Archive for September, 2009


Get inside your customer’s head: It’s just like packing a lunch!

For some reason, relating the work I do to the customer’s experience of it comes naturally to me. I think it’s because I’m empathetic, which in high school made me pathetic but now, as an adult, it’s a job skill! I just instinctively look at a particular deliverable (be it a site, article or tool) and […]

Work Samples – Writing killer home page headlines

I spent several years refining the art and science of the home page headline at Microsoft.com. Some of these approaches may seem commonplace today, but they were quite original at the time they were published. These are just a few of the many thousands of headlines that I wrote:   The key to good headline writing is […]

Social media and travel: How to protect your privacy

When you post details of your day-to-date life on social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook, you run the risk of exposing too much information. For instance, sharing your travel plans could provide a thief with the ideal timing to break into your home and clean you out. By default, Twitter posts are viewable […]