My name is Corey Vilhauer.
I am director of strategy at Blend Interactive. I write here. I also write at Eating Elephant about content strategy. I am currently writing a book about the web process, The Web Project Guide, and I used to occasionally write about records at Kallax 365. The W stands for Wayne.
Latest Posts
May 17, 2021
On Overcoming Obligations
I missed a mixtape last month. I don’t need to wear masks anymore. I weigh these two obligations and the weight of doing the right thing vs. doing the thing that is expected.
March 31, 2021
Circling Britpop, Briefly
I keep thinking there are no more time-wasting completionist paths to wander down, and then I hear a podcast episode about Pulp and here I am: learning about britpop.
February 28, 2021
Forgetting the Promo Parts
Unpacking and organizing every weekend for four weeks has been like a series of short battles in between extended periods of planning. Which is to say — the month got away from us, and all we remember of February are those short battles.
January 31, 2021
Moving On
We’re moving, and that means a lot of empty rooms with a lot of echoing music. Here’s to hoping we keep changing enough to let the music continue to echo.
December 31, 2020
Pizza for the Birds: the Story of Quarantoons
How to make friends using nothing but an inexhaustible supply of nostalgia-driven videos, a YouTube playlist, and a seemingly never-ending pandemic.
Selected Works
August 5, 2015The Pastry Box Project
While No Guitar Gently Weeps
The world continues to move even as you wander around, looking for inspiration, and the risk is always there: what happens when everyone passes you by, and what happens when you realize you never really cared in the first place?
February 28, 2012A List Apart
Audiences, Outcomes, and Determining User Needs
Every website needs an audience. And every audience needs a goal. How do we get to really know our audience and find out what these mystery users really want from our sites and applications?
May 2013Offscreen Magazine
Life In Folders
Commissioned thoughts on organizing photos, organizing files and folders, and organizing life.
January 14, 2014Black Marks on Wood Pulp
The Ocean
Thoughts on large bodies of water, the dream and desire to see the world, and the utter exhaustion of travelling for work when all you want to do is hang out at home and be a dad.
December 7, 2011Contents Magazine
A Content Methodology Primer
Content wants to be messy. It wants to roll around in the mud. It wants to be gross. Our job is to pull it together—to take the guesswork out of creating and curating it—and to treat content work as something closer to a science.
July 19, 2011Eating Elephant
Domain Knowledge: What You Need - Or Don't Need - To Know
As content strategists, we are expected to help our clients communicate the concepts, benefits and advantages of their company or industry. But we are not who our clients are. We do not possess the same amount of knowledge about their business. How do we bridge this gap?