ui13-kim-goodwins-where-usability-meets-desirability-goal-directed-visual-interface-design/) - I attended Jared Spool's keynote "Journey to the Center of Design" on Day 2 of UI13, but since I had already live-tweeted it when I saw it at IA Summit 2008, I decided just to sit back and watch. In the afternoon, I attended Kim Goodwin's "Where Usability Meets Desirability: Goal-Directed Visual Interface Design". My
- [UI13: Dana Chisnell's "Usability Testing in the Wild"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/03/ui13-dana-chisnells-usability-testing-in-the-wild/) - The second day of UI13 was a series of featured talks. I attended sessions by Dana Chisnell and Kim Goodwin, as well as the keynote by Jared Spool. Here are my Twitter notes on Dana's session, "The Quick, the Cheap, and the Insightful: Conducting Usability Tests in the Wild": What is usability testing? asked to
- [My UX Bookshelf on Flashlight Worthy Books](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/24/my-ux-bookshelf-on-flashlight-worthy-books/) - In July I posted the books on my UX bookshelf. Then a couple months ago I received an email from Peter Steinberg, a product development guy with a lot of cool experience who reads and enjoys this little blog. He recently launched a site called Flashlight Worthy -- a hand-picked book recommendation site -- and
- [My UX Bookshelf featured in Usability News](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/05/my-ux-bookshelf-featured-in-usability-news/) - Thanks to Joanna Bawa, editor, for featuring my UX Bookshelf on Usability News. They linked to my list of The 10 Best Books on User Experience on Flashlight Worthy Books. Thanks to John Yamasaki for pointing it out.
- [boxee now in public alpha](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/08/boxee-now-in-public-alpha/) - So you know I'm the UX consultant for boxee, right? Well they've been in private, invite-only alpha since June, and already they have 200,000 users. Today at CES they announced a new version available to the public. That means you no longer need an invite to get in. With the new version comes a bunch
- [Video of Dan Saffer's talk "Tap is the New Click" at IxDA NYC](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/09/video-of-dan-saffers-talk-tap-is-the-new-click-at-ixda-nyc/) - In September, I posted my notes from Dan Saffer's fantastic talk "Tap is the New Click" at the monthly IxDA NYC event. R/GA, the hosts, filmed and edited a video of the presentation, which has now been made available on Vimeo. If you are interested in gestural interfaces or designing kiosks, tablets, or any non-keyboard-and-mouse
- [10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/10/10-most-common-misconceptions-about-user-experience-design/) - A couple months ago, the lovely Sharon Feder asked me if I would be interested in being a guest writer for Mashable. As I'm sure you can imagine, I jumped at the chance. I've been a fan of Mashable for a long, long time and kind of always hoped I'd get to write for them.
- [Experience Design Lessons We Can Learn from My Nail Salon](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/11/experience-design-lessons-we-can-learn-from-my-nail-salon/) - I'm a native Manhattanite and uptown girl, so it should be no surprise that I've been getting manicures since I was a munchkin. It isn't only about having freshly painted nails; it's more about taking 30 minutes every few weeks to really treat myself and escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. I've
- [More great press on the boxee NYC meetup](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/29/more-great-press-on-the-boxee-nyc-meetup/) - Earlier this week I told you about the 600+ people that attended the boxee NYC meetup at Webster Hall on Tuesday. We've gotten some great press since then, and I wanted to share it. First, you can read boxee's own recap of the event on their blog and check out TechSpank's video coverage. Also: Boxee
- [Interviewed for "Facebook, Google, and the data design disaster"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/30/interviewed-for-facebook-google-and-the-data-design-disaster/) - Big thanks to Caroline McCarthy for interviewing me for her latest CNET article, "Facebook, Google, and the data design disaster" featured in her column The Social. Caroline asked me what I thought of the new Facebook homepage redesign, as well as Google's apparent obsession with data (above good design, as exposed by designer Douglas Bowman
- [Old news: UX in the mainstream](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/30/old-news-ux-in-the-mainstream/) - Last summer when I was watching American Idol or some such thing, I walked into the kitchen during a commercial break but was quickly drawn back when this caught my ear: "The fun part is taking complex technology and making it easy to use for customers." -- Jason Johnson, UI designer for the Ford Focus
- [10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design -- the presentation](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/06/10-most-common-misconceptions-about-user-experience-design-the-presentation/) - In early January I wrote an article for Mashable titled "10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design" in which I asked 20 of the most prominent leaders in the user experience community what they think is the biggest misunderstanding about what we do. I was blown away by the response to the article --
- [My Top 10 User Experience Design Blogs on Blogs.com](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/29/my-top-10-user-experience-design-blogs-on-blogscom/) - Wendy Taylor, editor of Six Apart's Blogs.com, recently got in touch to see if I'd be interested in being a guest author to create a list of the 10 Best User Experience Design Blogs. Of course I jumped at the chance. Mindful of this honor and opportunity, I was very careful about the blogs that
- [Twitter's confirmation message is a usability fail](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/06/twitters-confirmation-message-is-a-usability-fail/) - Folks know that I use this blog to call out poor user experiences, and often I'll get requests from people to discuss a particular usability failure that gets their goat. Recently my friend Michael Gruen asked me to talk about Twitter's relatively new design for confirmation messages, a white bar that runs along the top
- [Twitter's Most Moronic Change: Removing @ Reply Settings](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/12/twitters-most-moronic-change-removing-reply-settings/) - Twitter changed how their @ replies work by removing the reply settings. Now @ replies are only seen by those who follow the person being replied to. Big mistake
- [Your target market cannot be everyone](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/14/your-target-market-cannot-be-everyone/) - One of the first things I ask prospective clients is to specify their target audiences. Nine times out of ten they're sure to respond, "We want to appeal to everyone!" I give the same response to them all: Try to make your product for everyone and you'll appeal to no one. If a company doesn't
- [WordPress 2.8 is released](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/11/wordpress-2-8-is-released/) - I use WordPress to power this blog so I always like to take a close look at new versions to see if they will help or hurt my workflow. Over a year ago I wrote extensively about WordPress 2.5, which was a drastic overhaul of all aspects of the admin tool. I failed to write
- [Here at An Event Apart Boston](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/22/here-at-an-event-apart-boston/) - After a lovely Father's Day brunch, I hopped the train up to Boston for An Event Apart. I'll be presenting a brand new talk tomorrow titled DIY UX: Give Your Users an Upgrade (without calling in a pro). You can read more about it in my previous blog post. I gotta admit I'm pretty damn
- [Ultra Light User Experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/25/ultra-light-user-experience/) - A couple months ago Graham Lawlor asked me to be on the July panel for Ultra Light Startups, a group of entrepreneurs who collaborate to help each other launch startups quicker and cheaper. Their events have a unique format. As Graham describes it, "The first hour is 'introductions by elevator pitch' where people give a
- [An Event Apart Boston was wicked good](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/25/an-event-apart-boston-was-wicked-good/) - I had the immense pleasure of presenting at An Event Apart in Boston on Monday. My talk titled DIY UX: Give Your Users an Upgrade (without calling in a pro) got a lot of great responses. Here are just a few: View more presentations from Whitney Hess.
- [Photo of the day: Insert hands to dry](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/06/photo-of-the-day-insert-hands-to-dry/) - When I'm in a strange, public place, the last thing I want to do is insert my hands anywhere. I went to the public restroom at the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle and finally got to use the Dyson Airblade hand dryer! Lots of people had mentioned it before, but this was my first
- [Twitter Redesigns Follower and Following Pages](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/01/twitter-redesigns-follower-and-following-pages/) - Today Twitter launched a redesign of the Following and Followers pages. By default the Expanded view is displayed, but you can switch to the List view in the top left: It'll still show you 20 people per page, but without the location and last tweet sent. On the right side of each username are two
- [I did the UX design for Brighter Planet](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/20/i-did-the-ux-design-for-brighter-planet/) - I was the user experience designer for the new Brighter Planet site, a social networking site that lets people take control of their environmental footprint
- [The boxee website redesign](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/20/the-boxee-website-redesign/) - I was the user experience designer on the boxee website redesign. In particular I helped to design the registration flow and member area of the new site
- [Twitter updating Facebook status without permission](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/29/twitter-updating-facebook-status-without-permission/) - Update: For the latest information, please read UPDATE: Facebook at fault for unauthorized link with Twitter account. [If Facebook suddenly started publishing your tweets, go into Facebook and REMOVE or BLOCK the Twitter application. That's currently the only fix.] Just an hour ago, I got a notification that someone had commented on my Facebook status
- [UPDATE: Facebook at fault for unauthorized link with Twitter account](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/30/update-facebook-at-fault-for-unauthorized-link-with-twitter-account/) - A Facebook bug allowed Twitter to publish to the stream on behalf of users who had had not authorized the app to update their Facebook status.
- [Make sure that whatever you design is fitting a need in the world and has a purpose](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/02/make-sure-that-whatever-you-design-is-fitting-a-need-in-the-world-and-has-a-purpose/) - I have officially made it. I was quoted by Catriona Cornett on inspireUX. "Differentiate yourself by fully understanding the problem before you attempt to solve it… Don’t just fall in love with a solution and go full-force on making it look great, but really make sure that whatever you design is fitting a need in
- [Client Matters: Does Your Client Need a Consultant or an Agency?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/04/client-matters-does-your-client-need-a-consultant-or-an-agency/) - I've started a new column called Client Matters on UXmatters, a web magazine about user experience. Every other month I’ll give UX professionals an honest look at managing relationships with clients and provide some tips on how to turn unpleasant situations into winning ones. The first article in the column starts at the beginning: first
- [SeamlessWeb Mobile Site: Easy to Use, But Impossible to Order](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/22/seamlessweb-mobile-site-easy-to-use-but-impossible-to-order/) - 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
- [My DIY UX talk is featured in InformationWeek](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/24/my-diy-ux-talk-is-featured-in-informationweek/) - Many thanks go to Allen Stern of CenterNetworks for covering my DIY UX presentation in the InformationWeek blog. He was in attendance when I gave the talk to about 25 people at the NYC Customer Development Process Meetup last week. Read his article: DIY Usability For Startups
- [Client Matters: Process, Not Portfolio](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/05/client-matters-process-not-portfolio/) - UXmatters, a web magazine about user experience, just published the second article in my new bimonthly column, Client Matters, where I give UX professionals an honest look at initiating and managing relationships with clients. The latest article is titled, Process, Not Portfolio. In it I argue that showing your previous work in a portfolio isn't
- [Onboarding: A Sidebar in "Designing Social Interfaces"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/06/onboarding-a-sidebar-in-designing-social-interfaces/) - Last May I was given the great privilege to write a sidebar in Christian Crumlish and Erin Malone's fabulous new book, Designing Social Interfaces. The topic I was asked to write about is "onboarding" -- designing welcoming experiences for new users by easing them in. You might have seen a couple blog posts that I've
- [See you at An Event Apart Chicago](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/10/see-you-at-an-event-apart-chicago/) - I'm speaking at An Event Apart Chicago on October 12, 2009 On Sunday I'm off to one of my favorite cities to attend and speak at An Event Apart Chicago, being held on October 12-13. I'll be presenting my talk titled DIY UX: Give Your Users an Upgrade (without calling in a pro), which I
- [The Project of a Lifetime](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/09/the-project-of-a-lifetime/) - I'm on the Amtrak down to Washington, D.C. as I write this. Tomorrow (Monday) I start a new project that will likely be the biggest professional challenge I've ever faced and will carry profound personal significance as well. Happy Cog East in Philadelphia was recently awarded the website redesign project for the United States Holocaust
- [A Q&A with the Speakers of UX London](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/26/a-qa-with-the-speakers-of-ux-london/) - I'm psyched to be hosting a workshop at UX London titled Creating a Culture of UX. To help promote the event, the fine folks at UX Booth posed a few questions to the UX London speakers. A Q&A with the speakers from UX London was published today. UX Booth will be updating the post as
- [ReadWriteWeb on my Boxee beta UX process, and other thoughts](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/29/readwriteweb-on-my-boxee-beta-ux-process-and-other-thoughts/) - On Wednesday I posted an extensive behind-the-scenes look at the user experience design process I used when Boxee hired me to help them get from alpha to beta: The UX Design Process for the Boxee Beta. To my utter joy, ReadWriteWeb featured my work in their ReadWriteStart channel, focused on startups: An Inside Look Into
- [Photo of the day: Bags on Board](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/23/photo-of-the-day-bags-on-board/) - My cousins have an adorable Boston Terrier named Luna. She likes to play tug of war, and fetch, and tear her toys apart. And unlike the dogs I had growing up, she also likes to poop outside. Over the summer my cousins were taking Luna for a walk and I noticed their completely amazing leash.
- [Client Matters: Needs + Resources + Location + Schedule + Budget = Scope](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/08/client-matters-needs-resources-location-schedule-budget-scope/) - This post is two months overdue. Somehow I never linked to the third article in Client Matters, my bimonthly column in UXmatters, where I give UX professionals an honest look at initiating and managing relationships with clients. Published in December 2009, the article is titled, Needs + Resources + Location + Schedule + Budget =
- [Client Matters: Ironclad Contracts: Tougher Than a Pinky Swear](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/08/client-matters-ironclad-contracts-tougher-than-a-pinky-swear/) - UXmatters just published the fourth article in my bimonthly column, Client Matters, where I give UX professionals an honest look at initiating and managing relationships with clients. The latest article is titled, Ironclad Contracts: Tougher Than a Pinky Swear. In it I expound on how to determine the nuts and bolts of your client contract:
- [My Top 10 User Experience Blogs to Watch in 2010 on Blogs.com](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/26/my-top-10-user-experience-blogs-to-watch-in-2010-on-blogs-com/) - Last April I had the honor of contributing a guest list on the 10 Best UX (User Experience) Design blogs [the list, my blog post] for Six Apart's Blogs.com. I still regularly read almost all of the blogs I listed, but recently realized that there are many new, revamped or lesser known UX blogs that
- [Bill Maher makes fun of Captcha's poor usability](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/12/bill-maher-makes-fun-of-captchas-poor-usability/) - If you follow me on Twitter, you know I'm in love with Bill Maher. You might not agree with his politics, his ideology, or his bad language, but you've gotta admit that he has a knack for putting people in their place. At the end of each episode, Bill Maher gives his New Rules --
- [SeamlessWeb: Don't get between me and my food](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/14/seamlessweb-dont-get-between-me-and-my-food/) - I've written about SeamlessWeb before, so you probably know that I'm a huge fan of their service (delivery from an enormous selection of restaurants), but quite appalled by their website. I put up with poor usability for two very important reasons: I love food, and there's no other option. My biggest complaint has always been
- [My Creating a Culture of UX workshop at UX London](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/28/my-creating-a-culture-of-ux-workshop-at-ux-london/) - To say I had a blast at UX London would be a lie. Not because it wasn't amazing, but because I didn't actually attend any of it outside of my own workshop. Some may have thought I was out and about exploring London instead of attending other speakers' sessions. Quite false. Where I really was:
- [Sketchnotes from UK UPA's UX Clinic](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/01/sketchnotes-from-uk-upas-ux-clinic/) - Like I mentioned in my post on UX London, I also had the pleasure of being on a UK UPA panel with Dave Gray, Jeff Patton, and Stephen Anderson titled UX Clinic. We spent about two hours answering the audience's questions -- some previously submitted and some on the fly. It was a blast. Eva-Lotta
- [Your profile has been viewed by <undeniably her>](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/11/your-profile-has-been-viewed-by/) - I met a really nice guy at STC Summit named Eric Roberson [LinkedIn] [Twitter]. He attended my Evangelizing Yourself talk, and was apparently very moved by it (which moved me). The next day when I saw him in another session, he took out his phone to show me something he'd discovered earlier in the day.
- [Photo of the day: Visualizing Genres](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/17/photo-of-the-day-visualizing-genres/) - Hotel alarm clocks are usually a big pain in the butt. Hampton Inn aims to fix all that -- and takes simplicity to inconceivable levels. They go so far past easy to use and intuitive that they come back around to obscure and pointless. They visualize musical genres. Columns for Classical Stream for Soft Rock
- [User Experience on The Big Web Show](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/16/user-experience-on-the-big-web-show/) - I'm honored to be joining Jeffrey Zeldman and Dan Benjamin on tomorrow's episode of The Big Web Show. Tune in at 1pm ET as they interview me live about all things user experience. Nothing scripted, nothing planned -- just uncensored, unadulterated UX pleasure. If you can't make it during that time, the video and podcast
- [Watch me on The Big Web Show](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/22/watch-me-on-the-big-web-show/) - Last Thursday I had the absolute pleasure of joining the lovely Jeffrey Zeldman and Dan Benjamin on the eighth episode of The Big Web Show (read my previous post). If you weren't able to catch the live broadcast, be sure to check out the video and podcast. We talked about how I've used Twitter to
- [You are in context to another](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/26/you-are-in-context-to-another/) - I've been thinking a lot lately about how to define your audience, how to name them. We all know that if you design for everyone, you end up designing for no one. But demarcating a group of people can be a real struggle, especially since people exhibit different behaviors in different situations -- one of
- [OpenTable has a brain. Does your product?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/01/opentable-has-a-brain-does-your-product/) - If you've never heard of OpenTable, I'm guessing you don't live anywhere near a city. It's the real-time online reservation system that lets you book a table without having to call the restaurant. I dine out a lot and I tend to be the planner in my group of friends, so OpenTable and I know
- [Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/14/twitter-keyboard-shortcuts/) - I'm a Tweetie fanatic -- even if they haven't updated Tweetie for Mac in ages and probably never will again -- so I don't use the #newtwitter web app very much at all. The other day I just happened to look at the footer and notice a link labeled Shortcuts. It opens the following layer:
- [Apple listens: iPad screen orientation lock](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/18/apple-listens-ipad-screen-orientation-lock/) - When I upgraded my iPad to iOS 4.2, I suddenly lost all sound. I freaked out, thinking I'd have to take it into the Apple Store to get fixed, or worse, reinstall the operating system and lose all my apps. So of course I asked the Twitterverse for help, as I tend to do. Turns
- [The most accurate portrayal of User Experience Designers ever created](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/27/the-most-accurate-portrayal-of-user-experience-designers-ever-created/) - This is possibly my favorite 1 minute and 32 seconds in the history of moving images. I got shivers at the end. Please do yourself and everyone else a favor by taking the time to watch this now, then send it to everyone who has ever asked you what a user experience designer is. ILUVUXDESIGN
- [A Proactive Apology from Plancast](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/30/a-proactive-apology-from-plancast/) - I'm not a huge user of Plancast -- the event-based social network (a sort of next generation Upcoming.org) -- mostly because I'm too lazy to update my plans in multiple places, with RSVP functionality on Facebook, Meetup, Eventbrite and more. But an email that arrived in my inbox yesterday just might make me change my
- [Interaction-design.org's Encyclopedia is live!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/02/01/interaction-design-orgs-encyclopedia-is-live/) - Interaction-design.org is a Denmark-based foundation that explores research on all human-centered aspects of technology. In an effort to create world-class educational materials for free, they have just launched an open-access, peer-reviewed encyclopedia. The first seven chapters were released today, with many more to be published in the coming months. I was invited by editor-in-chief Mads
- [The Work I Love](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/05/the-work-i-love/) - The work I love is about helping companies who love their customers discover how to be better to them...not convincing them to care. The work I love is about empowering customers to get the service they deserve...not trying to get them to buy into what they don't really need. The work I love is about
- [I am a stencil](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/06/i-am-a-stencil/) - This happened five months ago, and I was so stunned by the honor that I think I pushed it somewhere deep into my subconscious until now. In Search Patterns: Design for Discovery by Peter Morville and Jeffrey Callender, there are these cute people icons that accompany various illustrations throughout the book. There was so much
- [Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/05/04/design-principles-the-philosophy-of-ux/) - On Monday, I had the honor and privilege of presenting a new talk at An Event Apart Boston 2011, titled Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX. This is my third year speaking at AEA and it never gets less exhilarating -- and terrifying! Design Principles: The Philosophy of UXView more presentations from Whitney Hess. My
- [Silver Winner of the Inaugural User Experience Awards](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/06/07/silver-winner-of-the-inaugural-user-experience-awards/) - I am incredibly honored to have won an award at last night's User Experience Awards at the Parsons School of Design. I was awarded one of four Silver prizes for my work on the Boxee beta application, and was given the distinction of Best User Centered Design Process. Wow! Thank you so much to the
- [Follow-up to "You're not a user experience designer if..."](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/06/07/follow-up-to-youre-not-a-user-experience-designer-if/) - The blog post I wrote about six weeks ago titled, You're not a user experience designer if..., got way more attention than I ever could have predicted -- in fact, I think it got the most traffic of any post I've ever written. Sure, it's an antagonistic title and that always gets people riled up.
- [What I learned in 2011 and my predictions for 2012](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/12/19/what-i-learned-in-2011-and-my-predictions-for-2012/) - It's a funny thing -- the more you share your opinions openly, the more people ask you for them. As the year is coming to a close, if you're thinking about starting a blog next year or writing more frequently on the one you already have, don't just make an empty resolution. STICK TO IT.
- [Don Draper is the Antithesis of User Experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/02/27/don-draper-is-the-antithesis-of-user-experience/) - Earlier this month, Fast Company began publishing a series on user experience written by industry analyst Brian Solis. As soon as I read the first article, I reached out to Brian on Twitter to say that I thought it was crucial that he incorporate the perspectives of practicing user experience designers in order for his
- [The User Is Not Like Me](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/05/04/the-user-is-not-like-me/) - The user is not like me. August 25, 2003. It was the first day of my senior year at Carnegie Mellon University. It was the day I learned the mantra that would shape my career. The user is not like me. Words uttered by Bonnie John, my professor of 05-410 Introduction to HCI Methods (now
- [UX and The Lawsuit](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/09/ux-and-the-lawsuit/) - So you may have heard that Apple and Samsung are suing each other. I hate when mommy and daddy fight. In general, this lawsuit really irks me. Patents are outdated, both sides are being petty bullies, and customers are the ones who are going to suffer. I was wishing it would all just go away
- [How "When I..." Reasoning Poisons a Team](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/16/how-when-i-reasoning-poisons-a-team/) - Earlier this year I had a client who hired me to redesign the first step in their 3-step process. The page was getting loads of customer complaints and the last three iterations on the design hadn't helped. As always, I started the project by interviewing key stakeholders: the product manager, the product owner, the head
- [Featured in The Art of Web Design by PBS Off Book](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/09/24/featured-in-the-art-of-web-design-by-pbs-off-book/) - I'm honored to have been featured in the latest episode of Off Book, a documentary series by PBS, alongside greats Jeffrey Zeldman and Jason Santa Maria. Titled The Art of Web Design, the video gives a high-level overview of how the web is made and how it has evolved. Not surprisingly, I focused on why
- [Why CAPTCHAs Fail on Marketplace](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/04/why-captchas-fail-on-marketplace/) - American Public Media's popular program Marketplace ran a story on Friday about Ticketmaster finally removing CAPTCHAs from their ticket-buying process. Reporter Sally Herships contacted me to share my thoughts. Captcha-22: When online security hurts sales CAPTCHAs demonstrate that a company cares more about thwarting spam than they do about making things easy for their customers.
- [How to Conduct Yourself While Conducting Interviews](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/19/how-to-conduct-yourself-while-conducting-interviews/) - I spend most of my time these days coaching senior leaders and product teams on how to build empathy for their customers and colleagues. This is what my consulting business has evolved into over time. One of the tools we use are one-on-one interviews with stakeholders and customers. The goal is to discover the behaviors,
- [The Enduring Misconceptions of User Experience Design](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/08/the-enduring-misconceptions-of-user-experience-design/) - A couple weeks ago I suddenly saw a resurgence of interest in an article I wrote for Mashable in January 2009 titled, 10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design. Later that year I turned it into a presentation and had a pretty good run with it, until I felt that my message was widely
- [Marketing e-mails that actually help customers](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/08/31/marketing-emails-that-actually-help-customers/) - If you've read this blog for long enough or follow me on Twitter, it should be no surprise that I've tried online dating. Many years ago in college, I signed up for Match.com, but my membership expired about three years ago. So imagine my surprise to get an e-mail from them the other day. The
- [Get Satisfaction is now on Pleasure and Pain (and vice versa)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/11/get-satisfaction-is-now-on-pleasure-and-pain-and-vice-versa/) - I get enormous pleasure out of writing this blog, but I don't do it just to sermonize. This blog is for you, anyone out there interested in the broad topic of user experience -- whether you've never heard it before or practice it every day. Since I always want to make this space better, involve
- [Why the new Skittles website is ridiculous but I don't actually care](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/03/why-the-new-skittles-website-is-ridiculous-but-i-dont-actually-care/) - Skittles is one of my favorite candies. I love opening up a fresh pack, finding one of each color and squishing them together to make a rainbow. It just makes me happy. I've been eating Skittles my whole life and I've been on a computer my whole life, and yet never in a million years
- [Digital Conversion PSA](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/30/digital-conversion-psa/) - On June 12, 2009, analog will die. The Digital TV Transition (DTV) website has everything you need to know about making the switch. There are no less than 50 pages of full text explaining how to painlessly prepare. A variety of downloadable PDFs are available to guide you through the converter box installation process. There's
- [Photo of the day: Accommodating large parties](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/13/photo-of-the-day-accommodating-large-parties/) - While at the IA Summit in Memphis in March, a large group of us went out to dinner at The Majestic Grille. When I say a large group, I mean 60 people. We were split up at a bunch of tables, and I ended up at a table of ten. We all ordered drinks and
- [Photo of the day: You must be in one of the first five cars](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/14/photo-of-the-day-you-must-be-in-one-of-the-first-five-cars/) - If you've ever ridden the 1/2/3 line on the NYC subway, you've probably seen one of these signs: Both the 145th St stop and the South Ferry stop have shorter platforms than the rest of the stations. That means that unless you're in one of the first five cars, you won't be able to exit
- [Photo of the day: Be aware of glass door!!!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/02/photo-of-the-day-be-aware-of-glass-door/) - When Orian was apartment hunting last month, he saw this sign in a vestibule and snapped a pic. A couple things amused him: 1) the three exclamation points, and 2) that the person wrote "be aware" instead of "beware" (something I might not have picked up on). I have a hard time believing the sign
- [Photo of the day: The unfoggable mirror](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/09/photo-of-the-day-the-unfoggable-mirror/) - Orian and I stayed at the Seaport Hotel in Boston a few weekends ago. After getting out of the shower I noticed that a portion of the mirror was somehow not fogged up! At first I thought it was a happy accident, but then I realized that couldn't be and gasped at the genius of
- [Jeff Bezos says: obsess over customers](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/29/jeff-bezos-says-obsess-over-customers/) - In the video below, Jeff Bezos, one of the greatest minds in customer experience, tells us "Everything I know" and discusses the acquisition of Zappos. What Jeff Bezos knows: Obsess over customers "When given the choice of obsessing over competitors or obsessing over customers, we always obsess over customers." Invent "Any time we have a
- [The Flawed Dining Experience at Hill Country](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/13/the-flawed-dining-experience-at-hill-country/) - The food is great. The atmosphere is great. The dining experience is so poorly thought out it boggles the mind. Hill Country Barbecue needs a redesign. After winding through a maze and squeezing between seat-backs, you get seated at your table. A sweet lady comes to take your drink order and explains the "barbecue market"
- [Apple Customer Support Fiasco](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/27/apple-customer-support-fiasco/) - I just had the most inexcusably bad experience with Apple Customer Support. So shockingly bad that I can't even believe it was Apple on the other end of the line. Let me preface my story by saying that I've been a devoted Apple customer since I was in the 5th grade -- 17 years ago.
- [The Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel is a hot mess](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/30/the-sheraton-centre-toronto-hotel-is-a-hot-mess/) - Allow me to preface this rant by saying that the organizers of IDEA 2009 are in no way responsible for the poor accommodations and service at the Sheraton Center Toronto Hotel. Though it was the hotel recommended on the conference website and at which a group discount was provided, there is no way that the
- [The Sheraton Responds!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/30/the-sheraton-responds/) - [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
- [Resolution Found with the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/01/resolution-found-with-the-sheraton-centre-toronto-hotel/) - 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
- [Domino's Pizza: Be Inspired By Your Harshest Critics](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/29/dominos-pizza-be-inspired-by-your-harshest-critics/) - We all know that Domino's Pizza isn't exactly a New York slice. But when Domino's finally realized just how many people hate their product, they did something drastic about it. Watch the video below. Whatever you think about Domino's Pizza, whatever you feel about the brand, you have to admit one thing: it takes a
- [Photo of the day: Penn Station, Charging Station](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/22/photo-of-the-day-penn-station-charging-station/) - I've found myself at Penn Station quite a lot lately. You see, I'm working on the project of a lifetime with Happy Cog Philadelphia, so I visit by train from time-to-time. A few weeks ago I observed some unusual behavior: I've passed by this column dozens of times when I walk into the Amtrak area
- [The NEW Frappuccino: however-you-want-it](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/12/the-new-frappuccino-however-you-want-it/) - From middle school through college, I was obsessed with Starbucks. Five-times-a-week obsessed. Then five years ago I realized that I was spending $1,500 a year on coffee, quit cold turkey, and haven't had a drop since. Part of me also hated the evil empire it has become. In middle school when the first Starbucks opened
- [Photo of the day: Back in 30 minutes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/15/photo-of-the-day-back-in-30-minutes/) - Time has always bothered me; I don't really believe in it. It's a human invention, a representation of reality. Now the passage of time, that's something I can believe in. You can feel it. You can measure it. But it's always, ALWAYS, relative to something else. Like when you're in the train station waiting for
- [Photo of the day: Brand Transparency](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/18/photo-of-the-day-brand-transparency/) - Headed back home from Heathrow Airport after a lovely vacation, I stopped at the Pret A Manger for a quick pre-flight bite. When I got to the cash register, I noticed this awesome sticker -- concise, honest, and, best of all, empathetic. VAT NIGHTMARE We're legally required to add on VAT when you eat in.
- [The Neighborhood Business Experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/11/03/the-neighborhood-business-experience/) - It was 7:19pm. There I was, standing outside of Tarzian Hardware, its gate down and locked, the lights turned off. The store hours sign read Monday - Friday 8:30am - 7pm. I knocked on the window. I rattled the gate. I called the store from my cell phone with 8% battery remaining and could hear
- [Alan Alda falls victim to McAfee's dreadful customer experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/20/alan-alda-falls-victim-to-mcafees-dreadful-customer-experience/) - A month ago, my mom forwarded me an article from the New York Times that I only got around to reading now (as is known to happen with forwards from Mom). Turns out she picked a good one: a forehead-slapper about acclaimed actor Alan Alda's helluva time canceling his McAfee email monitoring: Theater of the
- [GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 2 "Twist"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/27/gel-2008-day-2-twist/) - [Also check out other GEL 2008 posts: Day 1; Day 2 Session 1 "Connect", Session 3 "Make", Session 4 "Success"] Session 2: Twist Speakers: Bridget Duffy, George Vaillant, Lelavision, Natasha Schüll Twist: taking the familiar and adding something unexpected Bridget Duffy, Chief Experience Officer of Cleveland Clinic NOTE: You can see all my photos of
- [Speak and Be Seen](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/12/speak-and-be-seen/) - I'm thrilled to have been invited to contribute a piece to Ladies in Tech, a new site celebrating and supporting female speakers in technology. Published today, Speak and Be Seen is a deeply personal story of how I first got involved in public speaking and the massive fears I've had to overcome along the way.
- [Is Empathy "Women's Work"?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/07/is-empathy-womens-work/) - In late 2010, I studied the number of women at high-profile startups, and found that if a startup employed women at all, it was far more often in a "selling" role than in a "making" one. That's quite a disadvantage for companies whose customer base is primarily women. Despite Etsy's news last month that they'd
- [My favorite terms from The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit 2008 -- Part 1](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/20/my-favorite-terms-from-the-dictionary-of-corporate-bullshit-2008-part-1/) - Today as I was cleaning up my desk, I found my old 2008 Page-A-Day Calendar of The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit. I used to have it on my desk at Liquidnet and got a huge kick out of lamenting a new bullshit term every day. The definitions are hilarious and merciless. Sometimes the terms were
- [April Fools jokes around the web -- causing user pain?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/01/april-fools-jokes-around-the-web-causing-user-pain/) - Shockingly, a bunch of people really believed that I was putting my career as a user experience designer on hold in order to become a motivational speaker. But there have been much bigger jokes floating around the web today in honor of April Fools' Day, some of which are cute and silly, and others of
- [In case of fire: Do Not Use Twitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/25/in-case-of-fire-do-not-use-twitter/) - Last week this photo was posted to BuzzFeed and made the rounds on Twitter. It's originally from johnpiercy on Flickr. I think it looks doctored, but John isn't sure. It's just too hilarious to be real! What do you think? P.S. If I was caught in or near a fire, I definitely WOULD use Twitter.
- [Photo of the day: No Yes No No](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/03/photo-of-the-day-no-yes-no-no/) - That's her response to the question, "Can I take you home?" Found in the ladies' room at Clery's Bar in Boston, where the An Event Apart after party was held.
- [An important announcement for my 300th post](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/01/an-important-announcement-for-my-300th-post/) - It has been almost 15 months since I started this blog. When I started it, I felt like I had plateaued in my career and needed the next uphill climb. Since then I have come out of my shell, made a lot of friends in the user experience and greater tech communities here in NYC
- [@whitneyhess on Acela Express](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/15/whitneyhess-on-acela-express/) - When Jeffrey Zeldman uploads your photo to Flickr, you blog it. @whitneyhess on Acela Express Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Zeldman
- [Thanks is never enough](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/25/thanks-is-never-enough/) - Thank you to Mr. Dan Kramarsky who in the eighth grade suggested that I elect to take the Computer Science class in ninth grade. Thank you to Mr. Charles Rice who let me take his one Computer Science class for all four years of high school, and encouraged me to consider applying to Carnegie Mellon
- [10 best Twitterers to follow for your soul, not your career](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/19/10-best-twitterers-to-follow-for-your-soul-not-your-career/) - I always see these "top Twitterer" lists of people with high follower counts touted by social climbing social media DBs. Those people bore me. Instead I'm inspired by people with a unique perspective on the world around them, unique voice and style, who make me smile or think differently or challenge me to be a
- [Business or Pleasure?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/10/19/business-or-pleasure/) - I arrived into Newark Airport from Tel Aviv at 4:45am ET, having been awake for 30 hours straight. U.S. Customs was rather empty so early in the morning. I approached the agent, handed him my passport, and waited for the inevitable inquisition: "Were you in Israel for business or pleasure?" Never has the question struck
- [I'm Not Cool](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/10/27/im-not-cool/) - Two weeks ago, I bit the bullet and moved to Brooklyn. To my Manhattanite parents, this is a betrayal of epic proportions. To my childhood friends, I've lost my mind. But to the web community, what the hell took me so long? I'll tell you. It's quite simple really. I'm not cool. The same week
- [My 2011 Holiday Gift Guide of Pleasurable Experiences](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/12/09/my-2011-holiday-gift-guide-of-pleasurable-experiences/) - Stuff is cheap, in the long run. At the end of our days, we're not likely to remember the things we acquired as much as the moments we experienced. This holiday season, reconsider the packaged goods you're intending to buy for the people you love. Instead, design an experience for them they'll never forget. Here's
- [Sketched](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/10/14/sketched/) - I was sketched while presenting at An Event Apart Boston 2012 by the highly accomplished artist Fish McGill: The 5 Whys and Fishbone Diagram on either side of my head are techniques I discuss in my talk, What's Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects. Check out all of his portraits from the event.
- [Whitney Hess: The Cultural Questionnaire](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/10/15/whitney-hess-the-cultural-questionnaire/) - I was asked to complete a questionnaire for One Two One Two Microphone Check, a project by Alex Duloz. OTOTMC has questionnaires on Work, Lifestyle, Culture, Health & Beauty, Nightlife, and If I Could Do It All Over Again. They're all in the style of Proust Questionnaires, meant to reveal your true personality. I chose
- [Quotes to live by](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/24/quotes-to-live-by/) - The design team moved downstairs to a new office space last week. We took over the former space of Jack Morton, an experience marketing agency. On one of the walls in the lobby is a set of quotes presumably said by Jack himself. I walked past a bunch of times without paying much attention, but
- [links for 2008-02-25](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/25/links-for-2008-02-25/) - MAKE: Blog: Macbook air - yes, it can be laser etched Mine cost way too much to irreversibly decorate, but perhaps you'd like to put a monkey on your Air. (tags: macbook_air personalization fun) Facebook Fatigue? Visitors Level Off In the U.S. Is Facebook app spam driving users away? I certainly don't use it as
- [links for 2008-02-26](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/26/links-for-2008-02-26/) - Twitter / tencommandments Via Alex Rainert: http://twitter.com/arainert (tags: twitter etiquette) Least helpful apartment listing photo of all time Via Curbed (tags: craigslist funny) The LinkedIn Blog: Announcing LinkedIn Mobile (tags: socialnetworking linkedin mobile wap) How To Manage Your Online Reputation - ReadWriteWeb How Trackur matches up against Google Alerts, Technorati, Monitor This, Naymz, Rapleaf, etc.
- [The catch-up obligation](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/04/the-catch-up-obligation/) - I subscribe to one daily newspaper, two weekly magazines, three monthly magazines and 42 RSS feeds. I receive about 100 non-spam emails per day on my personal account and 50-75 on my work account. I have more than 50 books on my bookcase at home waiting to be read. I spend an inordinate amount of
- [Where's Whitney?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/13/wheres-whitney/) - It's been four days since I've managed to spend more than 5 minutes at the computer. I caught a cold, and since it was the third one in just three weeks, it really knocked me sideways. I've been in bed for about 22 hours a day, subtracting time sitting on the couch just for a
- [No, that's not me](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/16/no-thats-not-me/) - If you Google "whitney hess" and find this: You'll get this: Close-up: But sorry, boys. That's not me.
- [List of Firsts: Saturday, April 19, 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/21/list-of-firsts-saturday-april-19-2008/) - Saturday was a perfect day in Manhattan. It was the first real day of Spring that I could actually enjoy -- so naturally I took my bike out of storage, pumped up the tires and went for a joy ride. Every time I go bike riding I try to explore something new. Saturday was certainly
- [Finding Myself in You](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/18/finding-myself-in-you/) - Sometime this weekend I hit 10,000 unique visitors on this measly little blog. (Well, unique cookies at least.) I have been writing here since January 10 of this year. I never expected to attract much of a following, let alone in just four months. Pleasure and Pain is now averaging 920 unique visitors weekly, and
- [The Experience of Being a Woman](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/21/the-experience-of-being-a-woman/) - I have always wanted to be the woman who doesn't feel the need to talk about women's issues. I have always wanted to be the woman in business whom people describe as an astute leader and force to be reckoned with without ever being called a "woman in business." I have always wanted to be
- [The user experience of a staircase](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/22/the-user-experience-of-a-staircase/) - As I was going over the Triboro Bridge on the way to JFK on Friday, I saw a metal staircase high above the traffic that construction workers use to access the top of the bridge tower. Seeing it from a distance made me appreciate for the first time that a staircase is great design. It's
- [Pacific Northwest Roadtrip 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/01/pacific-northwest-roadtrip-2008/) - I've been absent from the blog for a while because I've been on vacation (one of many this summer). First I spent the weekend in San Francisco visiting friends from college, wandering around the city and hanging with my "community of practice" peeps (thanks to Josh Williams for organizing brunch and Lorri Nault for putting
- [Leaving for Israel](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/27/leaving-for-israel/) - Pleasure and Pain is going on vacation If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know that I leave tonight for Birthright, a free 10-day trip to Israel for Jews between the ages of 18 and 26. I will be traveling with 40 or so other people through URJ KESHER, one of Taglit-Birthright's 30
- [The Experience of Giving](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/08/31/the-experience-of-giving/) - I was just reading through some old e-mails when I happened upon something I wrote on November 4, 2004. I was about to finish grad school and move back to New York. President George W. Bush had just been re-elected. This e-mail is particularly apropos given my recent trip to Israel, the 2008 Presidential race,
- [Lorem Ipsum](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/18/lorem-ipsum/) - [Blog post goes here] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas rutrum mi sit amet pede. Phasellus tincidunt dapibus sem. Sed commodo purus id nisl tempor laoreet. Curabitur viverra pede placerat dolor. Quisque tempus, lectus id aliquet ornare, orci turpis euismod est, vel luctus massa sem ac tortor. Proin volutpat urna sit amet
- [The User Experience Designer's Anthem](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/05/the-user-experience-designers-anthem/) - One of my favorite songs popped up on Pandora tonight. Singing along as I have hundreds of times before, I heard something new in it for the first time. I now declare it The User Experience Designer's Anthem. I'm convinced it was written for us. A love letter to our users. "Fix You" by Coldplay
- [Sixth Photo Meme](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/06/sixth-photo-meme/) - Sometimes people do things for no reason other than to see the outcome. That's what I think of memes. Someone gets a random ideas, follows through, and then convinces other people to reenact the randomness. Shelley Greenberg a.k.a. The Spotted Duck tagged me in a meme on her blog. This one is called the "sixth
- [December Flickr Updates](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/06/december-flickr-updates/) - Not sure if you've ever noticed, but there's a My Photos link in the top nav of this blog that links to my Flickr account. Just spent some time organizing recently uploaded photos into sets. Here are some you might wanna check out: Fly on my window pane From the set: Fly on my window
- [In 2008, You Changed Me](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/03/in-2008-you-changed-me/) - In the past year, my life has turned upside down. It was more than I ever wanted and everything I needed. And it happened because of all of the amazing people whom I just happened to cross paths with, whom I sought out, who sought me out, who were introduced to me, or whom I
- [I Scare Myself](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/19/i-scare-myself/) - I read a statistic in last weekend's Wall Street Journal that surprised me: "U.S. households had their TV sets on for 8 hours and 44 minutes daily during the 2006-2007 television season, according to Nielsen Media Research." I thought about how that could be possible. Start with 524 minutes. Let's say you wake up at
- [Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/21/bill-gates-last-day-at-microsoft/) - I know it happened two weeks ago, but I just stumbled upon a clip of Bill Gates' keynote speech at CES 2008. He opened with a video of what his last day as a full-time employee at Microsoft might be like. Many of you know that I'm a die-hard MacAddict, and by extension lover of
- [My high school computer science homework](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/05/my-high-school-computer-science-homework/) - As some of you may know, I was computer scientist before I was a user experience designer. Because I was always on the computer, I was persuaded by an 8th grade teacher to enroll in the one high school computer science class when I entered the 9th grade, and I loved it so much that
- [Six Cities in Sixty Days](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/04/17/six-cities-in-sixty-days/) - I have had an incredible (and staggering) two months. It began with a trip half-way around the world to Hong Kong, the furthest I’ve ever traveled, to speak at UX Hong Kong. I presented my talk Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX and gave my Creating a Culture of UX half-day workshop as well. I
- [IA Summit 2009: A functional family reunion](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/29/ia-summit-2009-a-functional-family-reunion/) - Families fight. When you share that much time with the same people, and put your faith in them, and share a common history, and become reliant on one another's successes, it's very easy to feel disappointed and confused and argumentative when things don't seem to be going right. But ultimately what allows you to express
- [Seeking All Independent User Experience Professionals in NYC](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/28/seeking-all-independent-user-experience-professionals-in-nyc/) - Yesterday Lis Hubert and I got together at New Work City to talk about the ins and outs of being self-employed user experience designers. We realized that between the two of us we can count the number of indie UXers we know in NYC on one hand. Given how much networking we both do, it
- [Reaching outside the UX tribe at STC's Technical Communication Summit](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/10/reaching-outside-the-ux-tribe-at-stcs-technical-communications-summit/) - In Transcending Our Tribe, my closing plenary at this year's Information Architecture Summit, I asserted that in order for the field of user experience to survive, we need to stop spending so much time looking inwards, and start reaching out to the larger business and technical communities. Because I'm a big fan of practicing what
- [The Honor and Burden of Chairing a Conference](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/16/the-honor-and-burden-of-chairing-a-conference/) - I attend a lot of conferences. Okay, more than a lot -- an ungodly amount. Just check the Conferences tag on this blog. Attending them is a ball, inspirational but tiring. Speaking at them is a privilege, stressful but rewarding. Organizing them...now that isn't something I'd wish on my worst enemy. Why? Because it's a
- [Wondering? Ask me on Formspring!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/25/wondering-ask-me-on-formspring/) - I recently set up an account on Formspring, a site that lets people ask and answer questions about anything at all. I've been asked 17 questions so far, and I've answered every one. So if you want to ask me something about user experience, consulting, writing, life in New York City, or whatever else is
- [By supporting New Work City, you make what I do possible](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/02/by-supporting-new-work-city-you-make-what-i-do-possible/) - I am a founding member of New Work City, the premiere coworking community in Manhattan. I've written before about why I work there, and have tweeted endlessly about the inspiration and genius that fills its walls. In April we found out that we lost our lease and immediately had to move into a temporary home
- [The plain numbers about women in tech - The Startups](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/22/the-plain-numbers-about-women-in-tech/) - I don't often think of myself as a woman. As I approach public restrooms, I have to remind myself: "Whitney, you are a woman, use the women's room." Being a woman doesn't actively, consciously factor into my every day life, especially not professionally. While my gender must have a partial effect on everything I do
- [To gather together](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/21/to-gather-together/) - I have the distinction of being the longest-running member of Manhattan's first and foremost coworking center, New Work City. But lately I've been staying home on the Upper West Side every day, working at my dining table or on the couch, instead of taking the 20-minute subway ride down to TriBeCa. It's cold and snowy
- [Hubs and Connectors: Understanding Networks Through Data Visualization](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/29/hubs-and-connectors-understanding-networks-through-data-visualization/) - Yesterday a bunch of friends were tweeting about the new LinkedIn InMaps web app (part of LinkedIn Labs), so I had to check it out for myself. Wow, wow, wow! InMaps are data visualizations of your professional network, based on LinkedIn connections, with you as the center node. I've been waiting years for LinkedIn to
- [Visualizing First-Time Interactions at SXSW](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/22/visualizing-first-time-interactions-at-sxsw/) - You might remember the near-novel I wrote a couple months ago on LinkedIn InMaps titled, "Hubs and Connectors: Understanding Networks Through Data Visualization." Now New Work City member Alex Shapiro, founder of CEO of TouchGraph, has created a powerful network visualization based on contact exchanges made via Hashable at SXSW. The Java applet allows you
- [Samantha LeVan's Lame Cancer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/01/samantha-levans-lame-cancer/) - A year ago March 28, my close friend Samantha LeVan sent me a fairly routine email asking me if she could pass my info along to a young web designer looking for a mentor. It was so nondescript that I might have put it off for a few days, busy with other things. I'm glad
- [I'm running for the Board of Directors of the NY Tech Meetup](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/12/06/im-running-for-the-board-of-directors-of-the-ny-tech-meetup/) - The NY Tech Meetup, founded by Meetup.com founder Scott Heiferman and co-founded by Dawn Barber, has more than 19,000 members and draws 800 attendees every month. Last year, NYTM became a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization incorporated in New York State and as a result now has a Board of Directors that steers the priorities of the
- [The plain numbers about women in tech - The VCs](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/01/31/the-plain-numbers-about-women-in-tech-the-vcs/) - I'm not much for the "women in tech" stuff -- preferring to prove equality rather than beg for it -- but sometimes the gender imbalance in this industry is so damaging that it would be unethical for me to not call it out. About a year ago, I wrote a blog post titled The Plain
- [What is it like to be a creative entrepreneur?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/10/16/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-creative-entrepreneur/) - At SXSW earlier this year, my friend Saul Colt asked me to sit down for an interview on the topic of creative entrepreneurship. The questions asked are ones I often get on what it's really like to be independent. The video produced by YouNoodle and sponsored by FreshBooks was released last week. What lessons have
- [Help me name my blog](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/20/help-me-name-my-blog/) - I wrote a weekly newspaper column for two years. I almost never had trouble coming up with a headline -- in fact, they usually came to me while I was interviewing an artist or looking at his art. They were pithy, witty, often sardonic. That's just my style. Yet somehow, I can't name this blog.
- [New blog template is up](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/16/new-blog-template-is-up/) - I got tired of White as Milk and decided to switch it up to Cutline by Chris Pearson. I spent a good part of the day tweaking the PHP, but it's doing what I want it to do now. Had a few "yes!" moments when finally got things to work. I love that feeling. Reminds
- [Formatting my blog for the iPhone](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/01/formatting-my-blog-for-the-iphone/) - Last night Matthew Oliphant recommended iWPhone, an easy WordPress plugin that "automatically reformats your blog’s content for optimized viewing on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch." I tried it out this morning and here are the results: With the plugin: Without the plugin: So... which one do you all prefer? Big thanks to Daniel Sandler for
- [Design.alltop.com](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/01/designalltopcom/) - Huge thanks goes out to tech heavyweight Guy Kawasaki for putting this little blog on his new directory of design sites at design.alltop.com. Alltop is a collection of RSS feeds grouped by category and displayed all on one page -- perfect for people who don't have a feed reader or who are looking for something new to read. The last five posts are displayed from each blog/news source. You can read more about Alltop here, here and here. While you're at it, check out Guy's other latest venture, Truemors, a news site for "true rumors."
- [Internet Famous](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/01/internet-famous/) - My friend Sasha pulled this out of last week's issue of The New Yorker. Apparently it reminded her of me. I think many of us can identify. I check my blog stats compulsively. My heart swells when someone new starts following me on Twitter. I almost jump for joy when someone posts a comment on
- [Blog of the Day on Logic + Emotion](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/02/blog-of-the-day-on-logic-emotion/) - David Armano, the insightful and venerated master blogger behind Logic + Emotion, has named Pleasure & Pain his "Blog of the Day." I'm honored that he thinks I'm one to watch, and I deeply appreciate his kind words. Read his post and you'll understand my pure delight. David and I worked together, albeit briefly, while
- [Spam that sells](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/30/spam-that-sells/) - I've received all sorts of crazy spam over the years, as I'm sure you all have. But this week I got a spam message that was targeted, personalized, and appealed to my deep desire for self-promotion: I thought about telling you the company that sent this to me, but that would justify their unsolicited email.
- [Blogging Tweets](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/18/blogging-tweets/) - The process of getting my tweets onto my blog is so ridiculous that I just had to write a post about it. I essentially took notes using Twitter during the IA Summit, and wanted to post recaps for each session I attended on my blog. Tweets are listed in the archive in reverse chronological order
- [Advergirl gives props to Pleasure and Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/20/advergirl-gives-props-to-pleasure-and-pain/) - Big thanks to Leigh Householder for including this blog on her top picks over at Advergirl. I am truly honored to be included in a list of such heavyweights -- blogs that are among my favorites and whose authors I admire. I'll keep delivering the goods, but please don't hesitate to let me know what
- [Pleasure and Pain on kirtsy!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/11/pleasure-and-pain-on-kirtsy/) - A big, big thanks goes to kirtsy.com for including my blog post, "Why I Don't Have an iPhone (but might someday)" in their Editors' Picks! kirtsy, formerly known as sk*rt, is called a "Digg for Chicks." Even Guy Kawasaki loves it. I'm honored to be mentioned. Endless thanks. Now go pimp the hell out of
- [Readers, let's talk](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/16/readers-lets-talk/) - Last Thursday was the sixth month anniversary of this little blog, and I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for just being here. As I've said in previous posts, this blog and my active participation in Twitter have been the most rewarding professional pursuits that I have experienced thus far. As
- [Upcoming Posts](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/18/upcoming-posts/) - Just to whet your appetite, here are some posts I'll be writing in the next week: The new look of Facebook profiles 10 worthwhile Twitter bots Thank you letters Please don't stalk me (geosocial networking) If you have any thoughts or questions about these topics that you'd like to see addressed, just leave a comment
- [I Am Not A Woman Blogger](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/20/i-am-not-a-woman-blogger/) - I am a woman. But I am not a woman blogger. I don't write about women's issues or need to be congratulated for being a woman. I can read and write just the same
- [Pleasure and Pain on Blog Talk Radio](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/26/pleasure-and-pain-on-blog-talk-radio/) - Huge thanks goes to Liz for alerting me to the fact that Pleasure and Pain, in particular the post I Am Not A Woman Blogger, was mentioned briefly on BlogWorld Expo's show on Blog Talk Radio yesterday. Tim Turner and Rick (?) hosted yesterday's edition of BlogWorld Radio with guests Laura Fitton a.k.a. Pistachio, Lucretia
- [Mashable's 2nd Annual Open Web Awards: NOMINATIONS OPEN!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/05/mashables-2nd-annual-open-web-awards-nominations-open/) - Pleasure and Pain is proud to be a blog partner of Mashable's 2nd Annual Open Web Awards. This is a unique opportunity for the world's best websites and services to be recognized for their accomplishments through an open voting system appearing on blogs all across the web. Nominations are now open! The 2nd Annual Open
- [Mashable's Open Web Awards - Voting Round 1](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/22/mashables-open-web-awards-voting-round-1/) - As I announced on Nov 5, nominations for Mashable's 2nd Annual Open Web Awards were open until last Sunday. On Wednesday, the first round of voting began (sorry for the delay in posting this). Vote for your favorite site using the widget below until November 30th at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Some ground rules: One vote
- [Pleasure and Pain is #1 on Google](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/04/pleasure-and-pain-is-1-on-google/) - Yeah, so sometimes I Google myself. And for some reason tonight I Googled "pleasure and pain." Imagine my shock when I saw that this measly 11-month-old blog, my pride and joy, is the #1 search result (when in quotes -- #3 when not in quotes). Thank you for your continued support. I really love this
- [Final Round of Mashable's Open Web Awards](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/04/final-round-of-mashables-open-web-awards/) - As I've mentioned before, Pleasure and Pain is a blog partner for Mashable's Open Web Awards. The final voting round started yesterday at noon ET. You can vote anytime until 11:59pm ET on Sunday, December 14. Mashable Open Web Awards Final Voting Round - Top 3 Mainstream & Large Scale Social Networks Name: URL: Netlog
- [Where's Whit](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/04/wheres-whit/) - The New York tech scene is bustling and I'm out and about almost every night of the week. Gary's Guide, run by the lovely Gary Sharma a.k.a. Guy with Red Tie, is a great way to keep an eye out for what's happening around town. But wanna know where I'll be? Now I've embedded my
- [Congrats to the winners of Mashable's 2008 Open Web Awards](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/16/congrats-to-the-winners-of-mashables-2008-open-web-awards/) - The winners of Mashable's 2008 Open Web Awards were announced today. Congratulations to everyone! Mainstream & Large Scale Social Networks Winner: Netlog Runner-up: Platinum Lounge Embeddable Widgets Winner: Qoof Runner-up: Sprout Blog Plugins Winner: ShareThis Runner-up: AddThis Social News Winner: Help a Reporter Out Runner-up: Hubdub Social Networking Applications Winner: Artition Runner-up: Digsby Social Bookmarking
- [Are you new here? My top 10 posts](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/09/are-you-new-here-my-top-10-posts/) - I've noticed a lot more traffic to my blog lately and a considerable number of new RSS subscribers. "Hi!" to any of you who are new here, and thanks for reading! It would be great to get to know some of you, so please to introduce yourselves in the comments and let me know how
- [Some early posts that deserve more traffic](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/20/some-early-posts-that-deserve-more-traffic/) - I hit 250 posts the other day after 13 months of writing this blog. Looking back on some of the earlier posts, I found a few that I really liked but barely got any traffic. There were only 5 people reading my blog then (I love them), so I thought that maybe there would be
- [Answering Your Questions](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/05/answering-your-questions/) - I check my blog analytics pretty regularly. I like to know how many people are visiting, coming from where, for how long, reading what, etc. My keyword activity, the search terms that lead people to my blog, is particularly interesting and hilarious. I realize that I have a sultry blog title, and as a result
- [In the Press](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/21/in-the-press/) - Inspired by my good friend Matthew Knell, I've added a Press page to this site to highlight some of the awesome articles in which I've been mentioned. I always get a thrill when asked to contribute my thoughts as a user experience designer or to be featured for my work. It's truly an honor. If
- [A blogger's worst nightmare](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/11/a-bloggers-worst-nightmare/) - When you hit Save Draft and you get this message: WordPress Failure Notice: Your attempt to edit this post has failed. Please try again. Luckily for me, when I hit the Back button I discovered that WordPress had auto-saved the draft and none of my edits were lost. Still, perhaps they should consider using a
- [This email is bloggable](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/12/this-email-is-bloggable/) - Last month I got an email from Jonathan Berger, whom I had met briefly at NY Tech Meetup several months back. He just launched an online vintage marketplace called Market Publique and wanted to spread the news (I've already bought two items from it and it's actually pretty rad). I get a lot of emails
- [Anonymous Commenters](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/15/anonymous-commenters/) - Ever pick up Maxim magazine? It's topical for men's issues. Same concept. Not a limitation. Just topical relevance. Originally posted as a comment by openminded. Dear "openminded" (and other anonymous commenters): You're allowed to have an opposing viewpoint. In fact, I welcome it! But when you don't use your real name, your comments hold no
- [Widgets on Pleasure and Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/26/widgets-on-pleasure-and-pain/) - A few weeks ago my lovely friend Livia Labate asked me what widgets I use in the sidebar of this blog. Since I thought it might be interesting information for everyone, I'm posting it here. Twitter Widget Google Calendar embed Dopplr blog badge Disqus recent comments widget Amazon Carousel Widget MyBlogLog Recent Readers Widget Enjoy!
- [Pleasure and Pain turns 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/11/pleasure-and-pain-turns-2/) - I started this blog two years ago on January 10, 2008 with a post titled, Genesis. I didn't know at the time just how fitting a word it was. It truly marked the beginning of my re-creation. Since then I've published 447 posts (including this one), received 1,491 comments, and had 159,031 unique visitors. The
- [Best of the Last Two Years](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/12/best-of-the-last-two-years/) - I've published 447 blog posts over the past two years, but there are a few that really stick out in my mind. Some took a lot of research and analysis, some were important announcements, and others captured my wild emotions at pivotal moments in my personal and professional life. Below you'll find a list of
- [Pleasure and Pain now on UX Magazine](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/17/pleasure-and-pain-now-on-ux-magazine/) - I am happy to announce that starting today, some of my posts on this here blog will be syndicated to UX Magazine. UX Magazine is an online publication for user experience professionals that was founded in 2006 and was nominated for a Webby in 2007. In their words: Every month we combine original articles with
- [Pleasure and Pain in Other Languages](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/24/pleasure-and-pain-in-other-languages/) - Receiving a request from someone who wants to translate your blog posts into other languages is thrilling and humbling. It's such an honor to know that these pieces resonate with anyone at all -- but to find out that they cross geographical and cultural barriers is truly amazing! Here are some of the translations I
- [Pleasure and Pain's Most Popular Posts of 2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/21/pleasure-and-pains-most-popular-posts-of-2010/) - I hate end-of-year roundups. But they're contagious, so I just can't help myself. Here are the most tweeted, most commented posts I wrote this year. I hope you like them, too. The UX Design Process for the Boxee Beta January 27, 2010 175 tweets, 23 comments More than a year ago I very proudly announced
- [Pleasure and Pain turns 3](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/10/pleasure-and-pain-turns-3/) - Three years ago, I was feeling stagnant and purposeless. I wasn't happy with the direction of my career and I didn't know what to do about it. Without a clue what it was, I joined Twitter, and three days later I started this blog. January 10, 2008. This is a tough day for me to
- [Lifework -- A philosophy, a lifestyle, a revolution](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/25/lifework-a-philosophy-a-lifestyle-a-revolution/) - Around this time three years ago, I started considering the possibilities of being independently-employed for the first time. Quite honestly it had never even really occurred to me before I met people who were doing it -- and were happy, successful and encouraging. It wasn't until August of that year that I actually took the
- [Catching Up on Pleasure and Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/06/30/catching-up-on-pleasure-and-pain/) - Welcome! If it's your first time here, you probably arrived via a link to a single post and may not have a full picture of the things I write about. If you're interested in learning more about me, here's a selection of posts that can speak to my broader vision about user experience and my
- [Pleasure and Pain has gone mobile](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/11/04/pleasure-and-pain-has-gone-mobile/) - It's quite overdue, but this blog is now optimized to be viewed in a mobile browser. Many thanks to Ben Seven for giving me the kick in the ass I needed to get it done: Commented on You're not a user experience designer if... by Ben Seven: Are you allowed to call yourself a User
- [A Brief Recap on Year 4](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/02/02/a-brief-recap-on-year-4/) - 2012 started off with a bang and my mind has been moving at a million miles a minute ever since. I managed to miss a few important milestones and never got around to taking the time to reflect on the year here. I suppose I decided that dwelling on the past (even if it yielded
- [5 Years of Pleasure and Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/01/10/5-years-of-pleasure-and-pain/) - It's absolutely incredible to me that five years have passed since I started this blog. Five years feels like an eternity on the Internet, and yet it still feels so new. This is the place where I explore new concepts, share my experiences and insights, and examine my position on a slew of issues across
- [Help me compile my greatest hits](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/03/help-me-compile-my-greatest-hits/) - I'm in the process of creating a new homepage that will do a much better job of surfacing old (and still relevant) content, provide easier access to resources and organize my writing from the last five years. In determining what to highlight, I'd love to get feedback from my readers (you!). What are your favorite
- [From the Archive: Interview with The Baltimore Sun](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/10/05/from-the-archive-interview-with-the-baltimore-sun/) - In honor of their 10th birthday, Google has brought back their oldest available index, from 2001. I decided to search for myself to see what I was up to back then. I found a few things that I'll post here on the blog. Below is a hilarious article that I had completely forgotten about. The
- [I'm Quoted in the New York Observer](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/04/im-quoted-in-the-new-york-observer/) - Out of the blue this weekend I received an e-mail from Gillian Reagan, a reporter for the New York Observer, asking if she could interview me for a story on profile pictures. She mentioned that she's been following this little ol' blog for a while (which was very exciting) and knows that I write a
- [My Interaction 09 recap on Boxes and Arrows](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/04/my-interaction-09-recap-on-boxes-and-arrows/) - Interaction 09, IxDA's 2nd annual conference, took place in Vancouver this year in early February. As usual, I live-Twittered most of the sessions and posted the tweets here on the blog: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3. The NY chapter of IxDA hosted an Interaction 09 recap event for those who were unable
- [Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Journal of IA](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/06/volume-1-issue-1-of-the-journal-of-ia/) - The very first issue of the Journal of Information Architecture was published yesterday, after much dedication and tirelessness from contributors around the world. The Journal of Information Architecture is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Its aim is to facilitate the systematic development of the scientific body of knowledge in the field of information architecture. The long
- [Facebook Privacy Settings Redesign on Fortune.com](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/28/facebook-privacy-settings-redesign-on-fortune-com/) - Last week, Fortune.com (CNNMoney.com) published an article and screenshot gallery titled Hey Facebook! Here's your privacy redesign, and I was fortunate enough to have my work included in it. Reporter JP Mangalindan reached out to me a few weeks ago and asked me to mock up a couple ideas for how Facebook could redesign its
- [When You Startup With UX](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/24/when-you-startup-with-ux/) - On Wednesday, UX Magazine published my article, When You Startup with UX -- a look into how a few successful startups are integrating user experience practices. I posed 5 questions to 5 people (4 folks at 3 different startups and 1 venture capitalist) to find out how they think about UX and what it means
- [Fulfilling My Dreams, and Saying No Along the Way](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/03/fulfilling-my-dreams-and-saying-no-along-the-way/) - I am crying. And I am desperately trying not to smear the mascara I just put on. I'm emotional this morning (well, more emotional than normal) because a professional dream of mine has been fulfilled: I've been published by A List Apart. I read A List Apart when I was in college and needed to
- ["Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX" featured on Core77](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/01/26/design-principles-the-philosophy-of-ux-featured-on-core77/) - Last Thursday I gave my talk Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX, at WebVisions at the Hudson Hotel in NYC. Christina Beard, a graphic designer and writer for Core77, was in the audience and wrote about my presentation in an article published yesterday. Christina later asked me if I believed my principles would change as
- [Meet me at NYC's Internet Week 2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/07/meet-me-at-nycs-internet-week-2010/) - Internet Week 2010, starting today and ending on Sunday, is a wide array of events all around NYC raising the profile of our ever-growing tech industry. I've been generally underwhelmed by the daytime offerings, but will be out and about each night. Where you can find me (and if you see me, say hello!): Monday,
- [Old Guard Versus New Guard: An Interview by Tom Johnson](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/02/old-guard-versus-new-guard-an-interview-by-tom-johnson/) - While at STC Summit in Dallas a month ago, Tom Johnson, a technical writer for the LDS Church in Salt Lake City, asked if he could interview me for his blog I'd Rather Be Writing. From Tom's blog post: In this videocast, I talk with Whitney Hess at the STC Summit in Dallas about her
- [Randy Pausch loses battle with pancreatic cancer at 47](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/25/randy-pausch-loses-battle-with-pancreatic-cancer-at-47/) - Randy Pausch died at the age of 47 from pancreatic cancer. He was a professor of mine in Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. He will be missed
- [The outpouring of love for Randy Pausch](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/26/the-outpouring-of-love-for-randy-pausch/) - When I found out yesterday morning that Randy Pausch had passed away the night before, I felt a wave of regret pour over me. For the things I never said. Like: "Thank you for showing me that my purpose in life is to make other people's lives better." That would have been a good start.
- [I'm going solo](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/08/22/im-going-solo/) - I quit my job to beome an independent user experience consultant. I certainly have my fears about going solo, but I'm glad I bit the bullet. Consulting is great
- [The ups and downs of consulting](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/15/the-ups-and-downs-of-consulting/) - In my first week as an independent consultant, I wrote a blog post boasting about my 33+ hours of billable time. Now that two more weeks have passed, I thought it only fair to share some of the obstacles I've experienced as well. (But before I do, let me say this: I have awesome clients.
- [Reader E-mail: "Follow your dreams while you can"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/01/reader-e-mail-follow-your-dreams-while-you-can/) - I just wanted to post an amazing e-mail that I received from Martha Mihaly in response to my post on going solo. It really made me sit up straight and take stock of what I'm doing here -- getting involved in the community, making my own rules and exploring my passion. This e-mail, from one
- [Strategy Starts with Honesty](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/20/strategy-starts-with-honesty/) - Creating a strategy for your business requires total honesty with yourself about what you want and don't want for the future. This is how I want to grow.
- [Today is my 1 year anniversary of going solo](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/22/today-is-my-1-year-anniversary-of-going-solo/) - 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
- [I wish I knew how to quit you](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/28/i-wish-i-knew-how-to-quit-you/) - I have a problem: I don't know how to say No. As a result, I bury myself in obligations I can never fulfill. I'm sure this has a negative effect on a lot of my relationships, but the most important relationship it's hurting is the one I have with myself. When I quit my job
- [New Year's Resolutions for 2011](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/10/new-years-resolutions-for-2011/) - New Year's Resolutions get a bad rap, and many say they're trite and futile. I couldn't disagree more. Setting goals, especially challenging ones, is the best way to effectively change behavior. A resolution is a commitment to oneself, and I can't think of a more honorable and necessary thing for a human to do than
- [You Are What You Ink](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/07/you-are-what-you-ink/) - I just turned down a lucrative contract because in my heart I'm ethically opposed to the company's corporate owners. When I was first contacted by their director of engineering, I had a negative gut feeling that it just "wasn't me," but I put off the concern in an effort to challenge my assumptions. I wanted
- [Four Years of Independence](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/22/four-years-of-independence/) - Exactly four years ago today -- Friday, August 22, 2008 -- I "left work" for the last time. It was the last day of my last full-time job, and I've been independently employed ever since. I choose to say "independently employed" rather than self-employed because over these four years I've been forced to accept that
- [My 2012 Year in Review](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/12/31/my-2012-year-in-review/) - 2012 has been a big year for me, one of tremendous evolution and many new experiences. At the start of the year, I expanded my vision of user experience beyond product design and shifted my focus to organizational empathy. Designing the product is all for naught if you don't first take the time to design
- [Today marks 5 years on Twitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/01/07/today-marks-5-years-on-twitter/) - I can hardly believe that the year is 2013 and today is the 5th anniversary of when I joined Twitter. It may seem like a silly thing to celebrate or even recognize, but to me it's a moment to remember when things changed forever. My life has taken many twists and turns over the last
- [Speaking Up](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/06/speaking-up/) - Two days ago, a prominent designer named Sarah Parmenter published a post titled Speaking Up, in which she revealed the horrific harassment she has endured as a public woman in technology. Sarah and I have spoken at the same conferences and share a lot of the same friends, and I have admired her ability to
- [I Popped My Cherry at BarCamp Philly](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/15/i-popped-my-cherry-at-barcamp-philly/) - It's almost a week later and I'm still on a high from BarCamp Philly! Organized by Roz Duffy and JP Toto, BarCamp Philly took place on Saturday, November 7, 2008 at The University of the Arts. I think more than 200 people were in attendance. If you've never heard of a BarCamp before, it doesn't
- [I'll be speaking at An Event Apart 2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/03/ill-be-speaking-at-an-event-apart-2009/) - On January 1st, the 2009 lineup for An Event Apart: The Design Conference For People Who Make Websites was made public. AEA is run by Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer, the creators of A List Apart and pioneers in the web standards movement. AEA is a two-day one-track conference in four cities throughout the year.
- [I have joined the UXnet board of directors](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/04/i-have-joined-the-uxnet-board-of-directors/) - In mid-December, the venerable Lou Rosenfeld asked me if I would join the UXnet board of directors. Saying no to Lou would have been wildly foolish. After all, he literally wrote the book on information architecture. Initially published in February 1998, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, co-written with Peter Morville, is one of
- [I'll be speaking at IA Summit 2009 in Memphis](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/04/ill-be-speaking-at-ia-summit-2009-in-memphis/) - Another wildly overdue announcement (well I mentioned it on Twitter, but not here on the blog): My submission to the business/strategy/management track of IA Summit 2009 was accepted! I'm scared shitless and never expected it to be accepted, but I can't wait to make it happen. The talk is titled, "Evangelizing Yourself: You can’t change
- [I'm Speaking at Pittsburgh Web Design Day](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/13/im-speaking-at-pittsburgh-web-design-day/) - When I went to Pittsburgh in October for Carnegie Mellon Homecoming to see the reunion of my friend Joanna's band, I had the pleasure of finally meeting my Twitter pal G. Jason Head. Jason is a front-end web developer and runs Refresh Pittsburgh. He's also putting together the first-ever Pittsburgh Web Design Day -- "a
- [SxSW: One giant party](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/27/sxsw-one-giant-party/) - It has been a complete whirlwind two weeks and I'm finally starting to settle down (read: back on my couch). I went from SxSW Interactive in Austin, TX, straight to IA Summit in Memphis, TN, and somehow I got through it. It was my first time at SxSW and I had an absolute blast. The
- [IA Summit 2009: The Courage to Quit](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/29/ia-summit-2009-the-courage-to-quit/) - At the IA Summit in Memphis I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a panel titled, "The Courage to Quit: Starting, Growing & Maintaining Your Own UX Business," along with Sarah Rice, Chris Fahey and Jenn Anderson. View more presentations from seneb. My friend Brad Nunnally did me quite a favor by live Twittering
- [My presentation at IA Summit 2009: "Evangelizing Yourself"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/29/my-presentation-at-ia-summit-2009-evangelizing-yourself/) - At the IA Summit last year in Miami, the first that I attended, a few wonderful people encouraged me to submit a proposal for this year in Memphis. I was a total noob, and didn't think it would be possible for me to be chosen to speak, but I decided to think of a topic
- [SxSW: Our panel "From Freelance to Agency: Start Small, Stay Small"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/29/sxsw-our-panel-from-freelance-to-agency-start-small-stay-small/) - A couple weeks ago I told you I was going to SxSW to participate in the panel "From Freelance to Agency: Start Small, Stay Small" with Roger Black and Kristina Halvorson, moderated by Jeffrey Zeldman. I was nervous as all hell, but I had an absolute blast on the panel and am thrilled by the
- [Rejected by EuroIA](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/26/rejected-by-euroia/) - The blog posts that I tag with Props are not-so-subtle pats on the back for all my hard work and determination to make a difference. Since I spend enough time tooting my own horn, I thought it only fair to share some disappointment with you as well. Today I received an email from Eric Reiss,
- [Awesome Email of the Day: Evangelizing Myself](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/02/awesome-email-of-the-day-evangelizing-myself/) - Being able to help people change their lives for the better is worth more than any client check. I'm very fortunate to get amazingly kind emails from strangers around the world. I promptly add them to my Happy File to look back on when I'm feeling down and doubting myself. Here is a recent email
- [If I could tell designers one thing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/30/if-i-could-tell-designers-one-thing/) - A few days ago I got an email from the lovely Liz Danzico asking if I'd participate in a video project she was putting together for the Galapagos Art Space's Career Camp, "a low-cost, high-value, five-part lecture and networking series for professionals (employed or otherwise!) living in New York City." On Tuesday Liz participated in
- [U.S. Patent 7,587,349](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/29/u-s-patent-7587349/) - 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
- [Awesome Email of the Day: How Little You Really Know](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/10/awesome-email-of-the-day-how-little-you-really-know/) - Back in February, I wrote a blog post titled How Little You Really Know. If you haven't read it, go check it out now. I got the below email in response, and have kept it in my inbox as a reminder of why I do what I do. It's a few months late, but I
- [Awesome Email of the Day: Increasingly dissatisfied by how little influence I feel I have](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/29/awesome-email-of-the-day-increasingly-dissatisfied-by-how-little-influence-i-feel-i-have/) - I am a very fortunate person. I feel it every day. Some days I get the most incredible emails that make me realize it even more deeply. A few months ago I got this one, and I was given the permission to reprint it. This is why I do what I do. I know so
- [Designing the Company, Not the Product](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/15/designing-the-company-not-the-product/) - In April, I posted a tweet that became one of my most retweeted of all time. Designing the product is all for naught if you don't first take the time to design the organization.— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) April 20, 2012 It was a single statement that was the culmination of 9 months of identity crisis
- [More than 600 people attend boxee NYC meetup](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/25/more-than-600-people-attend-boxee-meetup-in-nyc/) - View more presentations from Whitney Hess. New features in the boxee beta: Customize your home screen Search for content across all sources Filter out content you've already seen Find new episodes of your favorite shows waiting for you Mark content to watch later More easily find and manage friends More control over sharing what you
- [An Event Apart Boston Schedule Now Online](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/02/an-event-apart-boston-schedule-now-online/) - In January I announced that I have the honor of speaking at An Event Apart in Boston (June 22-23) and Chicago (October 12-13). The complete schedule for the Boston AEA has just been published, along with my session info: DIY UX: 5 Ways to Give Your Users an Upgrade (Without Calling In a Pro) Have
- [Come see me at the 140 Characters Conference](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/01/im-on-a-panel-at-the-140-characters-conference/) - In 140 characters: My mug among the "cast of characters":
- [Around the World in 80 Days](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/03/06/around-the-world-in-80-days/) - In thinking about my upcoming travel schedule, the classic French adventure novel Around the World in 80 Days (Le tour du monde en 80 jours) popped into my head. Then I quickly looked at the calendar and counted the days – exactly 80 days from today. I have a few upcoming speaking engagements, a couple
- [Holy crap...I gave the closing plenary at IA Summit 2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/05/10/holy-crap-i-gave-the-closing-plenary-at-ia-summit-2010/) - Thirty days later and it has still barely sunken in that I gave the closing plenary at IA Summit 2010 in Phoenix, AZ, titled Transcending Our Tribe. Being bestowed with this tremendous honor was a shock in and of itself, but having actually survived the months of preparation, the intense trepidation, and the profound duration
- [Whit Hour is back! Week 9 ](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/29/whit-hour-is-back-week-9/) - After an eight-month hiatus due to a lack of decent live broadcast platforms, Whit Hour is BACK and now hosted by Justin.tv. Whit Hour is my weekly video-based "office hour" in which I answer any and all questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you wanna throw at me. Tune in every Monday night
- [Evaluations of my STC Summit 2010 talks](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/14/evaluations-of-my-stc-summit-2010-talks/) - A few months ago I wrote about my experience presenting at STC Summit in Dallas -- my first time speaking at an event outside of UX and web design. Yesterday I received the evaluations of my two talks -- 10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design and Evangelizing Yourself -- and I'm quite pleased
- [An Event Apart Minneapolis 2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/31/an-event-apart-minneapolis-2010/) - I had the distinct pleasure of presenting at An Event Apart 2009 in Boston and Chicago (read about my experience), so imagine my delight when Jeffrey and Eric asked me to reprise my talk this year in Minneapolis and San Diego! Thank you so much to everyone who cared enough to listen, who took the
- [My Rejected Submission to Interaction11: What Lessons Can We Learn From Soap Operas For Designing Experiences](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/09/02/my-rejected-submission-to-interaction11-what-lessons-can-we-learn-from-soap-operas-for-designing-experiences/) - Rejection emails from IxDA's Interaction11 conference have begun to circulate this morning. There were 300 submissions for the lightning sessions and only 30 slots, and no doubt rejecting 90% of the speakers was an extremely tough task. I don't take it personally at all that I was included among them. Many people in the industry
- [See me speak at Web 2.0 Expo NY](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/09/28/see-me-speak-at-web-2-0-expo-ny/) - I'll be giving my DIY UX talk at Web 2.0 Expo NY tomorrow morning (session page), and later will be leading a conversation session on The Value of UX for Startups. If you see me in the halls of the Sheridan today, tomorrow or Thursday, be sure to say hi. I always love meeting new
- [Whit Hour - Week 18](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/10/11/whit-hour-week-18/) - Thank you so much to the ~22 people who showed up for the eighteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Where is Whitney in 2011?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/03/where-is-whitney-in-2011/) - I thought I did a lot of traveling last year, but what I've got planned for 2011 already blows 2010 out of the water. There are 10 cities on the itinerary so far, and I'm sure there will be more to come. It's exhausting when I stop to think about it, but then I remember
- [My SXSW Core Conversation: "Breaking Taboos: Pros Get Real About Money Matters"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/07/my-sxsw-core-conversation-breaking-taboos-pros-get-real-about-money-matters/) - Money is a topic that most people dance around because they don't want to be rude, or tacky, or misunderstood. But if we avoid talking about it, we avoid learning a very essential part of our business and our industry. In order to thrive as a professional community, we need to have a strong handle
- [I’m speaking at Interlink Conference 2011 in Vancouver, and you should come](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/11/im-speaking-at-interlink-conference-2011-in-vancouver-and-you-should-come/) - I have the distinct pleasure of speaking at the first ever Interlink Conference in Vancouver, Canada on June 2-4, along with a stellar lineup of people I can't even believe I'm included with: Samantha Warren, Steve Fisher, Gavin Elliott, Jonathan Snook, Brian Hoff, Ethan Dunham, Frank Chimero, Patrick Lauke, Meagan Fisher, Simon Collison, Sarah Parmenter,
- [I'm off to UX Hong Kong](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/02/14/im-off-to-ux-hong-kong/) - A little over a year ago, I wrote a blog post titled I Wish I Were Going to UX Hong Kong and now I find myself sitting at the gate waiting to do just that. I am on my way to speak at UX Hong Kong! My life never ceases to amaze me, and this
- [I'm off to SXSW 2012 to speak and play](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/03/09/im-off-to-sxsw-2012-to-speak-and-play/) - Four years ago I had never even heard of South by Southwest, and now I'm on a plane heading to Austin for my 4th time attending and 3rd time speaking at the most raucous and depraved interactive technology festival on the planet. I mean that in the best way possible :) I'm trembling with excitement
- ["I Don't Have Time to Lead"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/03/06/i-dont-have-time-to-lead/) - I considered it a personal failure when I learned that a client team I've been coaching for the last several months has recently been working on deliverables without my knowledge. They haven't asked for feedback and it hasn't appeared on any project schedules. Where did I go wrong? In a chat with the product manager,
- [Empathy is the Antidote to Shame](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/21/empathy-is-the-antidote-to-shame/) - shame n. A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. v. To make someone feel ashamed. In her TED talk Listening to Shame, vulnerability researcher Brené Brown exposes the truth about shame: we all feel it. Shame gets in our way. It negatively impacts how we treat
- [More Empathy, Better Design](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2013/02/20/more-empathy-better-design/) - "A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have." ~ Steve Jobs [Wired, February 1996]
- [Hostess treats their customers as badly as they treat their employees](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/11/18/hostess-treats-their-customers-as-badly-as-they-treat-their-employees/) - If you haven't heard, Hostess is filing for bankruptcy. Hostess Brands, known for making iconic snacks such as Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, is closing its plants, letting go of 18,000 workers, and totally liquidating its assets. A massive union strike and tremendous debt brought them here. But underneath it all, the real reason
- [Being Good](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/11/14/being-good/) - There's a very interesting post in NY Times Bits Blog today, comparing Monday's departure of Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows division, with Apple's firing of Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS Software, two weeks ago. In the post, the author asks, "When do the costs of keeping brilliant leaders who cannot seem
- [How Empathy Won the Election](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/11/07/how-empathy-won-the-election/) - Congratulations to President Barack Obama on winning his second term. I am deeply proud to have helped re-elect him to be our leader. I do not agree with all of his policies. I have been disappointed with some of his decisions. But I am able to see past that, because when I look into his
- [How do you choose your clients?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/10/17/how-do-you-choose-your-clients/) - I can tell if a project is going to be worth my time from the very first communication I have with the client. If they talk about their work with passion and excitement, if they want to connect with me as one human being to another, if they are willing to invest their time and
- [When Empathy Looks Like Apathy: Baby Boomers and Millennials at Work](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/10/15/when-empathy-looks-like-apathy-baby-boomers-and-millennials-at-work/) - Don't be so quick to judge someone else's ability to empathize, or you may just demonstrate a lack of empathy yourself. There's a lot of talk these days about the rift between Baby Boomers and Millennials in the workplace, a squabble between parents and their children. Boomers says their young colleagues are self-entitled and aloof.
- [We Think We See It All](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/10/12/we-think-we-see-it-all/) - When we look through our eyes, we think we see things just as they are, see all there is to see. "The sky is blue" is the objective fact we most often fall back on when trying to diffuse an argument. It's our baseline, our common ground, that one thing we can agree on so
- [Bill Moggridge, pioneer of empathic design, dies at 69](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/09/10/bill-moggridge-pioneer-of-empathic-design-dies-at-69/) - I was deeply saddened to learn that Bill Moggridge died of cancer yesterday at the age of 69. I will always regret that I never got to shake his hand. Those hands probably sketched hundreds of thousands if not millions of iterations of interaction design ideas throughout his career. In fact, it was Moggridge who
- [When a Design Firm Fails](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/09/05/when-a-design-firm-fails/) - When I got off the phone with them, I felt the need to rage eat. This is never a good sign. Instead I chose to pour myself a glass of wine. Three weeks in and I've yet to have any shred of contact with the designer who's actually doing the work. Instead the mockups are
- [The Pros and Cons of An Emotional Boss](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/30/the-pros-and-cons-of-an-emotional-boss/) - Yesterday I wrote about how it's our responsibility to ensure our managers value us and truly understand what we do -- and how and why we do it. Most managers want to set their direct reports up for success (whether they care about them as people or just cuz it makes them look good), but
- [The Management Problem](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/29/the-management-problem/) - During lunch on Monday at An Event Apart in Chicago, just after I had presented my talk What's Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects, I sat with a group of gentlemen who all work on the same team at a large publishing house. They were kindly enthusiastic about my message and said it
- [Designing Time](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/28/designing-time/) - I recently wrote about how I've become much better at designing my own time. Recognizing the infinite options with which to spend it, having a clearer sense of what makes me happy and fulfilled has allowed me to make the right choices to meet my greater goals. This skill is not only crucial as it
- [Mark Ruffalo and Sesame Street Teach Kids About Empathy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/31/mark-ruffalo-and-sesame-street-teach-kids-about-empathy/) - Empathy is a hard thing to understand, and it's an even harder thing to do -- if you weren't raised to do it. With the help of actor Mark Ruffalo, Sesame Street tries to explain the meaning of empathy to the kids at home. Mark: "Empathy is when you're able to understand and care about
- [The Empathy Belly at Ford Motor Company](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/17/the-empathy-belly-at-ford-motor-company/) - Henry Ford famously said, "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." Despite the lack of hard evidence that Ford actually uttered those words, the phrase is wielded by lots of designers and business owners who want to justify basing decisions on their instincts rather than engage
- [The Most Valuable Thing They Teach at Harvard Business School](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/14/the-most-valuable-thing-they-teach-at-harvard-business-school/) - It all comes down to one word: empathy. At Harvard Business School, renowned professor Clay Christensen helps his students see that the role of a business is to solve someone’s problem -– and therefore, by their very nature, all businesses are an exercise in empathy. James Allworth, a fellow at Harvard Business School's Forum for
- [Why Guess? A Familiar Screenplay](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/10/why-guess-a-familiar-screenplay/) - CUT TO: INT. SCREEN SHARING MEETING - DAY A client shows their consultant the progress they've made on a redesign. They want the consultant's feedback before it's too late. CLIENT Currently the user does A, then B, then C. Now the user will be able to do C, then A, then B. We don't think
- [User Research War Stories: "Taking empathy to a whole new level"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/03/user-research-war-stories-taking-empathy-to-a-whole-new-level/) - My friend Steve Portigal, an esteemed customer research consultant in the Bay Area, has a series on his blog titled "War Stories" -- anecdotes from ethnographic researchers about the craziest things that have happened to them in the field. One entry from Priya Sohoni is particularly striking. Titled "Taking empathy to a whole new level,"
- [Hugs in the workplace lead to greater empathy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/06/26/hugs-in-the-workplace-lead-to-greater-empathy/) - How often do you get hugged at work? How often do you give them? Paul Zak, a professor of economics and director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA, is conducting a study that shows that Oxytocin, the chemical released by hugs and many other positive interpersonal interactions, increases
- [If Seth Godin were me...](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/05/30/if-seth-godin-were-me/) - Is Seth Godin reading my blog? His piece last week titled "If I were you..." is a booming echo of my mantra "The user is not like me": "If I were you..." But of course, you're not. And this is the most important component of strategic marketing: we're not our customer. Godin has written a
- [Doing business as Vicarious Partners](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/04/30/doing-business-as-vicarious-partners/) - It is with tremendous excitement and huge dreams for the future that I am finally ready to announce that I have formally changed the name of my company to Vicarious Partners™. This new name much better reflects my mission to help organizations build deeper connections amongst colleagues and customers in an effort to deliver the
- [We Don't Know Anything](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/04/26/we-dont-know-anything/) - We don't know. We believe we know. Our experiences, education, instincts and values all add up to our beliefs. They also include assumptions and misperceptions and past truths. We believe something once and then we "know" it forever, because that's easier than always having to ask. Asking isn't easy. It takes time. It introduces risk.
- [User Experience is Not Enough](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/04/21/user-experience-is-not-enough/) - Designing the product is all for naught if you don't first take the time to design the organization.— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) April 20, 2012 I've been a user experience designer for the entirety of my career. And in the decade I've spent doing this work, I have discovered that there is only one universal truth
- [TechStars Shines a Light on NY Tech](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/16/techstars-shines-a-light-on-ny-tech/) - Thursday was a pivotal moment in the NY startup scene: the inaugural TechStars NYC Demo Day. It was an honor to be in attendance and get to see 11 fantastic startups strut their stuff on the stage of legendary Webster Hall to room full of 750 investors and community. I've been following the TechStars NYC
- [Who is Chris Fahey's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/25/who-is-chris-faheys-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Chris Fahey is a co-founder of Behavior, an interaction design consultancy, and is on the inaugural faculty of the School of Visual Arts’ new MFA program in Interaction Design, starting in the fall of 2009. He writes about user experience design on his blog
- [Elegy for Capitalism](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/09/11/elegy-for-capitalism/) - 10 years ago, I was a sophomore in college. I had an assignment in my poetry class to imitate another poet's style. How I felt then is no different than how I feel now. Elegy for Capitalism By Whitney Hess Imitating Larry Levis Written 11/01/2001 It's a new love outside A love you'll never see.
- [My mug is on the new Skitch homepage](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/05/06/my-mug-is-on-the-new-skitch-homepage/) - It's no secret that I'm completely obsessed with Skitch -- the handy screenshot, annotation and image sharing tool for Mac -- since I tell pretty much anyone who'll listen. I've probably stood over 100 shoulders waiting for folks to download and install it, then watch their eyes open wide when they realize what they now
- [Inspiration and Aspiration](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/27/inspiration-and-aspiration/) - The words inspiration and aspiration are often used interchangeably, and I think it's important that we draw a clearer distinction. Inspiration is defined as, "the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something." Aspiration is, "a hope or ambition of achieving something." Stimulation versus ambition. Excitement versus action. And most significantly, external versus
- [NY Tech Meetup -- March 2011](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/03/ny-tech-meetup-march-2011/) - It's been a really long time since I've done a NY Tech Meetup roundup, but Tuesday night's event was so great that I thought it would be worth posting my tweets here. I know it's not much, but it's all I've got. The presenters were: RadBox Tout SocialWorkout Tim Soo's Invisible Instruments Aviary Crisp Media
- [Etiquette isn't dead](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/03/01/etiquette-isnt-dead/) - Sure, the web has made communication more brief, more casual, and a lot more impersonal. But people haven't ceased to have feelings, so etiquette shouldn't fly out the window. My friends at RedStamp, a modern stationery company based in Minneapolis, recently released an iPhone app that makes it a cinch to brighten someone's day and
- [From the archives: I love new toys!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/30/from-the-archives-i-love-new-toys/) - Pleasure and Pain is not my first blog. It's probably my fifth, though it's certainly the only one that ever took off. From September 2004 - August 2006, I had a blog called self-preservation (self-hosted WordPress, natch). At the time, I was pretty damn proud of myself for that witty title -- and I kinda
- [Recent Reads - 1/30/2011](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/30/recent-reads-1302011/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Skip The Water | A VCSometimes using all of your resources slows the process down Volkside | Wirify homepage – The web as wireframesTurn any webpage itno a wireframe with one click (via @swissmiss)
- [UIE Virtual Seminar with Tamara Adlin: Ad-Hoc Personas](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/22/uie-virtual-seminar-with-tamara-adlin-ad-hoc-personas/) - User Interface Engineering (UIE) hosts wonderful virtual seminars every month on a variety of UX-related topics. This month was no exception. Tamara Adlin, a user experience consultant based in Seattle, WA, put together a smart and practical presentation titled, The Power of Ad Hoc Personas: Truly Practical Methods to Get Your Organization On the Same
- [Take our Twitter survey for a chance to win a $200 Amazon gift card](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/12/01/take-our-twitter-survey-for-a-chance-to-win-a-200-amazon-gift-card/) - It would mean a lot to me if you could please take a moment to complete the survey below. I'm helping to design a new Twitter client and your input will be invaluable. Thank you. Survey link: http://bit.ly/4mMZWJ Fill out my Wufoo form! Tweet this survey!
- [Yet another list of iPad apps (what I use)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/01/12/yet-another-list-of-ipad-apps-what-i-use/) - I'm pretty obsessed with my iPad. When I first bought it back in April, I didn't take my laptop out of the house for a good month. I watched movies in the park, showed samples of my work to prospective clients, read my feeds in the bath, and tested out a whole bunch of apps.
- [Recent Reads - 12/21/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/21/recent-reads-12212010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. the wiki wall | Tom FishburneWhere brainstorming comes from Where good ideas come from - Steven Jonhson | LoosecubesChance favors the connected mind Buzzword BingoOne of my favorite games to play at conferences is
- [Facebook recruits for user research...on Facebook](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/22/facebook-recruits-for-user-research-on-facebook/) - Apple always gets flack for not conducting user research (even though that's a myth -- it's market research they don't conduct). Apparently Facebook doesn't feel the same way about keeping their research under wraps. I recently happened upon an interesting page on Facebook where they allow people to apply to participate in user research studies,
- [Whit Hour - Week 22](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/21/whit-hour-week-22/) - Thank you so much to the ~22 people who showed up for the twenty-second week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [My 10 Favorite Tools of 2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/13/my-10-favorite-tools-of-2010/) - As the year comes to a close, I can't help but think of all the ways my life has gotten even better over the past 12 months. I've met incredible new people, I've opened myself up to new experiences, I've taken new risks, and I've found new loves. The most significant behavioral change that comes
- [I wish I were going to UX Hong Kong!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/15/i-wish-i-were-going-to-ux-hong-kong/) - Last weekend I had a Skype catch-up session with my good friend Dan Szuc. Dan runs the usability consultancy Apogee HK, and his team is producing the first ever UX Hong Kong on February 18, 2011. Apogee HK started at the end of 1999, and by 2003 Dan realized that there was a need for
- [Recent Reads - 12/8/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/12/08/recent-reads-1282010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. 6 Cool Laptop BagsGorgeous! Limitless or limited resources. | IndexedI really couldn't agree more Seth's Blog: The world's worst boss Weight Watchers Upends Its Points System - NYTimes.comThe delicate balance between truth and ease
- [Awesome Email of the Day: I write to you, thanks to Google Translator](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/30/awesome-email-of-the-day-i-write-to-you-thanks-to-google-translator/) - Passion knows no bounds. Thanks never gets lost in translation. From: Bruno Chaves To: Whitney Hess Subject: hello from brazil Date: August 4, 2010 9:04:13 AM EDT I do not know write in English. my English is very bad. But you can read;) I write to you, thanks to google translator:) I met his blog,
- [What are you worth?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/22/what-are-you-worth/) - Perhaps not coincidentally, I had two totally separate conversations on Sunday within the same theme: how much should I charge? Later that day I tweeted: Several folks responded that they'd like to hear more about my reflection in a blog post, so here it is. One conversation was with a friend who's interviewing for a
- [Whit Hour - Week 20](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/23/whit-hour-week-20/) - Thank you so much to the ~22 people who showed up for the twentieth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Recent Reads - 10/30/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/15/recent-reads-10302010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Studio612A Internthe swissmiss studio needs you! Paris vs New York, a tally of two citiesmy two loves -- via @swissmiss Digg To Layoff 37% Of Staff, Product Refocus ImminentYes, uninformed redesigns can kill POTD:
- [Recent Reads - 8/31/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/31/recent-reads-8312010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Announcing Lanyrd - the social conference directoryPure genius On silence-speech - BobulateSilence is sexy 7 Stories About Women Heroes in Tech - Please Send Us More – ReadWriteWebHonored to be mentioned among such inspiring
- [A Book Apart: Empowering Fuzzy Teams in 100 Pages or Less](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/11/02/a-book-apart-empowering-fuzzy-teams-in-100-pages-or-less/) - On Sunday, I reread Jeremy Keith's HTML5 for Web Designers, from cover to cover, on the plane to An Event Apart San Diego. I first read it when it arrived on my doorstep in July, but I am in a different mindset now -- beginning a new product adventure -- and I wanted to refresh
- [Loosecubes and the future of work](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/10/29/loosecubes-and-the-future-of-work/) - In August 2005, I formed an LLC and started doing freelance work on the side of my full-time job. In August 2008, I quit my full-time job to pursue independent consulting and self-employment. In November 2008, I became one of the first members of New Work City and started growing my career through the coworking
- [Scientific American redesign by Happy Cog has launched](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/09/24/scientific-american-redesign-by-happy-cog-has-launched/) - Wednesday the new ScientificAmerican.com went live. Happy Cog worked on the website redesign, while Roger Black Studios worked on a redesign of the print publication. As the user experience designer on the project, I had the immense pleasure of working alongside visual designer Mike Pick, front-end developer Tim Murtaugh, project manager Robb Rice, and executive
- [I'm teaching a Girl Develop IT class!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/09/21/im-teaching-a-girl-develop-it-class/) - My dear friend and "girl developer" Sara Chipps has been making waves in the tech community with her new initiative Girl Develop IT. Recently featured on ReadWriteWeb, Girl Develop IT strives to narrow the gender divide in tech by offering an extremely low-cost series of classes on programming to women who want to build their
- [Proud to announce that I'm now a UX advisor for RedStamp](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/09/20/proud-to-announce-that-im-now-a-ux-advisor-for-redstamp/) - I'm incredibly fortunate to be in a position to chat with prospective clients pretty frequently. But to be perfectly honest, if I've only had one 30-minute conversation with someone, I tend not to remember the details months later. Last April I was introduced to Erin Newkirk, CEO and co-founder of RedStamp, a company putting style
- [Whit Hour - Week 16](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/09/14/whit-hour-week-16/) - Thank you so much to the ~22 people who showed up for the sixteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Whit Hour - Week 15](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/31/whit-hour-week-15/) - Thank you so much to the 33 people who showed up for the fifteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Recent Reads - 8/24/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/25/recent-reads-8242010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. How to create a process portfolio | PLAN AND SECTIONA great companion piece to my Process, Not Portfolio article The Super Technical Guide to GoToMeeting for Remote Usability on a Mac » Bolt |
- [Whit Hour - Week 13](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/17/whit-hour-week-13/) - Thank you so much to the ~29 people who showed up for the thirteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour. Whit
- [Recent Reads - 8/23/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/23/recent-reads-8232010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Worth a read: the Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership - Good ExperienceSomething I really needed to read right now, sent to me by a very kind friend. Give the Client What they Want — Robot
- [Awesome email of the day: The unglamorous side of UX](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/11/awesome-email-of-the-day-the-unglamorous-side-of-ux/) - A few days ago, I received an amazing email from someone I have never before met, wanting to share some information. The purpose of the email is irrelevant, but the opening paragraph is SO classic, it's worth reposting here. You should know that somewhere in the depths of the UX world there are a bunch
- [Recent Reads - 8/5/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/05/recent-reads-852010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Working with PMs: A Q&A with Whitney Hess « Brett HarnedThanks to @brettharned for making me the first in this great series 15 Developer/Hacker Women to Follow on TwitterProps to the chicks who code,
- [Introducing StartUXs](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/02/introducing-startuxs/) - I'm very excited to be the guest author on this week's 52weeksofUX, a blog by Josh Porter and Josh Brewer, two people I greatly admire. My topic is the increasingly crucial role that user experience design plays in the success of a startup. I called the piece StartUXs (get it? startups with an X instead
- [Do Not Underestimate the Power of a Great PM](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/08/02/do-not-underestimate-the-power-of-a-great-pm/) - Brett Harned is one of the best project managers I've ever known. I have the pleasure of working with him at Happy Cog, and getting to watch his skills put to work for the benefit of our team and the client team alike. Despite being an adamantly behind-the-scenes kind of guy, he recently started blogging
- [Email of the Week: I Do Software](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/07/email-of-the-week-i-do-software/) - Recently got this zinger in my inbox: Sorry if I find your site overwhelming. And I don't want to be a UX designer. And I am too busy to blog or tweet. But I do software. So knowing about UX design is not an issue for me. That was the beginning. The rest was asking
- [Recent Reads - 7/2/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/07/02/recent-reads-722010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Is this thing on?Some genius insights on project management from @brettharned The power of the pause@bobulate says shhh new-featuritisTom Fishburne, genius as always 50 Sketching Resources for User Experience Designers Growing Up Geek: Veronica
- [Recent Reads - 6/22/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/06/22/recent-reads-6222010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious bookmarks. Hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Whitney Hess, Ethan Marcotte, and Jason Fried on The Big Web Showyay! Gradual Engagement Boosts Twitter Sign-Ups by 29%really important stuff to explain to clients trying to build community Derek Powazek - 10 Ways
- [Sketching made easier by UI Stencils](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/22/sketching-made-easier-by-ui-stencils/) - Yes, I'm obsessed with Konigi's Omnigraffle wireframe stencils, but what if you could have real-life stencils to help you sketch? You can. They're called UI Stencils, and they're made by Design Commission, an experience design agency in Seattle. Drawing can be intimidating for a lot of folks, and the fear of not being a "good
- [Fire your worst customers](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/21/fire-your-worst-customers/) - In Seth Godin's recent blog post, more, More, MORE!, he makes the unpopular-but-wise assertion that until you fire your worst customers, you'll never be able to do your best. I think it applies to clients just as much as consumers. The bottom line: you can't please everyone, and it's stupid to try. You'll end up
- [Recent Reads - 2/21/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/21/recent-reads-2212010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious. Hope you enjoy. Indexed » Blog Archive » Who’s in your office?Are you a prima donna, a pushover, a savior, or a nightmare? Email is Killing Your Business | Michael LeisEmail is broken, but it's here to stay. So what are we going to do about
- [Who is Michael Gruen's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/16/who-is-michael-gruens-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Michael Gruen is a serial entrepreneur and independent business consultant for a variety of startups through Greyworks. He is the co-founder of TechKaraoke and the co-author of Twitter For Dummies. Follow him on Twitter @gruen. Michael Gruen's mentor is... Michael Gruen, Self
- [Who is Harry Max's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/23/who-is-harry-maxs-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Harry Max is an independent management consultant and executive coach for a variety of startups and major brands. Previously he was a Principal Consultant at Rubicon Consulting. In 1994, he co-founded Virtual Vineyards (wine.com). Follow him on Twitter @harrymax. Harry Max's mentor is...
- [Photo of the day: Makeshift Mailbox](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/18/photo-of-the-day-makeshift-mailbox/) - Beard Papa claims to make the world's best cream puffs, and they aren't lying. Fortunately for the folks at New Work City, they have a location just around the corner. Unfortunately, it's been "closed for maintenance" since November. I walked by recently and noticed a FedEx box labeled MAIL BOX taped to the outside of
- [Photo of the day: A Restroom on a Mission](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/19/photo-of-the-day-a-restroom-on-a-mission/) - You couldn't pay me to use the restroom at NYC's Penn Station, but I didn't think twice about needing to pee when I was at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station recently. Perhaps it was their warm welcome and solemn promise to take care of me that put me at ease. OUR MISSION is to provide the
- [Steal inspiration from everywhere](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/13/steal-inspiration-from-everywhere/) - My friend Paul Isakson recently posted this great quotation by Jim Jarmusch, the indie filmmaker (Broken Flowers, Coffee and Cigarettes, Ghost Dog). His words so beautifully capture something I've felt for a long time, and I wanted to share it with all of you. "Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or
- [Photo of the day: Kickin' It Old School](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/15/photo-of-the-day-kickin-it-old-school/) - I've been riding Amtrak a lot lately, and I've seen a lot of businesspeople with their laptops and USB modems and BlackBerrys and bluetooth headsets. That has become the norm, even among the baby boomers. So much so that I had to do a double-take when I saw this sweet guy kickin' it old school:
- [Photo of the day: Snowman Poop!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/12/photo-of-the-day-snowman-poop/) - In honor of Wednesday's near-blizzard in NYC, I wanted to share this winter treat with all of you. "You've been naughty, so here's the scoop. You're getting nothing but Snowman Poop!" A few months ago I was visiting my friend in Mystic, CT, and we went to B.F. Clyde's Cider Mill where they were selling
- [My Happy Cog Avatar Has Arrived](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/11/my-happy-cog-avatar-has-arrived/) - I've been consulting for Happy Cog for a year and a half, but when this arrived in my inbox yesterday, I became a true Happy Cogger. Many thanks to Kevin Cornell for creating it. Everyone at Happy Cog has one of these cuties, and now I do, too. So what do you think...does it look
- [The Excellence better known as Interaction10 #ixd10](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/02/08/the-excellence-better-known-as-interaction10-ixd10/) - I just got home from Savannah last night, and I'm already missing everyone terribly. The four days I spent there at IxDA's Interaction10, their third annual conference, was one of the best conference experiences I've ever had (and as you may know, I go to a lot of conferences!). Day 0 "Interaction 10 welcomes you!
- [Recent Reads - 1/30/2010](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/30/recent-reads-1302010/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious. Hope you enjoy. Falling in Love with UX | innonateNate Westheimer, VP of Product at Anyclip and organizer of NY Tech Meetup, has finally learned the value of UX An Inside Look Into Boxee's Systematic UX Overhaul Process - ReadWriteStartMy UX design process for the Boxee
- [Photo of the day: Do Not Disturb](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/25/photo-of-the-day-do-not-disturb/) - I travel a lot and I've seen (and used) my fair share of Do Not Disturb signs. Most hang from the doorknob, and some are inserted into the card key slot. But who hasn't experienced their shortcomings? Either they fall to the floor every time you open the door, or you aren't given one at
- [NY Tech Meetup: The European Edition](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/20/ny-tech-meetup-the-european-edition/) - Last night, Dawn Barber and Meetup.com CEO and co-founder Scott Heiferman hosted a special edition of NY Tech Meetup at Meetup HQ. NY Tech Meetup: European Edition gave 11 startups from all over Europe the chance to wow us tough New Yorkers with 3-minute demos of their webapps. The companies are all 2009 winners of
- [Photo of the day: MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/20/photo-of-the-day-mayday-mayday-mayday/) - It's so comforting to know that in times of imminent danger, our stress call will require seven careful steps. I saw this sign posted on the Governors Island Ferry when heading back to Manhattan after a nice birthday picnic in the park. You may recall that New York City has had some ferry trouble in
- [Photo of the day: Dollars and Cents](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/21/photo-of-the-day-dollars-and-cents/) - On June 28, 2009, the New York City MTA increased the rates for subway and bus rides. Apparently the ticket agent who dutifully wrote this sign is unaware of the one-currency-symbol-per-value rule. Is the new fare 2.25 dollars or 2.25 cents? A smart, frugal person might have recourse to argue the latter.
- [Photo of the day: Support Counter Intelligence](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/19/photo-of-the-day-support-counter-intelligence/) - Who doesn't love a good pun? I'm more of a double entendre girl myself, but even a har har pun can get a chuckle out of me sometimes. I found this tip jar at a Haagen Dazs in Santa Fe Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Now for those of you who are a bit
- [Photo of the day: Floor seats](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/15/photo-of-the-day-floor-seats/) - Back in May, I snapped this photo on my subway ride home one evening. I don't think he saw me, but even if he did I doubt he would have cared. His nonchalance amused me on so many levels: He's sitting on the floor of the subway car. That's even too dirty for homeless people.
- [Using Twitter for Friend Advice](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2010/01/14/using-twitter-for-friend-advice/) - I ask questions on Twitter all the time on a wide variety of topics, and I usually get really useful responses -- but never as many as when I ask about interpersonal issues. A little while ago I posed this question: "What do you do when someone you really care about won't respond to your
- [Links from 10/4/2009 to 12/21/2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/12/21/links-from-1042009-to-12212009/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious and Google Reader Shared Items. Hope you enjoy. Think like me, agree with me by Seth GodinShort and sweet, and important stuff to remember 500 Internal Server Error500 Internal Server Error A List Apart: Articles: Can You Say That in English? Explaining UX Research to ClientsI'm
- [Who is Mario Bourque's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/12/08/who-is-mario-bourques-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Mario Bourque is Manager of Information Architecture and Content Management for a leading technology solutions provider to the passenger transport industry. He also helped to organize the Information Architecture Institute's IDEA2009. Follow him on Twitter @mariobourque. Mario Bourque's mentor is... Juan Guillen, Technology
- [Who is Paul Isakson's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/24/who-is-paul-isaksons-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Paul Isakson is an independent strategic planner. Previously he was the head of strategy at space150, a marketing and advertising agency. In 2008 he caused a stir when he began anonymously tweeting as Don Draper, the protagonist from the TV series Mad Men.
- [Who is Erin Malone's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/26/who-is-erin-malones-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Erin Malone is a Principal at Tangible ux, a user experience consulting firm. Previously she led Yahoo!'s Platform User Experience Design team and helped build the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library. She is also the co-author of the recently released Designing Social Interfaces. Follow
- [Who is Josh Damon Williams's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/17/who-is-josh-damon-williamss-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Josh Damon Williams is the director of product strategy at Hot Studio, a people-centered design studio, where previously he served as a senior user experience designer. He is also a part-time DJ. Follow him on Twitter @joshdamon. Josh Damon Williams's mentor is... Ryan
- [Who is Brandon Schauer's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/19/who-is-brandon-schauers-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Brandon Schauer is an experience design director for Adaptive Path, a user experience design and consulting firm. He is also the co-author of Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World. Follow him on Twitter @brandonschauer. Brandon Schauer's heroes
- [Faceted Filtering...in the Real World](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/16/faceted-filtering-in-the-real-world/) - I'm completely in love with this new commercial by Freschetta that demonstrates what "faceted filtering" would look like in the physical world. Pattern Definition Faceted filtering is a mechanism that allows the user to progressively reduce a large group of items by selecting the desired attributes from various dimensions (or facets) of those items Note:
- [New to New York?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/13/new-to-new-york/) - My new friend Dave Dawson recently graduated college and moved from Cambridge to NYC. While I was timid and intimidated when I first entered the working world, Dave is quite the opposite –– he is eager to put himself out there, meet lots of new people, and see what the city has to offer. Over
- [My notes from An Event Apart Chicago 2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/23/my-notes-from-an-event-apart-chicago-2009/) - Earlier this week, I went into detail about my experience as a speaker at An Event Apart Boston and Chicago 2009. Here are my Twitter notes from last week's Chicago event. I had amazing time getting to hear design and development tips and inspiration from some of the most prominent speakers in the field. I
- [Who is Mike Rohde's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/06/who-is-mike-rohdes-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Mike Rohde is an art director and designer for Northwoods Software, a web and software design and development firm. He is well-known for his real-time sketchnotes at many events and conferences, including SXSW Interactive and An Event Apart. Follow him on Twitter @rohdesign.
- [Who is Fred Beecher's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/08/who-is-fred-beechers-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Fred Beecher is a Senior User Experience Consultant at Evantage Consulting. He is an authority on rapid prototyping for interaction design and runs an Axure RP Pro training program. Follow him on Twitter @fred_beecher. Fred Beecher's hero is... Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha How long
- [Who is Andrew Hinton's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/13/who-is-andrew-hintons-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Andrew Hinton is a Lead Information Architect at Vanguard, an investment management company. He co-founded the Information Architecture Institute in 2002 is now serves as the Director of Professional Practice on its Board of Directors. Follow him on Twitter @inkblurt. Andrew Hinton's mentor
- [We scan from top to bottom](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/10/03/we-scan-from-top-to-bottom/) - I shop online so often that it's second nature for me to immediately start typing into an shipping/billing address form based on the textbox widths and layout. However, as I was just checking out from Garnet Hill, I realized something was off. Field labels are underneath the text field. Wow. Had it not been for
- [Whit Hour - Week 5](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/02/whit-hour-week-5/) - Thank you so much to the 20 or so folks who showed up for the fifth week of Whit Hour -- my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. I particularly appreciate your patience and determination to stick with
- [IDEA 2009: Social and Experience Design - Day 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/17/idea-2009-social-and-experience-design-day-2/) - This is a continuation of my coverage from the IDEA Conference in Toronto from September 15-16, 2009. My Day 1 roundup can be found here. Day 2 also had a great lineup of speakers: Tim Queenan Christian Crumlish and Erin Malone Matthew Milan Mari Luangrath Stephen Anderson My Twitter notes from the conference are below.
- [IDEA 2009: Social and Experience Design - Day 1](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/09/15/idea-2009-social-and-experience-design-day-1/) - I'm in Toronto this week for IDEA 2009, the conference run by the Information Architecture Institute. This year's theme is Social and Experience Design. Speakers from a variety of backgrounds are helping us understand how to make informed and insightful design decisions based on the ever-changing landscape of the web caused in large part by
- [Whit Hour moved to 8/31 9pm ET](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/30/whit-hour-moved-to-831-9pm-et/) - Sincere apologies for the last minute change. Unfortunately I will not be able to do Whit Hour tonight. Instead it will be tomorrow, Monday 8/31 from 9-10pm Eastern Time. Same as always, join me at http://tinychat.com/whitney pw:whithour. Sorry again! Hope to see you all tomorrow night.
- [Join me at IDEA2009 on Sept 15-16](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/26/join-me-at-idea2009-on-sept-15-16/) - Are you going to IDEA2009? I am! And I want to meet you there. What follows is everything you need to know about the conference. I'm on the board of advisors for the Information Architecture Institute and have the utmost respect for the amazing folks who've put their blood, sweat and tears into organizing this
- [Links from 8/18/2009 to 8/22/2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/22/links-from-8182009-to-8222009/) - Here are the most recent additions to my Delicious and Google Reader Shared Items. Hope you enjoy. YouTube - The Vendor Client relationship - in real world situationsThe story of my life. Via @jmspool StartupCFO: The $1 ClauseFrom @orian Holaphil » Blog Archive » I May Owe You an ApologyIt takes a lot of guts
- [IxDA NYC: Todd Zaki Warfel's Prototyping for UX Practitioners](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/20/ixda-nyc-todd-zaki-warfels-prototyping-for-ux-practitioners/) - On August 13, the venerable Todd Zaki Warfel of Messagefirst gave a great talk on prototyping (on which he is the premier speaker) at the monthly IxDA NYC event. His energy and engaging style really got the crowd pumped up. We even did a group exercise towards the end of the evening. My Twitter notes
- [Who is Chris Baum's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/20/who-is-chris-baums-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Chris Baum is a user experience consultant and the Editor-in-Chief of Boxes and Arrows, a peer-written journal for designers. Previously he was a senior project manager at eTrade and Jaman.com, an online social cinema company. Follow him on Twitter @cb. Chris Baum's hero
- [Help me celebrate my 1st year of self-employment](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/12/help-me-celebrate-my-1st-year-of-self-employment/) - It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since I quit my full-time job to give independent consulting a try. In a nutshell, it was the best decision I've ever made. I plan on writing a longer post to wrap up the year, but in the meantime I wanted to invite you all
- [Links from 5/14/2009 to 8/9/2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/09/links-from-5142009-to-892009/) - Write When Inspired The Amanda Project Technology will allow us to become digital nomads Steve Jobs on why Apple doesn’t do market research Is Your Organization An Umbrella or Mixing Bowl? How Easy It Is To Miss
- [Tips and Tricks for BlackBerry Users](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/06/tips-and-tricks-for-blackberry-users/) - Here is the ultimate resource for BlackBerry users on keyboard shortcuts for navigation, typing, email, browser, and more.
- [Essentials to Designing a Conference](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/18/essentials-to-designing-a-conference/) - Here are the essentials to designing a great conference experience for attendees no matter what your budget or size.
- [What I did while Twitter was down today](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/06/what-i-did-while-twitter-was-down-today/) - Twitter had a Denial of Service Attack this morning, which affected its uptime all day today. Therefore I was forced to figure out what to do without it. Here's what I came up with: I noted my frustration on Facebook I actually looked at my friends' pages on Facebook I reached Inbox Zero in Google
- [Who is Todd Zaki Warfel's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/06/who-is-todd-zaki-warfels-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Todd Zaki Warfel is a founding partner and design researcher at Messagefirst, a consulting firm. He is also the author of the upcoming book A Practitioner's Guide to Prototyping. Follow him on Twitter @zakiwarfel. Todd Zaki Warfel's heroes are... Paul Shaffer, Grandfather,
- [Links from 4/23/2009 to 5/8/2009 (yeah, overdue)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/05/links-from-4232009-to-582009-yeah-overdue/) - Where's the Value? Return on User Experience (ROUX). - iMedia Connection BlogBy Rachel DeFriend, UX at Javelin Direct (via @mcaldecutt) Ten Laws of Pricing for Consultants | JamesCrossman.comThe honest truth about how to price projects as a consultant Article Skimmer from The New York TimesA really clean way to get a top-level view of all
- [Who is Spencer Fry's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/11/who-is-spencer-frys-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Spencer Fry is a partner and CEO of Carbonmade, an online portfolio website for creative professionals. He is also the founder of the design magazine Burstoid. Follow him on Twitter @spencerfry. Spencer Fry's mentor is... Paul Fry, English Professor at Yale University How
- [The first Whit Hour was a success](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/03/the-first-whit-hour-was-a-success/) - Last night from 9-10pm Eastern Time I hosted my first Whit Hour -- a new weekly video chat in which I answer people's questions about user experience, consulting, and anything else they ask. I had an absolute blast and surprisingly talked non-stop -- not something I'm particularly comfortable with, but there were just so many
- [Who is Keith Lang's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/30/who-is-keith-langs-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] How has your hero had such a profound impact on your life? I fell into the UI field sideways, and as a response scrambled to catch up on the history. I followed links, watched Youtube clips and generally read everything. I think it
- [Whit Hour starts August 2 at 9pm ET](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/28/whit-hour-starts-august-2-at-9pm-et/) - The results are in. Receiving 27% of the 116 total votes, the most preferred time for Whit Hour, my new weekly "office hour" via video chat, is Sundays from 9-10pm Eastern Time. I'll be using TinyChat, at least for now. You can join the video conference at http://tinychat.com/whitney with the password whithour. Come one, come
- [Who is Mike Pratt's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/04/who-is-mike-pratts-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Michael J. Pratt is the co-founder of the Style Coalition, a group of independent online fashion and beauty publishers, and the COO/CTO of Gift Girl. He is also a partner in a statistical arbitrage hedge fund. Follow him on Twitter @mikepratt. Mike Pratt's
- [Who is Lou Rosenfeld's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/28/who-is-lou-rosenfelds-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Louis Rosenfeld is an independent information architecture consultant, and founder and publisher of Rosenfeld Media, a publishing house focused on user experience books. He is the co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Follow him on Twitter @louisrosenfeld. Lou Rosenfeld's mentor
- [The Meaning of Friend](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/23/the-meaning-of-friend/) - I have made a lot of new friends since I started this blog and began using Twitter. The line between friend and colleague has started to blur.
- [Get a 15% discount to DelveUI in NYC](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/23/get-a-15-discount-to-delveui-in-nyc/) - Pleasure and Pain is offering 15% discounts to DelveUI to the first 15 readers to comment on this post.
- [Twitter as group therapy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/01/twitter-as-group-therapy/) - Twitter is like group therapy. When I have a problem I can reach out to my followers and get their advice and input. I always feel better from their replies
- [Being a consultant is like being an actor](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/12/being-a-consultant-is-like-being-an-actor/) - Consulting requires acting. Process, rejection, stress and lack of sleep, working sporadically, promoting yourself, public criticism, a shot at fame and fortune
- [Happy Cog and Happy Whitney](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/19/happy-cog-and-happy-whitney/) - Jeffrey Zeldman invited me to be a strategic partner of Happy Cog. I'm one the user experience designers that Happy Cog New York hires for website projects
- [How Twitter has changed my life](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/08/how-twitter-has-changed-my-life/) - Twitter has changed my life. It has enabled me to meet amazing people I otherwise would've never known. It has helped me grow my business. It's about connection
- [Why I Don't Have an iPhone (but might someday)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/10/why-i-dont-have-an-iphone-but-might-someday/) - I don't have an iPhone because I hate the touchscreen keyboard and AT&T service sucks. Instead I use a BlackBerry that I love. iPhone has some usability problems
- [Finding a day and time for Whit Hour](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/21/finding-a-day-and-time-for-chat-with-whit/) - Given that I'm a user experience practitioner and consultant who is active on Twitter, it's not surprising that I have a lot of folks coming to me with questions. Unfortunately it's gotten to a point where I can no longer answer each person individually. In an effort to keep my sanity while still being as
- [Who is Meg Fowler's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/02/who-is-meg-fowlers-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]
- [Who needs a plumber when you have Twitter?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/01/who-needs-a-plumber-when-you-have-twitter/) - I'm a do-it-yourself kinda girl, so instead of putting in a work order with the building staff, I'd prefer to at least try to fix things around the apartment myself. Lately I've been noticing a problem with my dishwasher, so I thought I'd ask Twitter: Not surprisingly, I got a lot of great advice. Here's
- [Photo of the day: Private Parts in Public](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/07/photo-of-the-day-private-parts-in-public/) - This big guy stands in the lobby of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. As I walked around it the other day, I noticed something curious about his ding-a-ling -- it's a different color than the rest of his body. Which means that more than a few people have been rubbing it as they
- [Photo of the day: Time To Buy Cut-Rite](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/07/08/photo-of-the-day-time-to-buy-cut-rite/) - I was baking at my parents' apartment recently and pulled out their wax paper to line a cookie sheet. When I tore some off, I noticed a message pierced into the paper that read "TIME TO BUY CUT-RITE." They use a different brand than I do so I had never seen this before. The paper
- [Who is Amanda Jahn's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/30/who-is-amanda-jahns-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Amanda Jahn is a lead user experience designer at Yahoo! in London where she leads UX for Yahoo! Answers globally. Previously she was a web designer for Investis. Follow her on Twitter @yahnyinlondon. Amanda Jahn's mentors are... Wesley Corbett, Head of Design at Investis
- [Who is Michael Leis's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/24/who-is-michael-leiss-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Michael Leis is an independent strategic consultant helping companies use emerging media, and previously worked at Trellist Marketing|Technology and Emerge Digital. He is also a frequent contributor to iMediaConnection, an online marketing publication. Follow him on Twitter @mleis. Michael Leis's mentor is... William Donnelly,
- [Who is Gabby Hon's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/18/who-is-gabby-hons-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] This week is a two-for-one special! Gabby couldn't decide on just one person to highlight, and I wasn't going to force her.
- [Who is Alana Taylor's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/16/who-is-alana-taylors-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Alana Taylor just finished her junior year studying journalism and history at New York University (NYU), and is the Manager of Strategic Marketing at OneTXT. She was previously was an active writer for Mashable and a social media correspondent for PBS. Follow her on
- [Who is Dave Malouf's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/11/who-is-dave-maloufs-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] David Malouf is a Professor of Interaction Design at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), and was previously a senior interaction designer for Motorola Enterprise Mobility. He is also the co-founder of the Interaction Design Association, which has amassed more than 10,000
- [Who is Gradon Tripp's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/02/who-is-gradon-tripps-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Gradon Tripp does fundraising at Firstgiving, and is the founder and editor of DesignBoston. He is also the founder of Social Media for Social Change (SM4SC), an organization that leverages the power of social media to raise awareness for worthy causes. Follow him on
- [City Trails: May 25-29](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/30/city-trails-may-25-29/) - This is part of a series called "City Trails" to track my daily treks around NYC Here's what I put myself through this week: Monday, May 25 Tuesday, May 26 Wednesday, May 27 Thursday, May 28 Friday, May 29 The maps include distance traveled by walking, subway and cab. What did your week look like?
- [Who is Heather Gold's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/28/who-is-heather-golds-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Heather Gold tours North America as a comedian, speaker, interactive solo performer and social artist. She is the creator of the hit interactive show “I Look Like an Egg, But I Identify as a Cookie" and hosts her own talk show podcast, The Heather
- [City Trails: May 11-15](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/15/city-trails-may-11-15/) - I've been realizing this week that I'm a true road warrior. Most days I find myself in all corners of New York City, from TriBeCa to the Upper West Side to Union Square to the West Village and sometimes to DUMBO. So I've decided to start a new blog series called "City Trails" to track
- [City Trails: May 18-22](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/27/city-trails-may-18-22/) - Last Friday I started a new blog series called "City Trails" to track my daily treks around NYC. The response was good so I'm gonna keep it going. Here's what I put myself through this week: Monday, May 18 Tuesday, May 19 Wednesday, May 20 Thursday, May 21 Friday, May 22 The maps include distance
- [Who is Kristin Maverick's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/26/who-is-kristin-mavericks-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Kristin Maverick is Director of Communications at Carrot Creative, and was previously an account executive at Bite Communications. She is the co-organizer of Digital DUMBO, a monthly gathering of Brooklyn digerati. Follow her on Twitter @kmaverick. Kristin Maverick's mentor is... Chantelle Karl, PR Manager
- [Photo of the day: How to make the perfect egg cream](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/20/photo-of-the-day-how-to-make-the-perfect-egg-cream/) - This photo was taken at the famous Junior's Restaurant in Brooklyn on my first date with Orian. God what he must have thought when I eagerly pulled out my camera to snap this pic. I'm on a date with a chick who takes photos of her food? If it weren't for that milkshake I might
- [What REALLY happened during the IA Summit (#IAS09)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/18/what-really-happened-during-the-ia-summit-ias09/) - To discover what we were really talking about during IA Summit 2009, Damon Herren used Wordle to create a word cloud visualization from all of the tweets containing the hashtag #IAS09. And what's smack dab in the middle? Me! I know I tweet up a storm when I'm at conferences, but the @ prefacing my
- [Who is Peter Kim's mentor?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/19/who-is-peter-kims-mentor/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Peter Kim is a senior partner at Dachis Corporation, and was previously an analyst at Forrester Research. His current startup, helping companies make social business design a reality, is funded by Austin Ventures. Follow him on Twitter @peterkim. Peter Kim's mentor is... Jay Mulay,
- [Who is Jorge Arango's hero?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/21/who-is-jorge-arangos-hero/) - [This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes] Jorge Arango is an information architect based in Panama, and founder and chief instigator at BootStudio, one of the first web consultancies in Central America. He is also the current president of the Information Architecture Institute. Follow him on Twitter @jarango. Jorge Arango's hero
- [Mentors and Heroes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/18/mentors-and-heroes/) - I grew up without any heroes. That's a hard thing to admit. In the 5th grade when every kid had to stand up in front of the room and talk about his or her role model, I just made one up that would sound good. How is this possible? Even at that tender age, I
- [Photo of the day: Elevator in Use By Peabody Ducks](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/15/photo-of-the-day-elevator-in-use-by-peabody-ducks/) - Talk about being on brand. The Peabody Hotel never misses a beat when it comes to their world-renowned ducks. This is the sign they put in front of the center elevator just before the March of the Ducks. It's so freakin' cute and something you'd never see anywhere else that I just had to share.
- [Photo of the day: Cigarette vending machine](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/12/photo-of-the-day-cigarette-vending-machine/) - On a recent trip to Pittsburgh, I passed this cigarette vending machine when I went to the restroom at Finnegan's Wake (one of my favorite Irish pubs in town). It took me by surprise because they've been illegal in New York City for almost 20 years. I remember playing with the knobs as a little
- [Twitter changes its email notifications](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/05/07/twitter-changes-its-email-notifications/) - By default, every time someone new follows you on Twitter, you get a notification via email (which you can turn off in the Settings, as I have). Yesterday I saw a bunch of people in my stream talking about a newly designed email notification so I decided to look into it. Here's the old notification
- [Links from 4/14/2009 to 4/22/2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/22/links-from-4142009-to-4222009/) - Wordle - Beautiful Word CloudsVia Sarah Rice (@seneb) It’s Not the Recession, You Just SuckCompletely awesome blog post about getting off your ass and making things happen YouTube - Image resizeThe coolest image resizing I have ever seen (via @orian) Mike Arauz | Blog: Spectrum of Online FriendshipPassive interest > Active interest > Sharing >
- [Do you know what you're designing for?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/11/do-you-know-what-youre-designing-for/) - The world is rapidly changing. Do you realize what is happening around you? Do you understand the context in which the products and services you help to create will be used, reused, and repurposed? Ecosystems are paradigms are shifting so dramatically that the research you do at the beginning of a project may no longer
- [Links from 12/12/2008 to 4/9/2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/10/links-from-12122008-to-492009/) - Woah, Postalicious was broken and I didn't even know it. Just fixed the plugin. Notebook 1: Paul Hughes & Design Thinking - a set on FlickrBeautiful sketch notes Redesign Must Die presentation by Lou RosenfeldLou Rosenfeld hates the term "redesign". Find out way MAYOR BLOOMBERG OUTLINES 11 INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT NEW YORK CITY'S FINANCIAL SERVICES
- [Twitter tweaks the homepage, again](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/01/twitter-tweaks-the-homepage-again/) - A month ago I wrote about Twitter finally integrating Twitter Search into their homepage by adding a search box and the Top 10 Trends to the nav bar. Now it's been redesigned yet again. The search box has been moved to the right sidebar, along with the trends listed out (instead of hiding in a
- [Improved “Freelance to Agency” podcast](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/04/01/improved-“freelance-to-agency”-podcast/) - We've not got a much clearer sounding podcast from our panel "From Freelance to Agency: Start Small, Stay Small," which I participated in at SXSW. Now with significantly enhanced audio quality, courtesy of Zoomy.net’s Peter Richardson, here, for your consideration and pleasure, is the new! improved! audio recording of “From Freelance to Agency: Start Small,
- [Twitter FINALLY turns replies into mentions](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/30/twitter-finally-turns-replies-into-mentions/) - My dreams have come true. Twitter has finally turned their Replies functionality into what they're calling Mentions. For more than two years, replies consisted only of tweets that began with the person's username, leaving us to search for ourselves to find all the other tweets where we were mere mentions. Now that Twitter has killed
- [Please help me feed hungry New Yorkers #tenbuckthursday](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/26/please-help-me-feed-hungry-new-yorkers-tenbuckthursday/) - As you might already know, I'm involved with a great organization called Social Media for Social Change that takes advantage of the connections we make online in order to produce face-to-face fundraising events around the country. The first Social Media for Social Change fundraising event in New York City will be held on the evening
- [Skitch beta 8 now available](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/26/skitch-beta-8-now-available/) - If you follow me on Twitter or read this blog enough, you probably already know that I'm completely in love with Skitch. It's by far the most common tool that I use for my everyday work -- taking screenshots, making annotations, resizing images, etc. Skitch beta 8 was just released a couple days ago with
- [Twitter.com finally removes their awful pagination](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/19/twittercom-finally-removes-their-awful-pagination/) - Twitter.com's Newer and Older buttons at the bottom of the tweet stream are NO MORE! Just this morning when I refreshed the page, I noticed that they've been replaced by the lovely more button: When you press more, another 20 tweets appear right there on the page. Much easier to use -- scrolling is not
- [I'm here at SXSW and I want to meet you!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/13/im-here-at-sxsw-and-i-want-to-meet-you/) - I'm here in Austin hanging out at SXSW until Wednesday, then going straight to Memphis for the IA Summit. Tomorrow, Saturday, March 14, at 3:30pm, I'll be on a panel with Jeffrey Zeldman, Roger Black and Kristina Halvorson called "From Freelance to Agency: Start Small, Stay Small." I told you all about it in December.
- [Twitter talk at the IxDA NYC Recap of Interaction 09](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/11/twitter-talk-at-the-ixda-nyc-recap-of-interaction-09/) - View more presentations from Whitney Hess. A couple links I mentioned in the presentation All tweets about Interaction 09 Yoni’s Tweet-to-Blog Word up to those folks whose tweets I included in the talk @askrom, @fred_beecher, @mariobourque, @semanticwill, @daveixd, @jkolko, @mmilan, @louisrosenfeld, @matto, @brunofigueiredo, @clearwired, @docbaty, @emenel, @jeanmarie, @ebacon, @joshviney, @carlalviani, @yoni, @mediajunkie, @jeepu, @feadog, @meredi
- [Twitter finally integrates Twitter Search a.k.a. Summize](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/05/twitter-finally-integrates-twitter-search-aka-summize/) - In July I mentioned that Twitter bought Summize, a search engine that indexes tweets, and redirected the site to http://search.twitter.com. Now finally, almost 8 months later, Twitter Search is fully integrated into the Twitter top nav. A search box is now globally accessible and the top 10 trending topics are displayed in a dropdown. In
- [Photo of the day: Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning to Work](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/03/photo-of-the-day-employees-must-wash-hands-before-returning-to-work/) - I found this sign in a Starbucks bathroom. If you're literate, do you really need detailed instructions on how to wash your hands? 1. Wet 2. Soap 3. Wash for 20 sec. 4. Rinse 5. Dry 6. Turn off water with paper towel And just in case you can't read or don't understand the steps,
- [Photo of the day: Nine wrong ways to swipe](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/12/photo-of-the-day-nine-wrong-ways-to-swipe/) - I don't drink whiskey, but this ad almost made me want to. Jameson ran an ad campaign last year exclusively for NYC subways. This hyper-localized approach isn't very common for a national (hell, international) brand, and it really impressed me. Why? Because they demonstrated "insider knowledge." MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THERE ARENINE WRONG WAYS TO SWIPE
- [Photo of the day: Walker Tennis Balls](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/11/photo-of-the-day-walker-tennis-balls/) - You've all seen this before: tennis balls on a walker. In fact, Google walker tennis balls and you'll get 329,000 results. The first three: How to Make a Walker Glide Most Easily, CWI Medical's Walker Tennis Balls, and a blog post Tennis Balls and Walker, an Ultimate User Hack. If the manufacturers of adult walkers
- [Photo of the day: Brick wall behind glass](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/10/photo-of-the-day-brick-wall-behind-glass/) - Last year I was going somewhere on the Upper West Side of Manhattan when I passed the Paul Saini Deli on 95th Street and Columbus. In the first window were several shelves filled with an array of grocery products, pretty typical. But as I kept walking I saw there was a second window -- and
- [Photo of the day: Calorie Counts at Dunkin Donuts](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/09/photo-of-the-day-calorie-counts-at-dunkin-donuts/) - Sometimes regulations are evil. On April 30, 2008, NYC passed a law requiring fast food restaurants to very visibly post calorie counts on their menus. Unfortunately for me, that meant finding out that my favorite doughnut at Dunkin Donuts, the Boston Kreme, is the most caloric of them all. Oh how I hate you Mayor
- [Photo of the day: At the MIT Bookstore](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/08/photo-of-the-day-at-the-mit-bookstore/) - Okay, so photos of the day. While I was at UIE's UI13 conference in October, I took a gander through the MIT bookstore. When I stumbled upon these two geeky tees, I couldn't help but snap a pic while no one was looking. I went to Carnegie Mellon a.k.a. Nerds 'R' Us and even we
- [Photo of the day: Please don't touch, lick, stroke or mount the exhibits](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/07/photo-of-the-day-please-dont-touch-lick-stroke-or-mount-the-exhibits/) - It's Saturday, so let's get a little risqué. Over Thanksgiving, the lovely Sharin and I took our 18-year-old friend Jason to the Museum of Sex (what else does one do with an 18-year-old boy?). I snapped a pic of this sign hung prominently near the entrance and posted it to Flickr. Somehow someone found it,
- [Photo of the day: Don't Lose Your Shirt](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/06/photo-of-the-day-dont-lose-your-shirt/) - Okay, so times are tough. Maybe you should think about saving your cash. Instead of going out tonight, stay at home and play with your money without spending a dime. Over brunch with Orian one day, I made a ring from a dollar bill similar to this one. I learned how to do it back
- [Photo of the day: Elevator madness](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/05/photo-of-the-day-elevator-madness/) - Believe it or not, I don't really have anything negative to say about this elevator panel, just that it's rather overwhelming the first time you see it. But I've seen it many times, so it no longer phases me. There are two panels because the elevator has two doors, one on each side -- there
- [Photo of the day: Street Lihgting](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/04/photo-of-the-day-street-lihgting/) - Look closely. Do you see it? I've been passing this lamppost for more than 5 years, and happened to notice this ridiculousness a long time ago. Last week when I passed by it again, I finally decided to snap a pic. I don't know enough about how these street lights get installed or how the
- [My Twitter Mosaic](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/01/my-twitter-mosaic/) - Inspired by @woodlandalyssa, I decided to give Twitter Mosaic a whirl. Here are all of the people that I currently follow on Twitter and consider to be important and interesting people in my life. I hope you like them, too :) Get your twitter mosaic here.
- [Future of Web Apps -- Miami 2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/28/future-of-web-apps-miami-2009/) - Last weekend, Orian and I flew down to Miami for BarCampMiami and Carsonified's Future of Web Apps (FOWA). Unfortunately I caught a cold and we missed most of BarCamp, but at least we made it to Fraser Kelton's presentation on AdaptiveBlue's Glue -- a browser add-on that lets you see what your friends think about
- [Photo of the day: How do we call agent??](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/24/photo-of-the-day-how-do-we-call-agent/) - As I was walking down the jetway about to board an American Airlines flight from MIA to LGA, I noticed this sign mounted next to an employee phone. It's amazing to me when people write questions on signs as though someone is going to answer them. Do they come back later to check? Well in
- [Photo of the day: You Can't Un-Shit a First Impression](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/02/photo-of-the-day-you-cant-un-shit-a-first-impression/) - I was sitting in a café on University Place and noticed this hilarious sign. YOU CAN'T UN-SHIT A FIRST IMPRESSION Even if you don't have a fancy suit, we'll make you look good on paper. The Resumé Hero Resumés and cover letters for real people who want super jobs. I found it ironic that the
- [Photo of the day: Blankets Kill Grass](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/01/photo-of-the-day-blankets-kill-grass/) - NO BLANKETS ALLOWED BLANKETS KILL GRASS Killjoy, man! Way to harsh my mellow. I just wanted to lie out in the park. I mean, thanks for giving me a reason why, but did you have to be so blunt? How about: "Blankets Hurt Grass." I'd feel a lot better about that. Spotted at Washington Market
- [Photo of the day: Push to take toilet paper](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/28/photo-of-the-day-push-to-take-toilet-paper/) - I snapped this shot inside the spiffy public restroom at Madison Square Park. The restroom cleans itself after every use, a total water-and-soap spray-down of the entire space. So naturally, the toilet paper can't be exposed -- it would get soaked! Instead, it's hidden behind a trap door. When you press the button, the metal
- [Photo of the day: Burn Calories, Not Electricity](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/27/photo-of-the-day-burn-calories-not-electricity/) - While attending Smart Experience's Web Navigation Design workshop with Jim Kalbach at the Center for Architecture, I noticed this great sign by the elevator: Burn Calories, Not Electricity Take the Stairs! Walking up the stairs just 2 minutes a day helps prevent weight gain. It also helps the environment. I did a little investigation and
- [Photo of the day: Warning! Guard Dogs](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/26/photo-of-the-day-warning-guard-dogs/) - I was walking down the street with Dan Rollman of URDB and spotted the most perfect irony. I managed to get my camera out just in time; the dog looked at me just as I snapped the pic, then ran away. Wish I could remember what store it was so I could send them this.
- [Photo of the day: 25" Sharp tube TV + 12 Bud Lights](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/25/photo-of-the-day-25-sharp-tube-tv-12-bud-lights/) - I saw this great sign posted in an apartment building. The seller is clearly a genius -- anyone who'd still want a 25" tube TV must obviously love Bud Light.
- [Photo of the day: Hebrew elevator](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/23/photo-of-the-day-hebrew-elevator/) - Okay, so this isn't really a Hebrew elevator. It's in a building in San Francisco, actually the offices of Cooper Design. I took a course there two years ago and found these buttons to be so ridiculous I just had to take a pic. I call it a Hebrew elevator because the numbers are laid
- [Photo of the day: Keep dog's away](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/22/photo-of-the-day-keep-dogs-away/) - Consider the number of people that must have seen this sign before it was posted: the writer, the printer, the sign manufacturer, the installer, the building manager. And not one knows how to spell, or cared enough to fix the mistake. Amazing.
- [Photo of the day: Yes if no](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/21/photo-of-the-day-yes-if-no/) - Orian got this hilarious survey in the mail and saved it for me cuz he knew I'd get a kick out of it. (He knows me so well!) I knew something was off immediately, but I had to stare at it for a moment before I could see what the heck was going on. Do
- [Gel conference videos now online](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/18/gel-conference-videos-now-online/) - Not everyone has the chance to attend Gel -- it's pricey and not directly related to the work we do so it can be hard to justify to managers who control your professional development budget. It's billed as an "inspirational" conference similar to TED, but with a specific focus: creating good experiences (Gel stands for
- [IxDA Interaction 09: Day 1](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/17/ixda-interaction-09-day-1/) - Well Interaction 09 was a blast! Vancouver is a hip, chic town and the energy level at the conference was really high. My favorite thing about the user experience community is just how much everyone loves each other and feels inspired by one another. While this year, IxDA's second running the conference, had a very
- [IxDA Interaction 09: Day 3](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/17/ixda-interaction-09-day-3/) - My Twitter notes from Interaction 09 Day 3 -- Sunday, February 8, 2009 -- are below. I have gathered my tweets from Day 1 and Day 2 in other posts. Keynote: How to Change Complicated Stuff (e.g., the World) by Marc Rettig I'm Twittering from the last day of @interaction09 http://interaction09.ixda.org/ thanks to @boxesandarrows http://boxesandarrows.com
- [IxDA Interaction 09: Day 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/17/ixda-interaction-09-day-2/) - My Twitter notes from Interaction 09 Day 2 -- Saturday, February 7, 2009 -- are below. I have gathered my tweets from Day 1 and Day 3 in other posts. Saturday Opening Remarks I'm Twittering from @interaction09 on behalf of the amazing @boxesandarrows. http://boxesandarrows.com @ebacon on the stage announcing the new @ixda board. @jdevylder is
- [Photo of the day: Warning: Movie longer than flight](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/19/photo-of-the-day-warning-movie-longer-than-flight/) - There was outrageous and incredibly frightening turbulence on my Cathay Pacific flight back to JFK from Vancouver. When it was all over, my heart was pounding and I was just happy to be alive. I decided to turn on a movie to calm myself down even though there was less than two hours left in
- [Photo of the day: Hand-written menu at Chanterelle](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/18/photo-of-the-day-hand-written-menu-at-chanterelle/) - Chanterelle is a fancy schmancy restaurant in my neighborhood, TriBeCa. Like many restaurants they post their menu in the window, but theirs is completely handwritten and absolutely gorgeous. It immediately tells you something about the kind of service you'll be getting there. It's dated to indicate a seasonal menu and embellished with huge descenders. I
- [Photo of the day: HSBC's Pleasure and Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/16/photo-of-the-day-hsbcs-pleasure-and-pain/) - Imagine my surprise when I walked into the Cathay Pacific terminal at JFK and saw this HSBC ad. Kismet! I've always enjoyed their Your Point of View airport campaign, but even with all of my travel I'd never seen this one before. Check out all of their ads. I wonder what the skycap thought when
- [Photo of the day: Ferry rates in 1743](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/17/photo-of-the-day-ferry-rates-in-1743/) - Inside the bar at the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, NY, we found this list of ferry rates between Newburgh and Fishkill from May 24, 1743. Notice the stuff that people were bringing aboard with them -- horse or beast, calf or hogg [sic], sheep or lamb, pail of butter, bushell [sic] of salt or
- [Hanging out at IxDA's Interaction09](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/06/hanging-out-at-ixdas-interaction09/) - I arrived in rainy Vancouver late last night on Cathay Pacific's once-a-day non-stop flight from JFK, along with Lou Rosenfeld, Peter March and Liz Danzico. I'm here to attend Interaction|09, the second annual conference organized by the Interaction Design Association a.k.a. IxDA. If you're here and we haven't met yet, please come over and say
- [NY Tech Meetup -- February 2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/02/04/ny-tech-meetup-february-2009/) - Last night was February's NY Tech Meetup, the second month under new organizer Nate Westheimer. One of the major changes that Nate has made to the event so far is that the evening's presenters have related products or services. This month's theme was "Mobile Meets Social." The presenters were: Peek Xtify viaPlace Coovents Mobile Commons
- [NY Tech Meetup - March 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/16/ny-tech-meetup-march-2008/) - Okay, so the Meetup was almost two weeks ago, but I've been sick so give me a break! Better late than never to report back from this month's NY Tech Meetup at the lovely IAC building. For the first time, this month's lineup was based on a theme: "Power to the People: The Future of
- [NY Tech Meetup -- April 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/02/ny-tech-meetup-april-2008/) - Just got home from this month's NY Tech Meetup, which Scott said is the 42nd meeting so far. I'm talking about Scott Heiferman, CEO and co-founder of Meetup.com. He started NY Tech and is the MC for every event. This month they packed in eight presenters at five minutes each, so things moved pretty swiftly.
- [NY Tech Meetup -- June 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/04/ny-tech-meetup-june-2008/) - Internet Week New York edition Last night was the monthly NY Tech Meetup at IAC. Instead of the typical 5-minute presentations by new start-ups getting their feet wet, this month was a rather impressive line-up of successful Internet companies operating in New York. As always, it was a sold-out room of 400+ developers, designers, entrepreneurs,
- [NY Tech Meetup -- January 2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/07/ny-tech-meetup-january-2009/) - Last night was the first NY Tech Meetup of 2009 and the first meetup since Nate Westheimer became the new organizer last month. I thought it was a huge success. For the first time, at least since I've been attending, it had a theme: "Built on Twitter" -- the seven presenters all have created products
- [A year of Twitter statistics](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/08/a-year-of-twitter-statistics/) - Twitter Counter tracks your number of followers over time TweetStats shows trends by day of the week and time of day (proof that I do sleep) and who receives the most replies (this surprised me) What I've said the most (happy to see that "thanks" is up there) Xefer also looks at tweets by time
- [Today is my 1 year anniversary on Twitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/01/07/today-is-my-1-year-anniversary-on-twitter/) - That was my very first tweet, exactly 1 year ago today. And this is exactly 1 year later. So much has transpired between the two that it makes my head spin. I've told you how much I've changed in the past year, and Twitter has been a huge part of that. I think some people
- [Class Schedule for MFA in Interaction Design at SVA](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/17/class-schedule-for-mfa-in-interaction-design-at-sva/) - A couple weeks ago I told you about the super awesome new MFA in Interaction Design program launching at the School of Visual Arts in New York City next fall. The first-year schedule is now public! Take a look... SEMESTER ONE, FALL 2009 Monday 2:00-4:50PM Strategic Innovation in Product/Service Design Monday 6:00-8:50PM Interaction Design Fundamentals
- [I'll be on Jeffrey Zeldman's panel at SXSW 2009](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/15/on-jeffrey-zeldmans-panel-at-sxsw-2009/) - The supremely awesome Jeffrey Zeldman of Happy Cog surprised me the other day by asking me to be on his panel, "From Freelance to Agency: Start Small, Stay Small" at the 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, TX. The other panelists will include content strategist extraordinaire Kristina Halvorson and acclaimed magazine designer Roger Black (with
- [Nate Westheimer is the next organizer of NY Tech Meetup](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/12/nate-westheimer-is-the-next-organizer-of-ny-tech-meetup/) - Here are the results of the 2008 election for the next organizer of the NY Tech Meetup: A big congratulations to Nate Westheimer for his landslide victory. And a loving kudos to my friends Sanford Dickert and Oz Sultan for all their efforts. Can't wait to see what Nate will do in the new year.
- [Links from 11/21/2008 to 12/6/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/06/links-from-11212008-to-1262008/) - Official Google Reader Blog: Square is the new round.Google Reader gets a visual redesign along with a few new features: collapsible components, ability to hide unread count, and more robust friends area. Six Apart aquires Pownce, shuts it downSo sorry for not giving a shit what next? unstick.me helps you find that thing you need
- [Twitter: An Asymmetrical Chat Room](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/06/twitter-an-asymmetrical-chat-room/) - Back in July, I wrote a blog post titled "How Twitter has changed my life" in which I stated that the best way to explain Twitter to non-tech friends is to show, not tell. Giving examples of Twitter's impact on my life has been far more effective than trying to describe the service in layman's
- [Why I Work at New Work City](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/12/01/why-i-work-at-new-work-city/) - New Work City, a new coworking space in New York City (get the name?!), opened its doors on Monday, November 3, and I'm pleased to say that I am a part-time member. What's "coworking," you ask? It's a new movement for freelancers and small business owners of all kinds to stop working at home or
- [Links from 11/11/2008 to 11/18/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/18/links-from-11112008-to-11182008/) - ThinkGeek :: SnūzNLūz - Wifi Donation Alarm ClockPossibly the most genius invention ever. Via @naterkane [ paul isakson ]: Confessions Of A (Fake) Mad ManPaul Isakson reveals himself as @don_draper. I feel played! :) Designer//Slash//ModelDesigners everywhere: WATCH THIS VIDEO! Future Practice User Experience - Webinars seriesA new joint venture from @louisrosenfeld's Rosenfeld Media and @threefour's
- [I was asked to join the IAI Board of Advisors](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/17/i-was-asked-to-join-the-iai-board-of-advisors/) - You may remember that I ran for the Information Architecture Institute's board of directors in September, but wasn't elected. Though I couldn't announce it until recently, three weeks ago I was asked by the new Board of Directors -- Jorge Arango, Peter Boersma, Christian Crumlish, Andrew Hinton, Livia Labate, Stacy Surla, and Russ Unger --
- [I'm running for the 2008 Information Architecture Institute board of directors](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/06/im-running-for-the-2008-information-architecture-institute-board-of-directors/) - The Information Architecture Institute has four open spots on its Board of Directors and the 2008 election process is underway. A few weeks ago, my friend Livia Labate encouraged me to nominate myself, and while I was apprehensive at first, I decided to throw my hat into the ring. I believe I can help to
- [The Awesomeness that was BarCamp Philly - Part 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/16/the-awesomeness-that-was-barcamp-philly-part-2-2/) - @jetblue says who’s currently on duty: Morgan. Gives it a personal touch that makes people more comfortable @mandle just told a story about a problem with Comcast that Frank @comcastcares fixed for him in 3 days Just asked @mknell how this scales. What if everyone who used Google used Twitter? Would @jetblue @comcastcares be able
- [Data Visualization Inspiration](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/12/data-visualization-inspiration/) - In the spirit of sharing responses to Twitter questions (see last post on business cards), I wanted to post the list of resources that were sent to me when I asked the following question: I'm working on a project that will probably need to show trend data and since I'm beginning to work on the
- [Business Cards and Twitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/12/business-cards-and-twitter/) - If you've been reading this blog for a while, you can probably tell that I go to a lot of conferences and events. I love getting out and meeting new people, strengthening business contacts, and bonding with friends. Suffice it to say, I go through a lot of business cards. If we've ever met in
- [Links from 10/15/2008 to 11/11/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/11/links-from-10152008-to-11112008/) - Olbermann: Gay marriage is a question of love - Countdown with Keith Olbermann- msnbc.comOne of the most incredible things I've ever seen on national news. I couldn't agree more. 6 Reasons to Start CoworkingWritten for Mashable by Alex Hillman @alexknowshtml seven attributes of personal brand identityWhen mom said that I say things on Twitter that
- [Twitter Praise for IDEA 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/02/twitter-praise-for-idea-2008/) - Here are all the comments I could find about IDEA 2008 on Twitter. Great job, team! I'm so thrilled that the conference was this well received. Be sure to read my Day 1 and Day 2 roundups!
- [IDEA Conference 2008: Day 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/02/idea-conference-2008-day-2/) - This is a continuation of my coverage from the IDEA Conference in Chicago from October 7-8, 2008. My Day 1 roundup can be found here. The speakers from Day 2 were Chris Crawford, Alberto Cañas, Jason Fried, Aradhana Goel, Bill DeRouchey and Andrew Hinton. Let's get right to it... Chris Crawford: "Linguistic User Interfaces" Chris
- [IDEA Conference 2008: Day 1](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/11/02/idea-conference-2008-day-1/) - View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web 2.0) Jason Kunesh: "Digital Context Clues" Studied T.S. Eliot in college. "Modernist, curmudgeon, hip hop artist." Addressed modern vs. post-modern. Remixed culture. Mashups CB radio is the analog of Twitter -- @jdkunesh. I've heard lots of folks say that before. So true. Except we're not that
- [Links from 9/26/2008 to 10/10/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/10/10/links-from-9262008-to-10102008/) - Sharin Apostolou sings from La Traviata on TV news Jewsrock.orgAll about Jewish rockstars and other celebs. Via Hudson Lines @hudlines CollabFinder - Find Other Designers and Developers and Collaborate on Awesome ProjectsVia Mark Dunham 270+ Tools for Running a Business Online - MashableSo many great webapps in this list. Great resource Miskeeto » PricingDiscounts on
- [From the Archive: Changing Majors](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/10/05/from-the-archive-changing-majors/) - The Google 2001 search engine inspired me to use the Internet Archive to find my old Carnegie Mellon student website. The furthest instance back had links to my Fall 2001 class schedule (first semester sophomore year), my "résumé in its entirety" and a real gem -- a manifesto I wrote on why I had decided
- [September 2008 IxDA NYC: Dan Saffer's Tap is the New Click](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/22/september-2008-ixda-nyc-dan-saffers-tap-is-the-new-click/) - In the midst of everything last week, I attended Dan Saffer's presentation Wednesday night at the IxDA NYC monthly meet-up, hosted at the beautiful R/GA offices (I particularly like the gated courtyard/parking lot in front of the building). Dan gave the same talk at Web 2.0 Expo NY earlier in the day, but I had
- [Conference Twittering](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/22/conference-twittering/) - I wanna get something off my chest. Some people don't like that I use Twitter to take notes at conferences. Several people stopped following me this week while I was at Web 2.0 Expo. I'm sad to see them go, but I don't apologize. I get an enormous amount of support for my live-tweeting (see
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Lane Becker's "Customer Service is the New Marketing"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-lane-beckers-customer-service-is-the-new-marketing/) - The first session I attended on Wednesday morning at Web 2.0 Expo NY was "Customer Service is the New Marketing" by Lane Becker (a.k.a. @monstro), co-founder of Adaptive Path & Get Satisfaction My Twitter notes from the session: @monstro telling the @zappos story about the woman who didn't return her shoes on time b/c her
- [Email: "Legibility -- Grading, Testing, and Standards"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/21/email-legibility-grading-testing-and-standards/) - I received the most curious email this morning. At first I thought it was spam, but after reading through it I think it's a legitimate question for me and may be based on my previous post on Helvetica. I'm not sure what to make of it so I'm posting it here. Leave your thoughts in
- [Helvetica & Lessons for Experience Designers](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/21/helvetica-and-lessons-for-experience-designers/) - I just finished watching Helvetica, a documentary film by Gary Hustwit. I've been dying to see it since it was released, and finally got around to it this afternoon (I had convinced myself it was a daytime movie and not meant to be watched at night). Less than two minutes into the film I realized
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: "Content Matters" panel moderated by Liz Danzico](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-content-matters/) - The last session that I attended at Web 2.0 Expo NY was a star-studded panel moderated by Liz Danzico featuring Jeffrey Zeldman, Alex Wright, Kristina Halvorson, Paul Ford, and Bre Pettis. My Twitter notes on the session: Types of content: navigation & orientation content, labels & action content, help content, non-textual content, content content! Navigation
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Friday keynotes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-friday-keynotes/) - The wi-fi was down at the Javits Center during the Web 2.0 Expo NY keynotes on Friday. And the cell service was spotty. I did my best to capture some golden nuggets. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go at my normal speed so I didn't get as much down as I'd have liked. Hopefully video
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Chris Fahey's "The Seduction of the Interface"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-chris-fahey-the-seduction-of-the-interface/) - I was particularly excited to see my friend Chris Fahey from Behavior Design speak at Web 2.0 Expo NY this week. When I saw him speak for the first time at the IA Summit in Miami, I was really impressed with his delivery. This was his first time giving this talk, but you wouldn't have
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Jason Fried's "10 Things We've Learned at 37signals"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-jason-frieds-10-things-weve-learned-at-37-signals/) - I was really looking forward to seeing Jason Fried of 37signals speak because he has a particular reputation -- I suppose you could call it a big ego. In all honesty, he didn't phase me at all. Maybe I'm jaded. While I didn't agree with all of his points, I found his perspective rather refreshing.
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Wednesday Keynotes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-wednesday-keynotes/) - Wednesday afternoon at Web 2.0 Expo NY was a series of short keynotes. Most of them were very inspiring, in particular Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary TV. Here are my Twitter notes from the keynotes: "New York's Web Industry From 1995 to 2008: From Nascent to Ascendent" by @fredwilson
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Genevieve Bell's "Designing for the Internet(s) of the Future"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-genevieve-bells-designing-for-the-internets-of-the-future/) - I had to miss the Thursday morning sessions at Web 2.0 Expo NY in order to get some work done. The first session I attended in the afternoon was by Genevieve Bell of Intel. As a former anthropologist and academic, the talk was much more research-focused than others, which was actually really refreshing -- real
- [Links from 8/31/2008 to 9/20/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/links-from-8312008-to-9202008/) - DONNA BOGATIN presents STARTUPALPHA.COM TECH VC HUB & PITCH COMMUNITYThe second worst website on the whole on the Internet, after Havenworks.com HavenWorks.comThe worst website on the whole of the Internet ChoiceTweets — wearable Twitter gear, powered by your favorite Twitterers and ChoiceShirtsMade in part by @alexknowshtml FM 100 Hue TestExtreme fun! What's your color IQ?
- [Web 2.0 Expo NY: Joshua Porter's "Designing for Community"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/20/web-20-expo-ny-joshua-porters-designing-for-community/) - Here is the first of many round-ups from this week's Web 2.0 Expo NY. Tuesday afternoon featured in-depth half-day sessions. I was only able to attend in the afternoon and I caught Josh Porter's "Designing for Community." My Twitter stream from the session: @bokardo is currently doing UX design for Chi.mp. Mentioned party tonight @shakeshack
- [Find me at Web 2.0 Expo NY this week](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/16/find-me-at-web-20-expo-ny-this-week/) - O'Reilly's Web 2.0 Expo is in New York this week at the Javits Center. This is the largest tech conference that NY has ever seen and those of us who live here are thrilled to finally get the attention that NY tech so greatly deserves. There are eight tracks for four days of sessions, everything
- [Congrats to the new IAI board members](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/15/congrats-to-the-new-iai-board-members/) - I just received an e-mail to notify me that I was not elected to the Information Architecture Institute's board of directors. While I am disappointed that I won't be able to represent the IAI in an official capacity and help them to reach a new generation of IA practitioners, I'll still keep fighting the good
- [IDEA2008: Cross-disciplinary Design Conference, Chicago, IL, October 7-8](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/09/03/idea2008-cross-disciplinary-design-conference-chicago-il-october-7-8/) - Take a look at my Dopplr page and you'll see that I'll be doing a lot of traveling between now and May. One of the trips I'm most excited about is to Chicago next month for the IDEA conference. Unlike many conferences that appeal to user experience designers, this one is considerably broader in the
- [Links from 8/18/2008 to 8/31/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/08/31/links-from-8182008-to-8312008/) - Little known fact: Sarah Palin invented the Internet | The Web Services Report - CNET NewsTwitter meme Mad Men obsessives Twitter away | Technology | The GuardianI love Don Draper Pattern Tap : Interface Collection for Design InspirationVia Sam Zaiss . : THOMPSON HOTELS : Hip luxury hotels in NYC, LA at the official Thompson
- [Philly Tweetup 08/27/08](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/08/31/philly-tweetup-082708/) - If you've been reading this blog long enough, you probably realize I have a mild (okay, not so mild) obsession with Twitter. If you aren't already following me, please rectify that now. Because I enjoy nothing more than a good conversation over a good beer, I've organized some "Tweetups" (Twitter meetups) in the past, both
- [Week 1 of independence](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/08/31/week-1-of-independence/) - I just finished my first week of independent consulting with 33.25 billable hours. I'm pretty proud of that. Before I decided to make this leap, I had calculated that I need at minimum 26 hours per week in order to comfortably pay my bills, pay taxes and put some cash away in my IRA. I
- [Links from 8/8/2008 to 8/18/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/08/18/links-from-882008-to-8182008/) - UI-patterns.comBy Anders Toxboe, a Danish web developer Smashing Darling: A Tweet for Your NeckA Twitter necklace... Me likey! Pen Zen: Bring Clarity to Writing | ThinkSimpleNow.comvia @korf420 2008 US Movie Box OfficeGreat data visualization of box office earnings this year The "Mojave Experiment"What do people think of Vista when they don't know it's Vista? I
- [Links from 7/24/2008 to 7/31/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/31/links-from-7242008-to-7312008/) - Blogging’s Glass Ceiling - NYTimes.comAbout the BlogHer conference Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs, Part 1 » UIE Brain SparksWeighted Differences Matrix quantifies the differences between multiple design alternatives Case Study: Comparing Design Alternatives » UIE Brain SparksOn a shoe-string budget Bait and switchSeth Godin talks about Pleasure and Pain (via @daveixd)
- [Links from 7/13/2008 to 7/24/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/23/links-from-7132008-to-7242008/) - Facebook Connect Launches with 24 Partners Including Digg and Six Apart** Posted using Viigo: Mobile RSS, Sports, Current Events and more ** Facebook has announced the official launch of its Facebook Connect offering, which will allow users to port their profile data to third-party Web sites. The company is announcing 24 lau The Toad Stool
- [TwitterBerry was mean to me](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/01/twitterberry-was-mean-to-me/) - I've got a thing for Twitter and I own a BlackBerry, so naturally I use TwitterBerry. It's a downloadable BB app that lets me post updates, get replies, read my friends timeline and the public timeline -- all without having to load Twitter in the mobile browser. It isn't perfect, but it usually works pretty
- [10 Worthwhile Twitter Bots](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/19/10-worthwhile-twitter-bots/) - Yeah, you get it. I love Twitter. It's a great place to connect with new and interesting people, but it's also just a good platform for information delivery and in some cases productivity. Some of these are actual bots (automated accounts) while others are just run by an organization -- I'm lumping them into the
- [Twitter buys Summize](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/15/twitter-buys-summize/) - Twitter's search engine has always pretty much sucked. The functionality was put on the site in August 2007, but it only searches username, location, bio and URL -- not the actual tweets in the stream. Lots of folks out there have used the Twitter API to build their own search engine, the most popular of
- [Links from 6/20/2008 to 7/12/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/12/links-from-6202008-to-7122008/) - Why I Will Never Have a Girlfriend - nothingisreal.comVia @annaknoll Logic+Emotion: Disney's $100,000 Salt + Pepper Shaker A Whole big food market opens next week in TribecaOMG I have chills! ChangeOrder: Why I Am a DesignerBe sure to read the tooltip Walken: Talkin' Web 2.0Christopher Walken talks about Web 2.0
- [University of Phoenix needs an education](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/02/university-of-phoenix-needs-an-education/) - Here's my rant for the day. I was looking up a definition on Dictionary.com when I saw this skyscraper from The University of Phoenix. The list of degrees they offer scrolls down (from top to bottom) instead of up (bottom to top). Hit play to see what I mean. Why is this bad? Well, the
- [Yahoo!'s Shine](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/31/yahoos-shine/) - Everyone in the Twitterverse -- @efortiz, @arainert, @jonesabi -- is talking about the launch of Shine today so I had to check it out for myself. Shine from Yahoo! is a new website that is meant to be a destination for women between the ages of 25 and 54. On their About Us page, they
- [Links from 6/9/2008 to 6/16/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/16/links-from-692008-to-6162008/) - Adobe TV - CooperCooper's tips and tricks on using Fireworks the PIXEL IMPLOSION!Bobby Anderson's visual design/icon portfolio Patterns for Designing a Reputation System » Yahoo! User Interface BlogBy Christian Crumlish @mediajunkie Screencast: Finder Window Icon Trick @ Dan Rubin?s SuperfluousBanterNever knew you could add "quick links" to the Finder window Mark Zuckerberg - Dickipedia - A
- [Tim Russert dead, so says Twitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/13/tim-russert-dead-so-says-twitter/) - Tim Russert is dead at 58 from an apparent heart attack. And I found out via Twitter. Before it was on CNN. Before it was on the New York Times. Before I could Google it anywhere, Tim Russert's death was reported on Twitter. This is the power of word-of-mouth. If you page back in the
- [Internet Week NY Wrap-Up (in photos)](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/09/internet-week-ny-wrap-up-in-photos/) - What a whirlwind week! Since last Tuesday I have met a phenomenal group of people, partied my butt off and talked 'til I was blue in the face. And while Internet Week New York isn't technically over until the Webby Awards tomorrow night, it is definitely over for me. I'm pooped! I already told you
- [Links from 6/5/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/08/links-from-652008/) - How to Innovate Right Now by Scott BerkunGuest writer on Jared Spool's Brainsparks: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2008/06/03/uietips-article-how-to-innovate-right-now/ Logic+Emotion: Stairway to Brand Heaven & HellAnother spot-on visualization. Could easily extend to customer experience Wireframe Websites with ProtoShare: Build & Collaborate on Clickable Website ProtoTypesVia GUUUI: http://www.guuui.com/posting.php?id=2145 SecretTweet.com - Post your secrets anonymously to TwitterPostSecret for Twitter Kill Bill BillboardVia
- [The Stranger Aversion](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/05/the-stranger-aversion/) - Social media has created a world in which everyone is interconnected. Forget six degrees of separation; we're probably down to three. So have we completely lost the notion of a stranger? Charlie O'Donnell, CEO of Path 101, recently wrote a post on his personal blog about the shift towards using social systems to connect with
- [My Cell Phones: 2000 - Today](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/04/my-cell-phones-2000-today/) - Alex Rainert just posted this great piece on his blog Everyday UX showing the evolution of his mobile phones from 1998 to now. I was inspired to post my own, though I have to admit I'm not sure if I have the exact models right. Thanks to GSM Arena for having photos of every mobile
- [Links from 5/19/2008 to 6/4/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/04/links-from-5192008-to-642008/) - EverydayUX by alex rainert » My history of mobile devices from 1998 - todayA visual timeline A simple illustration of social design - Bokardo Socializing for the Freelancer - Snook.caThoughts from an "online friend" who works from home ZohoOnline Office, Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation, CRM and more This is going to be BIG! - Top
- [Whitney and Internet Week New York](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/06/02/whitney-and-internet-week-new-york/) - There has been a lot of talk about it for weeks, but it's finally here. Internet Week New York starts tomorrow and goes until Tuesday, June 10. "Presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in cooperation with City of New York and The Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting," Internet Week
- [Social Feed Aggregators](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/30/social-feed-aggregators/) - There are hundreds, probably thousands, of powerful social networking platforms out there, with new ones launching every week. Send 140-character messages with Twitter. Save links with del.icio.us. Promote content with Digg. Share music with Last.fm. It's endless. Lifestreaming -- recording your daily activities through text, links, photos, music and video -- is quickly becoming the
- [Tweetup Goodness - 5/27/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/28/tweetup-goodness-5272008/) - Thanks to everyone who came out to the Tweetup at d.b.a. last night in the East Village. The weather was tentative, but more than 20 people showed. We snagged a great table in the corner of the patio -- which is airy, but covered -- and sipped on Sixpoint Brownstone, Chimay and Samuel Smith's Oatmeal
- [Mozilla finally releases Firefox 3.0](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/18/mozilla-finally-releases-firefox-30/) - Mozilla released Firefox 3.0 Release Candidate 1 on Friday, but my software update only just alerted me of it. The only change from Firefox 3 Beta 5 that I can see at first glance is the link color in the location bar history. What it used to look like: What is looks like now: Yes,
- [Links from 5/14/2008 to 5/16/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/17/links-from-5142008-to-5162008/) - donor.com - home IATS, International Automated Transactions Service. A Ticketmaster company. Network For Good | Nonprofit Online Fundraising The importance of people in experience design (or, why most people hate bike shops)Henning Fischer talks about redesigning person-to-person interaction The Social Network Wars Begin In Earnest: Facebook Bans Google Friend Connect Overwork: the visualJapanese newscaster strikingly
- [Links from 5/10/2008 to 5/13/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/13/links-from-5102008-to-5132008/) - Muji Chronotebook: a non-linear way to plan.Via Leah Buley @ http://ugleah.tumblr.com/ Official Google Blog: A friend connected webGoogle Friend Connect allows non-technical site owners to sprinkle social features throughout their websites, so visitors will easily be able to join with their AOL, Google, OpenID, and Yahoo! credentials delicious blog » Firefox 3, del.icio.us, and youBeta
- [IA Summit 2008 Closing Plenary: "Linkosophy" by Andrew Hinton](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/12/ia-summit-2008-closing-plenary-linkosophy-by-andrew-hinton/) - Much, much, MUCH overdue is the recap of Andrew Hinton's closing plenary titled "Linkosophy" at this year's IA Summit. Andrew's talk, equal parts intellectualism and practicality, was just what our field has been hungry for. Andrew is a uniter, not a divider, and I greatly appreciated the plain, honest tone he used when he told
- [Tweetup Success](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/09/tweetup-success/) - Last night was the second NYC Tweetup that I helped to organize. The first was a couple weeks ago at the 79th Street Boat Basin. It was a lovely evening, but only five people showed (@efortiz, @hikirsch, @webmetricsguru, @ewphoto and @coreyh). All great people and I thank them for trekking all the way west! Eduardo
- [IA Summit 2008: Leah Buley's "How to be a UX Team of One"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/06/ia-summit-2008-leah-buleys-how-to-be-a-ux-team-of-one/) - Unfortunately my laptop battery died just before I went into Leah Buley's sermon titled "How to be a UX Team of One" at the IA Summit. I call it a sermon because at the end of Leah's talk, she had a veritable congregation of worshippers. Since I wasn't able to Twitter, I had to reconstruct
- [Links from 5/5/2008 to 5/7/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/07/links-from-552008-to-572008/) - A Model for Understanding Professional Identity and PracticeAndrew Hinton expounds on a piece of his closing keynote at IA Summit Webby Award Winners cooperBricolage - coworking in NYCCoworking space in Alphabet City Nutopia WorkspaceCoworking space in TriBeCa In Good CompanyA coworking space for women entrepreneurs
- [Links from 4/29/2008 to 5/1/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/05/02/links-from-4292008-to-512008/) - Sidebar CreativeBryan Veloso, Jonathan Snook, Dan Rubin and Steve Smith Get Satisfaction?s Nice Import Profile Feature - Own Your IdentityVia Josh Porter Dunbar's number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"The supposed cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable social relationship" Lenovo making fun of MacBook Air | YouTube
- [Links from 4/13/2008 to 4/29/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/28/links-from-4132008-to-4292008/) - Health Care Social NetworkingList of community sites Twitter Blog: A little spring cleaningSome UI tweaks I hope someday a one-word micro-blog post keeps you out of a Middle Eastern prisonFrom someecards.com Articles by Ari Spool - The Stranger, Seattle's Only NewspaperJared Spool's lovely daughter Down for everyone or just me?Pretty sweet way to check if
- [GEL 2008: Day 1 "Experiences"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/25/gel-2008-day-1-experiences/) - [Also check out other GEL 2008 posts: Day 2 Session 1 "Connect", Session 2 "Twist", Session 3 "Make", Session 4 "Success"] It's been a long day and I'm really tired, but I wanted to capture the great experience I had before I head off to bed. Naturally it was at Good Experience Live, a.k.a. GEL,
- [GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 1 "Connect"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/27/gel-2008-day-2-connect/) - [Also check out other GEL 2008 posts: Day 1; Day 2 Session 2 "Twist", Session 3 "Make", Session 4 "Success"] For the first time, Day 2 of Good Experience Live (GEL) was held at The TimesCenter, the ground-level theater in the new New York Times building in Times Square. If you follow me on Twitter,
- [GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 3 "Make"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/27/gel-2008-day-2-make/) - [Also check out other GEL 2008 posts: Day 1; Day 2, Session 1 "Connect"; Day 2, Session 2 "Twist"; Day 2, Session 4 "Success"] Session 3: Make Speakers: Alex Lee, Terry Border, Sam Brown, Bill Gurstelle, Rhett and Link Alex Lee, President of OXO Sam Brown, artist of Exploding Dog fame Sam spoke at the
- [GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 4 "Success"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/27/gel-2008-day-2-success/) - [Also check out other GEL 2008 posts: Day 1; Day 2 Session 1 "Connect", Session 2 "Twist", Session 3 "Make"] Session 4: Success Speakers: Nayla Al-Khaja, Marissa Mayer, Garrett Oliver, Bob Mankoff, Chip Conley Nayla Al-Khaja, producer and director Nayla is from Dubai, the first producer and director in the United Arab Emirates 35 years
- [Places you can find me](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/24/places-you-can-find-me/) - In the spirit of unreciprocated online friendship, feel free to add me to your networks on the following sites. Chances are good that I'll add you back. Twitter FriendFeed Del.icio.us Flickr Digg StumbleUpon Upcoming Readr BrightKite Dopplr Should I be connected somewhere that I'm not? Let me know in
- [Tweet Clouds](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/19/tweet-clouds/) - Two different calculations of my most frequently used words on Twitter, from Tweet Clouds and TweetStats. Tweet Clouds TweetStats What do you tweet about?
- [Twubble](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/18/twubble/) - Uh oh... I'm in twubble... Dave Malouf shared a cool link today. It's a (new?) "People you may know" tool for Twitter. This was a great tip for me since I'd recently written about the topic. Twubble finds the most common people your Twitter friends are following (who you aren't). The scan starts when you
- [IA Summit 2008: "Checking for feel of your UI with an interaction audit"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/18/ia-summit-2008-checking-for-feel-of-your-ui-with-an-interaction-audit/) - I always love hearing case studies from client-vendor partnerships. In "Checking the feel of your UI with an interaction audit," Josh Damon Williams from Hot Studio presented the work his company did with Peter Stahl's user experience team at eBay. Twitter notes here: Peter Stahl separates feel from the phrase "look and feel" -- it's
- [IA Summit 2008: "Designing with Patterns in the Real World: Lessons from Yahoo! and Comcast"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/18/ia-summit-2008-designing-with-patterns-in-the-real-world-lessons-from-yahoo-and-comcast/) - Christian Crumlish of Yahoo! and Austin Govella of Comcast joined together at this year's IA Summit to discuss their use of design patterns. Here are my Twitter notes: Christian Crumlish: Starting off with Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language" Reference to Jennifer Tidwell's "Designing Interfaces" Yahoo's Pattern Library (which Christian curates) launched in 2005. Article by
- [IA Summit 2008: "Presence, identity and attention in social web architecture"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/17/ia-summit-2008-presence-identity-attention/) - Christian Crumlish hosted a panel on "Presence, identity, and attention in social web architecture" starring Andrew Hinton, Andrew Crow, Gene Smith and the crazy/incredible Christina Wodtke who'd had back surgery earlier in the week but was determined to make it to IA Summit. The topic is very timely and each of the panelists had some
- [IA Summit 2008: Todd Zaki Warfel's "Data Driven Design Research Personas"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/18/ia-summit-2008-todd-zaki-warfels-data-driven-design-research-personas/) - Todd Zaki Warfel of MessageFirst had a completely different presentation style than the rest of the presenters at IA Summit. His talk, titled "Data Driven Design Research Personas," was more of a conversation than a lecture. He was down the center aisle most of the time asking people questions about their experiences with user research
- [IA Summit 2008: Nathan Curtis's "Audiences & Artifacts"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/18/nathan-curtis-audiences-artifacts/) - Nathan Curtis of EightShapes asked a very simple question, "Why don't we spend more time designing our deliverables?" My Twitter notes are below: How do we produce deliverables better, faster? Audience: execs, PMs, strategists, visual designers, Dev, QA, copywriters, us Artifacts: strategy, concept model, map, flow, storyboard, wireframe, spec, mockup, style guide Wow. Great matrix
- [IA Summit 2008: LukeW's "Content Page Design Best Practices"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/17/lukew-content-page-design/) - I was very happy to have caught the reprise of Luke Wroblewski's "Content Page Design Best Practices" at the IA Summit. Thanks to Luke for doing it twice! Here's what I twittered during the talk: Content = making good on the links that sites deliver across the web Before redesign, Chicago Tribune article page: 24%
- [IA Summit 2008: Matthew Milan's "The IA and the Fighter Pilot"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/17/ia-summit-2008-matthew-milans-the-ia-and-the-fighter-pilot/) - I love presentations that at the surface seem irrelevant but underneath have a lot to teach us about how we approach our work and think about our practice. Matthew Milan of Critical Mass did just that with his talk titled "The IA and the Fighter Pilot." Thanks goes to David Armano for insisting that I
- [IA Summit 2008: Gene Smith's "Tagging: Five emerging trends"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/17/ia-summit-2008-gene-smith-tagging/) - Gene Smith of nForm is the tagging guru. Having recently published Tagging: People Powered Metadata for the Social Web, he is a veritable encyclopedia of all things metadata. In his talk at IA Summit, Gene identified five emerging trends in the use of tagging online: More structure Automanual folksonomies Leveraging communities Rethinking pace layers Sparking
- [IA Summit 2008: Brandon Schauer's "The Long Wow"](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/17/ia-summit-2008-brandon-schauers-the-long-wow/) - Here are my notes from Brandon Schauer's talk titled "The Long Wow" at this year's IA Summit. The pedometer doesn't change with your life. It's the same every day Meanwhile, Nike+ integrates with your sneakers, music, computer. It's increasingly useful the longer you have it Products with the Long Wow have user experience that unfolds
- [Meet me at IA Summit 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/09/meet-me-at-ia-summit-2008/) - Tomorrow afternoon I'm heading down to Miami, FL to attend IA Summit 2008, a conference for information architects. While I don't strictly call myself an IA, information architecture is a very important part of what I do as a user experience designer. Many of the most influential leaders in our field will be speaking or
- [Bookmarks for 4/10/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/10/bookmarks-for-4102008-from-0619-to-1801/) - BlackBerry Curve 8330 launching on Verizon in May - EngadgetI bought the 8830 World Edition in November, but I really want this sucker! Can't wait Rock Band moshes over to Wii on June 22nd - EngadgetWoo hoo! It'll be an early birthday present to myself TPN :: The Connections Show » Connections #028 - The
- [Links from 4/4/2008 to 4/5/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/06/links-from-442008-to-452008/) - Microsoft Gives Yahoo Ultimatum: Sign Deal In 3 Weeks Or We Cut Bid - Silicon Alley InsiderWhen Google sweep in and end this? Seesmic + Twhirl is a Vision of the Web's Future - ReadWriteWebThis could be really awesome or a huge failure. As a Twhirl user, I'm hoping for the former. Red Envelope Saga
- [The importance of delivery to New Yorkers](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/05/the-importance-of-delivery-to-new-yorkers/) - I recently discovered Wakozi.com, what TechCrunch called "Kozmo for booze." For those of you who never knew Kozmo.com, they were a movie-and-snacks delivery service that operated in Manhattan (and later in other cities) in the late-90s. Their angle was that they delivered your order for free in under an hour. I was one of their
- [Update on Amazon's TextBuyIt](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/05/update-on-amazons-textbuyit/) - As you may have read on Wednesday, I bought a book through Amazon's new service TextBuyIt. I was really impressed by the user flow and was able to buy the book I was looking for in about two minutes. Even more incredible is that the book showed up at my house yesterday morning, just two
- [Links from 3/30/2008 to 4/1/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/02/links-from-3302008-to-412008/) - Leading With Insight » SlideShareVia Armano Good UI Design: Make It Easy, Show Me You Care - ReadWriteWeb Find your Pals on Flickr ? via Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail!From Photojojo Top 5 reasons why ?The Customer Is Always Right? is wrongVia Kottke adaptive path » Conversation with Matt Jones, Co-founder/Designer, Dopplr Sign Up Forms
- [How Bebo Ruined My Life](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/04/01/how-bebo-ruined-my-life/) - My story, sad but true. While doing research for the blog post I wrote on Sunday comparing the "People you may know" feature of various social networking sites, I made the soon-to-be regrettable decision to add friends to my Bebo account. Like many services of their kind, they allow you to import your address book
- [Feed Reader: Inbox Zero](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/31/feed-reader-inbox-zero/) - Oh happy day! As I've said before, I find it nearly impossible to keep up with the steady stream of information that gets pushed at me all sorts of ways. In the case of my RSS feeds, I've opted in, chosen to receive this deluge of content, and yet it still feels like a job
- [Google goes dark](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/29/google-goes-dark/) - No this is not an error. This is actually what the Google homepage looks like today. Google has "turned the lights out" on their homepage in support of Earth Hour. On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm
- [Links from 3/25/2008 to 3/27/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/29/links-from-3252008-to-3272008/) - Bill Gates gets a retirement gift from Carnegie Mellon Adobe Photoshop Express - Made You Look.A completely free web-based application of Photoshop Free Web Version of Photoshop Launches Drug Deal on Google Maps What Should I Read Next?Give it a book title and author, and it'll give you a list of suggested books Flickr: Photos
- [Links from 3/22/2008 to 3/25/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/25/links-from-3222008-to-3252008/) - The Origin Of The iChat UIDrawn in ClarisWorks, the old school Mac app I miss the most Most Designers Really Think They?re Dentists The Toad Stool: 10 Things I Hate About Twitter True Story of a Twitter Marriage Proposal | The Underwire from Wired.com Google Gives All SF Homeless Free Voicemail - KNTV-TV- msnbc.comVia Design
- [Quotably](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/24/quotably/) - Whether you view your friends' tweets on Twitter.com or through one of the many desktop clients (Twhirl, Snitter, Twitterific), they're always listed in backwards chronological order -- latest tweet in the Friend Timeline at the top. A few websites out there use the API to display the tweets in different orders and configurations. Ones that
- [Links from 3/16/2008 to 3/22/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/21/links-from-3162008-to-3222008/) - Remember The Milk - Q&A Time!A bunch of random facts you probably didn't know about Remember the MilkTags: blog productivity Writing - Cooking - Life » Blog Archive » I Heart ZapposAmazing customer service story about ZapposTags: business service shopping Heat Eat Review : We Review TV Dinners, Frozen Meals, and Microwavable FoodsTags: blog food
- [Dare to VMware](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/17/dare-to-vmware/) - The design team at work recently switched to Macs and we're running VMware Fusion for things like Microsoft Office, SharePoint and our proprietary trading software. There are some pretty cool things about VMware that are worth calling out before I get into the rough stuff. VMware has a feature called "Unity mode" (similar to Parallels'
- [Developing a Website](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/17/developing-a-website/) - I am a designer and not a developer, but every now and then I like to tinker with code -- you know, just to prove that I made the right career choice. I started out as a computer science major after all. Sometimes when I get a side job to design a website, I end
- [Links from 3/6/2008 to 3/14/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/14/links-from-362008-to-3142008/) - Tech Beat Apple's design process - BusinessWeekTags: Apple design process SXSW: Zuckerberg Keynote Descends Into Chaos As the Audience Takes OverTags: facebook interview sxsw twitter Video: Twitter in Plain English | Common Craft - Explanations In Plain EnglishTags: definitions twitter video The Freelancer?s Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly NeedTags: productivity tools
- [The JDate Toolbar](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/07/the-jdate-toolbar/) - I'm Jewish and I'm single, so it shouldn't be any surprise to you that I'm on JDate. It's raining and I'm home on a Friday night, so obviously I signed on. And what did I see? The JDate Toolbar! I've used JDate on and off for years, and one day when I have the time
- [Links from 3/2/2008 to 3/5/2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/05/links-from-322008-to-352008/) - Facebook Hires Google Executive as No. 2 - New York Times iPhonic: Steve Wozniak has another pop at the iPhone Will Tomorrow's World Still Need Designers? / frogblog / frog design 35 Ways to Stream Your Life - ReadWriteWeb Data is the New Links Tim Berners-Lee Says Sites That Don?t Give Users Their Data Back
- [Who is Temboo?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/31/who-is-temboo/) - This mysterious company Temboo writes the most compelling job posts. They're located in TriBeCa. And yet otherwise, I've never heard of them. Their company website is unlike any other I've seen. Instead of providing a list of services and client case studies, they tell you nothing -- actually, they call you out: Apparently you are
- [My Twitter Karma](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/01/my-twitter-karma/) - Have you measured your Twitter Karma? I found out about Twitter Karma from a blog post titled "Top 10 Twitter Hacks" from Strategic Public Relations. It's a Twitter mashup that combines all of the people you're following with all of the people following you, allowing you to see which relationships are mutual and which aren't.
- [Twitter Blocks](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/01/twitter-blocks/) - When we live in a virtual world, who are our neighbors? And our neighbors' neighbors? The amazing fact of the Internet is that we're capable of living in thousands of places simultaneously. But how do all of those places connect? When it comes to Twitter, it's easy enough to see who you're following. But do
- [links for 2008-03-01](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/03/01/links-for-2008-03-01/) - Apple - Pro - Tips - Make the Most of Quick Look One of Leopard's coolest new features -- a way to look at the content of your files without opening them. (tags: Apple tips Leopard productivity) intentionallies Interior design site with cards navigation -- torque movement (tags: flash inspiration interaction cards design) Thibaud's portfolio
- [links for 2008-02-27](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/27/links-for-2008-02-27/) - clash flowchart Song lyrics meet flowcharts, Via Livlab: http://twitter.com/livlab (tags: flow diagram infographics fun music) Touchpad for iPhone Turn your iPhone into a wireless mouse for your computer. Via Gizmodo (tags: Apple howto wireless hardware mouse hack iphone) Macworld | Master your image library Explore hidden powers in iPhoto ’08 (tags: Apple photography iphoto tips)
- [links for 2008-02-24](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/24/links-for-2008-02-24/) - Facebook Targets FriendFeed; Opening Up The News Feed Facebook plans to allow users to add activities from FriendFeed directly into their Facebook news feed. (tags: community facebook friendfeed lifestream socialnetworking) Commuter Feed Commuter Feed is a Twitter mashup that aggregates traffic reports. Users tweet traffic updates to a Twitter robot along with an airport code
- [Firefox 3 Beta 3 vs. Firefox 2.0](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/23/firefox-3-beta-3-vs-firefox-20/) - On February 12, Mozilla made Firefox 3 Beta 3 available for download. They call this a developer release for testing purposes only, but with all the cool features I've been hearing about I just couldn't resist. For those of you who aren't as willing to ignore small bugs and usability flaws -- I work on
- [links for 2008-02-23](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/23/links-for-2008-02-23/) - XHTML Challenge: Home - Comparing sites based on xhtml markup (tags: xhtml code challenge markup) Photojojo's Photo Time Capsule (tags: flickr photography photojojo) Oh, Twitter! A place to find all things Twitter, created by a couple who met over Twitter. (tags: twitter blog) Iconfactory: Xscope A powerful set of tools for measuring, aligning and inspecting
- [Twitter: Fun and Effective](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/22/twitter-fun-and-effective/) - Okay, so I'm addicted to Twitter already. But who could blame me?! There are a ton of cool mashups and apps out there, and I feel like I'm just beginning to scratch the surface. Today's finds are... Tweeterboard A look at the most influential people on Twitter. Most popular today, this week, in general. Top
- [Twitter Twitter Everywhere](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/20/twitter-twitter-everywhere/) - I only started using Twitter a couple weeks ago, but now I'm noticing it mentioned everywhere. Here are just a few Twitter apps that I've recently discovered. Twitterific A simple desktop app for your Mac to read and publish tweets Cool features: Scalable (and pretty) user interface; auto-update your iChat/Adium/Skype status; unread count displayed on
- [Snitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/22/snitter/) - Just installed Snitter and wanted to give you my quick thoughts. I had to install Adobe Air first, which I'm glad about because I've been meaning to do it for a while. Then the Snitter install took 30 seconds. My immediate reaction to the interface is that it's nice and simple, and pretty (I like
- [Gridjit](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/22/gridjit/) - "Gridjit is an easy way to turn your Twitter-verse into a grid view" But why on earth would you want to? So far as I can tell, this serves absolutely no purpose. Just another example of "just because you can do something doesn't mean you should." Can anyone figure out how this is useful?
- [Thursday AM Linkage](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/24/thursday-am-linkage/) - LinkedIn Founder Has Golden Touch An article about a businessman with good instincts Thanks, xoost You Suck at Photoshop A humorous and biting set of tutorials from a guy who sounds just like Dane Cook Thanks, Photojojo Redesign Me A place where people complain about bad design and propose new solutions Thanks, Core77 Design Blog
- [Apple's Most Notorious Flops](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/25/apples-most-notorious-flops/) - Failure isn't the opposite of success. Failure is not trying at all. And no one is capable of success all of the time. With the good comes the bad, otherwise how would you be able to tell them apart? Apple is currently seen as the most innovative consumer electronics company in the world. Their products
- [Monday PM Linkage](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/28/monday-pm-linkage/) - Adaptive Path interview with Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith "Zipcar is uniquely a self-service business. What we’re trying to do is give you a very conveniently located automobile that doesn’t require human interaction or human intervention to get into it. And that requires a lot of technology in the background, but hopefully it is very simple
- [Another Twitter Link Roundup](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/29/another-twitter-link-roundup/) - Tweet what you eat Maintain a food diary by sending direct messages on Twitter to TWYE. Assign calories to each food item or search the database to find them out. Twitter Timer Let Twitter be your alarm for things you need to remember. But keep in mind that Twitter or your carrier can always have
- [Indi Young hosts virtual seminar on mental models](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/29/indi-young-hosts-virtual-seminar-on-mental-models/) - How freakin’ cool! A virtual seminar by UIE entitled Mental Models: Getting Into Your Customer’s Head with Indi Young, formerly of Adaptive Path February 20, 1pm 90 minutes $159 Free copy of Indi’s new book Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior at no extra cost when you sign up.
- [Twitter100](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/30/twitter100/) - Much better implementation than Gridgit, but still not particularly useful. My Twitter100 It's impossible to follow conversations, only the latest tweet per person is displayed (up to 100) and worst of all -- sovereign posture. Who wants to devote their entire screen to watch Twitter updates come in? Um, no one! That's why people invented
- [Send e-mails verbally with Jott](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/03/send-emails-verbally-with-jott/) - I've been trying out this new service called Jott that converts your voice into e-mails and text messages. Once you sign up for a free account -- a pain-free process -- you can call a toll-free number to create a message. You're asked who you want to Jott to and you can say "me" or
- [Skitch!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/21/skitch/) - I just downloaded a copy of the Skitch beta and wow, I'm already impressed. On their website they describe themselves as "fast and fun image sharing." I love any company that knows how to explain their product in five words. And the crispness in that message is reflected in the app itself. See this photo
- [IxDA Interaction 08: Day 2](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/15/ixda-interaction-08-day-2/) - Well, I'd intended to post the second day roundup on Monday, but I've been sick ever since I got back from Savannah. Now that I'm feeling healthy enough to get back on the computer, here it is. The second day of Interaction 08 was just as exciting as the first. The morning keynote by Bill
- [IxDA Interaction 08: Day 1](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/02/10/ixda-interaction-08-day-1/) - I'm down in sunny Savannah for the weekend at the inaugural IxDA conference, Interaction 08. With about 400 people in attendance, it is the first professional conference that is specifically for interaction designers, by interaction designers. The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) started in 2003 as a grassroots organization to unite the worldwide community of interaction
- [You like us, but do you know who we are?](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/30/you-like-us-but-do-you-know-who-we-are/) - User Experience as a discipline is finally starting to be recognized by a wider audience. Two recent press mentions in major publications help to expose the value of our expertise, but as usual I find that they're creating a greater distinction between design and usability than I'm comfortable with. I consider myself a user experience
- [I bought a MacBook Air!](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/15/i-bought-a-macbook-air/) - I just purchased a MacBook Air, sight unseen. Why?! Because I'm just so excited I can't contain myself and I need to get my hands on one immediately. It's funny, I'm not usually an "early adopter." I still haven't bought an iPhone because I don't like AT&T's service and I'm waiting for more product functionality.
- [Macworld Expo 2008: Steve Jobs' Keynote Speech](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/15/macworld-expo-2008-steve-jobs-keynote-speech/) - Here's my wrap-up on the keynote speech, which just ended: 1- Time Capsule, wireless backup utility. New Airport Extreme base station with an internal server-grade hard drive. 2- Free software upgrade for iPhone includes: location mapping, SMS multiple recipients, customizable home screen, bookmarks sent to home screen 3- $20 software upgrade for iPod Touch includes
- [Genesis](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/10/genesis/) - As of last month, it's been three years since I finished grad school. Three years in the real world. Three years into a career, not just a string of jobs to pay the rent. I've been called an interaction designer, a user experience architect, and most recently a Design Communicator (a role invented here). Three
- [NY Tech Meetup - January 2008](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/13/ny-tech-meetup-january-2008-2/) - Even though my first Meetup experience was mediocre, I decided to give another group a shot -- NY Tech Meetup. They'd garnered high reviews for their previous events and drew crowds in the hundreds. Plus I really liked their description: "6 people get 5 minutes each to demo something cool to New York's tech community
- [Meetup](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/01/12/ny-tech-meetup-january-2008/) - I've been a member of Meetup.com for years, but it was only last month that I worked up enough courage to actually attend an event. I'd been tooling around on the site one day and found a few groups for web entrepreneurs. I figured I might meet some like-minded people, make a few connections, find

## Pages

- [Home](https://whitneyhess.com/) - Put humanity back into business. Make things that make a difference. Bring your whole self to your work. Be the leader you’re meant to be. Do what no one else is doing. Awaken your inner wisdom. Follow what is calling you. Take care of your people. Make every day count. Design the future. Be fully
- [Home](https://whitneyhess.com/) - Put humanity back into business. Make things that make a difference. Bring your whole self to your work. Be the leader you’re meant to be. Do what no one else is doing. Awaken your inner wisdom. Follow what is calling you. Take care of your people. Make every day count. Design the future. Be fully
- [Home](https://whitneyhess.com/) - Put humanity back into business. Make things that make a difference. Bring your whole self to your work. Be the leader you’re meant to be. Do what no one else is doing. Awaken your inner wisdom. Follow what is calling you. Take care of your people. Make every day count. Design the future. Be fully
- [Home](https://whitneyhess.com/) - Put humanity back into business. Make things that make a difference. Bring your whole self to your work. Be the leader you’re meant to be. Do what no one else is doing. Awaken your inner wisdom. Follow what is calling you. Take care of your people. Make every day count. Design the future. Be fully
- [About](https://whitneyhess.com/about/) - About Whitney Whitney Hess is a coach, writer, and designer on a mission to put humanity back into business. She believes empathy builds empires. Whitney helps progressive creative leaders design their careers and accelerate their missions. Her techniques help people gain self-awareness, identify blind spots, navigate obstacles, and bring their whole selves to their work.
- [Clients](https://whitneyhess.com/clients/) - My Clients I partner with individuals and teams putting humanity back into business — design leaders, social entrepreneurs, creative technologists, and artist-activists. What they have in common is their commitment to changing the world by starting with themselves. Accenture Adobe Amazon American Express Apple Asana athenahealth Capital One Cisco Cognizant Consensys Constant Contact Coursera
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- [Testimonials](https://whitneyhess.com/testimonials/) - Testimonials It is a privilege to be able to support such amazing people through intense periods of change, and to be a compassionate witness to their transformations. Below is a selection of testimonials from current and previous clients explaining our work together. Deepest gratitude to them for sharing their stories. Photos of actual humans. Not
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- [Speaking Appearances](https://whitneyhess.com/speaking/) - Speaking Appearances Watch Whitney share her 10 experience design principles in 5 minutes flat! Whitney Hess has spent the past 15 years evangelizing the principles and philosophy of Empathy and User Experience at conferences and in boardrooms around the world. Her presentations have been attended by more than 15,000 audience members in 30 cities
- [Podcast Appearances](https://whitneyhess.com/podcasts/) - Podcast Appearances There are many great podcasts that fuel and inspire our community. It is a joy to be invited to be a guest participant. Here is a selection of appearances, starting with the most recent. Endless gratitude to all the hosts who have let me share their space. Sprints & Milestones with Brett
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- [Pace University](https://whitneyhess.com/pace/) - I have been working with Pace University for six years to address pressing challenges in their Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. In mid-2016, I was engaged by incoming Dean Dr. Jonathan Hill to help achieve: A vision for the future of the Seidenberg School that is profound yet possible Improved relations amongst
- [Press Mentions](https://whitneyhess.com/press/) - Press Mentions It is an honor to be asked my thoughts on an issue, or to be featured in a publication for my work. These are a selection of articles in which I am mentioned or cited. If you are interested in an interview, please contact me at press@whitneyhess.com. Thank you. Select Press
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- [Writing](https://whitneyhess.com/writing/) - Published Writing Writing is my first passion, and I'm grateful to get to write about self-development, coaching and user experience for a variety of blogs and publications. A selection of my articles, essays, and guest blog posts are below. Select Writings (most recent first) ICF Coaching World What Am I Worth? November 5,
- [Lay of the Land](https://whitneyhess.com/intro-to-coaching/) - So You're Curious About Coaching Are you feeling drawn to coaching? Wondering what it takes to be a coach? Unsure how to make the transition? Or want to incorporate more coaching into your leadership? Many of you have been reaching out lately. The conversations we're having have been wonderful, and I want more of them.
- [Services](https://whitneyhess.com/services/) - Ways to Work Together I partner with organizations and individuals to address short-term and long-term goals in leadership development, culture change, and executive activism. Culture Change Executive Coaching Management Coaching Team Coaching Partner Coaching (Pairs) Assessments Mission & Vision Employee Experience Customer Experience Organizational Design Community Building Facilitation & Mediation 1-on-1 Coaching Executive Coaching
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- [Contact](https://whitneyhess.com/contact/) - Please Be In Touch Curious about coaching for yourself or your organization? Interested in having me speak at your event? Got a general question you'd like to ask? Please reach out using the form below, or email me directly at hello@whitneyhess.com. If you need a quicker response, ping me on Twitter @whitneyhess. Thank you for
- [Purpose](https://whitneyhess.com/purpose/) - Our Purpose We are on a mission to put humanity back into business. We want to live in a world that values collective power over personal power; where companies take care of their communities; and where leaders reflect and represent all identities, cultures, and needs of our society. I have dedicated my career to enabling
- [Design Leadership Coaching](https://whitneyhess.com/design-leadership/) - Design Leadership Coaching Whether your organization is new to user experience, has yet to adopt a consistent design process, or is operating without a product strategy, you have the power to change how decisions get made. Be the leader your team needs, and steer them in a positive direction. Is your vision unrealized
- [Newsletter](https://whitneyhess.com/newsletter/) - Don't miss the boat!
- [Management Coaching](https://whitneyhess.com/management-coaching/) - Management Coaching No one says, "When I grow up, I wanna be a manager!" Then one day there it is, and we're totally unprepared. New responsibilities. New goals. New skills we needed yesterday. So. Many. Meetings. We're on a moving train, and somehow we have to figure out how to drive this thing. Did
- [Story](https://whitneyhess.com/story/) - The Longer Story I help people bring their whole selves to their work. As a result, they better serve their customers, their companies, their communities and themselves. My life's mission is to put humanity back into business. I spent a decade in User Experience desperately trying to make technology easier and more pleasurable to use.
- [Drupal Association](https://whitneyhess.com/drupal-association/) - In April 2017, the Executive Director of the Drupal Association, Megan Sanicki, came to Whitney amidst a community crisis that was playing out on message boards and in the national media. A prominent leader on the Drupal project was discovered to be engaging in ethically-questionable behavior in their private life, and the loosely-established governance process
- [Get Yourself Hired](https://whitneyhess.com/hired/) - Get Yourself Hired A variety of workshops and webinars to make yourself irresistible. Identify your targets Determine your strategy Craft your story Design your materials Differentiate yourself Evaluate job postings Enliven your résumé Transform your portfolio Rethink your website Boost your web presence Stay tuned for upcoming webinars If you're interested in figuring out where
- [Plot Your Course 10-week program](https://whitneyhess.com/pyc-program/) - Plot Your Course10-Week Intensive The guidance, support and community you need to make progress Gain focus and clarity on how to move your career forward Make your own game plan for growth and learning Build more self-confidence in your experience and abilities Feel a greater sense of purpose in your work Get catharsis and healing
- [Foundation Center](https://whitneyhess.com/foundation-center/) - Established in 1956, the Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide, connecting nonprofits who want to change the world to the funding resources they need to succeed. Their comprehensive database on grantmakers and their grants is delivered through an array of products, accessible online and at their library/learning centers. Since March
- [WNYC — New York Public Radio](https://whitneyhess.com/wnyc/) - WNYC is New York's flagship public radio station, broadcasting programs from NPR, American Public Media, Public Radio International, the BBC World Service, as well as award-winning local programming. They are a division of New York Public Radio (NYPR), the country’s largest public radio group. In mid-2013, Whitney was hired by Thomas Hjelm, Vice President of
- [U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum](https://whitneyhess.com/holocaust-museum/) - Established by Congress in 1980, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. is the United States’ official memorial to the Holocaust. Since opening in 1993, it has welcomed more than 36.5 million visitors, 25% of which are school children. Its museum houses two permanent exhibits as well as several rotating exhibits on the
- [The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change](https://whitneyhess.com/mlk/) - The MLK Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, known as The King Center, was established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King to preserve Dr. King’s legacy. Now a National Historic Site with 1 million visitors each year, the institution promotes his philosophy of nonviolence to tackle social and economic issues worldwide. In early 2011, through
- [Environment](https://whitneyhess.com/environment/) - Environment We are committed to leaving things better than we find them. To that end, we strive to be environmental stewards — as a company and as individuals — by adhering to energy efficiency and conservation practices. Our goal is to leave a minimal carbon footprint, and have a net positive impact on the earth.
- [Plot Your Course workbook](https://whitneyhess.com/pyc-workbook/) - Plot Your Course workbook The interactive PDF you need to change your trajectory Exercise 1: Set Your Intentions Download this worksheet Exercise 4: Define Your Success Download this worksheet Exercise 9: Show Your Strengths Want more? Buy the 32-page interactive PDF Loading... Buy the workbook! Need guidance, support and community
- [Pleasure & Pain Archives](https://whitneyhess.com/archives/)

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## Tags

- [Community](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/community/)
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- [Conferences](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/conferences/)
- [Mashups](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/mashups/)
- [Links](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/links/)
- [Methodology](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/methodology/)
- [Books](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/books/)
- [Learning](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/learning/)
- [Pioneers](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/pioneers/)
- [Jobs](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/jobs/)
- [RSS](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/rss/)
- [Voice interfaces](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/voice-interfaces/)
- [Touchscreens](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/touchscreens/)
- [Webapps](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/webapps/)
- [Video](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/video/)
- [Mobile](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/mobile/)
- [LinkedIn](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/linkedin/)
- [WordPress](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/wordpress/)
- [Inspiration](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/inspiration/)
- [Web Development](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/web-development/)
- [Marketing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/marketing/)
- [Customer Service](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/customer-service/)
- [Props](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/props/)
- [Onboarding](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/onboarding/)
- [Realization](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/realization/)
- [Organizations](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/organizations/)
- [Articles](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/articles/)
- [History](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/history/)
- [Coworking](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/coworking/)
- [Publications](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/publications/)
- [Memes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/memes/)
- [Webinars](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/webinars/)
- [New York](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/new-york/)
- [Surveys](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/surveys/)
- [Sustainability](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/sustainability/)
- [Branding](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/branding/)
- [User Exerience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/user-exerience/)
- [Mentors and Heroes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/mentors-and-heroes/)
- [Maps](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/maps/)
- [Emails](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/emails/)
- [Clients](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/clients/)
- [Prototyping](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/prototyping/)
- [User Research](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/user-research/)
- [Sketching](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/sketching/)
- [Usability testing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/usability-testing/)
- [Patterns](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/patterns/)
- [Usability](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/usability/)
- [Workshops](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/workshops/)
- [Teams](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/teams/)
- [Teaching](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/teaching/)
- [Programming](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/programming/)
- [Software](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/software/)
- [Loosecubes](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/loosecubes/)
- [Women](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/women/)
- [Self-Employment](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/self-employment/)
- [iPad](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/ipad/)
- [Sociology](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/sociology/)
- [Argument](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/argument/)
- [Independence](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/independence/)
- [Principles](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/principles/)
- [Leadership](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/leadership/)
- [Emotion](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/emotion/)
- [Cognition](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/cognition/)
- [Somatics](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/somatics/)
- [self-care](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/self-care/)
- [Self-Awareness](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/self-awareness/)
- [Compassion](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/compassion/)
- [Purpose](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/purpose/)
- [Accessibility](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/accessibility/)
- [inner work](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/inner-work/)
- [podast](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/podast/)
- [self-development](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/self-development/)
- [Buddhism](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/buddhism/)
- [Writing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/writing/)
- [business](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/business/)
- [emotional intelligence](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/emotional-intelligence/)
- [power](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/power/)
- [organizational change](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/organizational-change/)
- [culture](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/culture/)
- [Sailing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/sailing/)
- [kindness](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/kindness/)
- [self-compassion](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/self-compassion/)
- [freedom](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/freedom/)
- [suffering](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/suffering/)
- [poetry](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/poetry/)
- [Gadgetry](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/gadgetry/)
- [Career Growth](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/career/)
- [Pain](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/pain/)
- [Pleasure](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/pleasure/)
- [Events](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/events/)
- [Technology](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/technology/)
- [Blogging](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/blogging/)
- [Twitter](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/twitter/)
- [Design](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/design/)
- [User Experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/user-experience/)
- [Productivity](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/productivity/)
- [Photography](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/photography/)
- [Social Networking](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/social-networking/)
- [Customer Experience](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/customer-experience/)
- [Consulting](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/consulting/)
- [Education](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/education/)
- [Speaking](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/speaking/)
- [Strategy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/strategy/)
- [Startups](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/startups/)
- [Whit Hour](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/whit-hour/)
- [Travel](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/travel/)
- [Research](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/research/)
- [Empathy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/empathy/)
- [Gender](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/gender/)
- [Reflection](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/reflection/)
- [Process](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/process/)
- [Coaching](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/coaching/)
- [Podcast](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/podcast/)
- [HuffPo](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/huffpo/)
- [Mindfulness](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/mindfulness/)
- [permission](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/permission/)
- [influence](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/influence/)
- [energy](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/energy/)
- [universe](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/universe/)
- [healing](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/healing/)
- [rest](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/rest/)
- [nature](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/nature/)
- [testimonials](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/testimonials/)
- [family](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/family/)
- [charity](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/charity/)
- [yoga](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/yoga/)
- [coaching programs](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/coaching-programs/)
- [humanity](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/humanity/)
- [mission](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/mission/)
- [B Corp](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/b-corp/)
- [Judaism](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/judaism/)
- [Climate](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/climate/)
- [SDGs](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/sdgs/)
- [IDGs](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/idgs/)
- [Higher Ed](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/higher-ed/)
- [computer science](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/computer-science/)
- [Certifications](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/tag/certifications/)

## Post Style

- [Image](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/post_style/image/)
- [Quote](https://whitneyhess.com/blog/post_style/quote/)