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
July 31, 2020
Smell Memories
Mountain conifers and bus diesel provide the foundation for a quick lesson on olfactory memory and a mixtape of unrelated songs.
June 30, 2020
Art, Artist, and Context
The context that informs our musical taste also forces us to think hard about who we continue to support — and whether we can excise them from our past.
May 28, 2020
Gardening
Let’s use gardening as a metaphor for our struggles to feel present with virtual (and real) friends.
April 30, 2020
Looking for Motivation in My Free Time
I haven’t yet learned a new language or rebuilt a flower garden or read an Important Novel, but I did finally make a mix tape post so I hope you are happy.
March 22, 2020
In a Basement During a Pandemic
I didn’t want to write about the pandemic, because everyone else has written or talked about the pandemic, and that’s exactly why I decided to write about the 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?