I’ve been very hard at work at National Builder Supply redesigning a new navigation structure and integrating the existing product categories with the new enriched product taxonomy. It’s an information architecture sticky wicket of significant proportion. Additionally, I’m implementing a redesigned identity with a new logo, color palette, and typography. All together, this is a lot to juggle.

Sensing my deep focus as perfect time to insert a crisis, my entire development team (with accomplices from the product data, content strategy, design, and customer service departments) strategically replacing the current logo with a revised version that contained a profane tagline referencing the primary use of our top products—toilets.

Thanks guys for the enlightenment, embarrassment, and for the auto-tuned Songification of my reaction. You got me. You got me good.

I’m excited to interview copywriter Deanna Director and art director Eric “Alexander the Great” Franklin to talk shop how how their Creative Recharge project from the class helped propel them into their post-grad careers. Deanna and Eric work together Y&R in New York.

With my spring-quarter hiatus now in bloom, I’m looking for Deanna and Eric to give me some pointers for this summer’s forthcoming Digital Storytelling recharge. Check back next week for highlights from the interview.

Here’s an overview of my speaking schedule for Spring 2012:

“Testing and Analytics for a Better Customer Experience”
Digital Summit 2012
Pre-Con: Content, Design & Usability track
Wednesday, May 9th, 10:30am
Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, GA

“Does Quantitative Data Kill Design or Set it Free?”
A Web Afternoon
Saturday, May 19th, 1pm – 6pm
Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA

“Mastering User Experience: Winning Customer Interactions Online”
Customer Experience Summit
Wednesday, May 23rd, 1:45pm
Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL

“Case Study: Increasing Conversion through a Radical Redesign of NationalBuilderSupply.com”
MarketingSherpa Optimization Summit
Tuesday, June 12, 11:00am
Denver Marriott Tech Center, Denver, CO

If you attend any of these conferences, please come up and introduce yourself. I’d like to meet you.

I spent a solid five hours with co-founders Heath Hyneman and Kevin Wallace last night planning and conceptualizing at the budding Hypepotamus space, located in the arcade level of the Biltmore in midtown, and later over beers and the best mussels I’ve ever had at Ecco a few blocks away.

A key belief behind the space is that Atlanta should stop exporting it’s natural resources in coders, designers, art directors, copywriters, entrepreneurs, start up angels, strategists to NYC and Silicon Valley. Atlanta is rich in talented people with skills valuable to the start up community, but the different camps don’t have a place to meet one another and organically form the bonds from which great new businesses will spring forth.

Doors are set to open in April. I can’t wait to bring my Creative Circus students and colleagues in the creative and UX fields down to the space to collaborate and get a taste of the energy and opportunity.

(To avoid the confusion of multiple “Marks”, I’ll refer to each gentleman by his more unique surname.)

Mr. Monts de Oca made an immediate impact at NBS by bringing his expert knowledge in building data cubes—a multi-dimensional, dynamically sortable data array—to our business intelligence efforts. Building on Mr. Monts de Oca’s presentation of a data cube of our company sales reporting, Mr. Tabladillo introduced our team to four core data mining techniques. One technique that struck me is known as clustering.

The groups of customers assembled by clustering like demographic and geographic data points is akin to the common user experience (UX) technique of writing personas based on the behavioral use cases and situational brand touch points. Where personas are primarily a qualitative information exercise, clustering is absolutely quantitative. Mr. Tabladillo’s 180-degree opposite approach is fascinating when contrasted against the work I’ve done in leveraging our call center reps interviews and discussions with our customers.

With the demand of big data and user experience growing rapidly, I’m excited to have the opportunity to collaborate further with Mr. Tabladillo and Mr. Monts de Oca.

Watch my presentation on Vimeo now >>>

Be sure to download the slides available on the Vimeo page. Open up the slides and view them in conjunction with the video.

Hold on tight. —Mick