I’m Corey Vilhauer.

I’m director of strategy at Blend Interactive, a small shop in the heart of the Midwest, where I specialize in content strategy, information architecture, and understanding user needs.

Recent Posts

The Web Project Podcast: Episode 19: Implement the Design (w/ Ethan Marcotte)

Corey and Deane talk about how front-end development has evolved past the early days. Then, Ethan Marcotte, author of Responsive Web Design and Partner at Autogram, joins to discuss front-end development and how the world has impacted how front-end design is treated and approached. We also joke about whether Deane actually “invented” responsive web design. (He didn’t.)

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The Web Project Podcast: Episode 18: Select an Implementation Partner (w/ Tony Byrne)

Corey and Deane discuss what clients should look for when selecting an implementation partner. Then, Tony Byrne, co-author of The Right Way to Select Technology and President of Real Story Group, joins to talk through the implementation partner selection process, including common mistakes, the value of domain knowledge, and how most projects should focus on technology first.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 17: Plan for Hosting (w/ Elias Lundmark)

Corey asks Deane a brutally honest question: as non-developers, why should we care about hosting at all? Then, Elias Lundmark, product manager for cloud hosting at Optimizely, joins us to talk about website hosting in common terms — cloud versus on-premises, the reality (and politics) of “five 9s” and the things you need to understand before choosing a hosting provider or vendor offering.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 16: Select a Content Management System (w/ Cathy McKnight)

Corey and Deane talk about a Donald Rumsfeld quote, and about the concept of “unknown unknowns.” Then, Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver and lead analyst for The Content Advisory, joins us to talk about selecting a content management system — the process for choosing a system, how a CMS selection analyst can help keep vendors honest, and what to do if you’re selecting on your own.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 15: Determine System Requirements (w/ Joe Kepley)

Corey and Deane discuss the three parts of selecting a CMS: requirements, tool, and development team. Then, Joe Kepley, chief technical officer at Blend Interactive, joins us to discuss the world of translating design and IA into code within a content management system — including balancing groundbreaking design with realistic engineering — and the need to tie high-level project goals into the real nuts and bolts of code.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 11: Model Your Content (w/ Jeff Eaton)

It’s The Web Project Guide Podcast, and we made you a new episode. The web is as complicated as we make it. This is because we can make it really really complicated, because we can dream anything. We can imagine the ease of solving edge cases by automagically shoving different aggregations into simple content blocks. […]

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