[Posted by Will Chu]

Hi all.  My name is Will Chu and I serve customer experience professionals.  Recently, I’ve been reading a lot about green technologies, from those addressing current issues like renewable energy sources to ones preparing for the imminent post-global warming apocalypse.  If the latter is anything like Dennis Quaid’s plight in "The Day After Tomorrow," you may want to invest in a WaterPod – a sustainable, navigable double-domed island that will get you through the toughest of ecological meltdowns.

[Posted by Jonathan Browne]

I'm noticing more and more "word clouds" in company reports and other business documents:

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[Posted by Liz Boehm]

Being the CXP analyst who focuses on the needs of seniors, I get a lot of questions about accessibility.  And I'll admit I can see the connection.  Among the other issues that most people face as they get older are decreasing eyesight and hearing.  But most seniors don't consider themselves disabled.  They find ways to work around their failing eyesight and less acute hearing (we've all seen -- or been -- the guy holding the menu at arm's length in the dim restaurant lighting).  But seniors won't bother to find a work-around if the technology in question doesn't tempt them with a strong enough value proposition to squint through the small font or risk a misclick.  And I don't mean a value proposition that a company wants to sell; I mean one that the senior wants to buy.  Because the senior will have to pay for it -- if not with money, then with the time it takes to learn how to use your solution.

[Posted by Andrew McInnes]

Hi everyone. Andrew McInnes here. I'm a Researcher working behind the scenes in Forrester's Customer Experience group.*

I'm excited to post today because Bruce Temkin and I just published the latest report in our Gen Y design series: Engage Gen Y Online With Social Interactivity.

Forrester's Gen Y design research stems from The Gen Y Design Guide report published in December 2007. It describes how Gen Yers are different (and they are!) and identifies four design tactics for reaching them online. To delve deeper into each tactic, I've been scouring the Web and picking the brains of our design agency contacts to find good examples and spot missed opportunities. We already published findings related to the first Gen Y design tactic, immediacy, back in November of last year.

To find good social interactivity practices, we looked for sites (excluding social networks) that 1) provide the opportunity to communicate with others, and 2) offer tools for self-expression.

Here are some of our findings:

• Zappos.com makes it easy to share product information.
• Lands' End lets customers email personalized virtual models.
• Sprint offers forums for device and service support.
• Charlotte Russe helps friends shop together.
• Wet Seal allows customers to design and vote on outfits.
• Threadless.com rewards users for expressing themselves.