I can’t recommend using a mitre saw and having a tiny piece of wood fly up and cause an abrasion on your cornea. Vision is fine. It will be fine. Right now it absolutely wails.

I’ve lived in Sheffield for 27 years and tomorrow I’m doing the half marathon fo the first time. Very hilly first half. All tips welcome. 😬

Today was the last day of working on an almost two-year project with the team at @publicdigital.bsky.social. It has been challenging and rewarding in all the right ways. Have found myself feeling slightly more emosh than anticipated. 🥹

Started a new work project today and my brain is absolutely bursting with information. In a good way. 👍

This is a fantastic resource fyi. 👍

One of the fun things about AI is that someone has taken an existing image of our kitchen and asked a robot to make it the same but slightly different. Including all our art. Some of which was made by our kids. And then posted it everywhere. (My wife does interior design, hence initial image)

Working on three things for Clear Language Club. – An introduction to the new blog – A post on working in the open as a content designer – A newsletter to tell everyone about the above Also done some minor faffing with the design that no one will ever see or care about. 👍

So, this is the Clear Language Club account on Bluesky. It's where new posts go and a way to follow what I publish to the site. I don't plan on using it for much else, but it's handy if you want to see links to content-related stuff in your feed. Like this post by @darekkay.com, which is ace.

So, I have been adding posts based on stuff I have previously shared in the newsletter. Just kicking the tyres and making sure everything works. And I think we are about ready for a proper launch later this week. 💌

I am very close to abandoning my attempts to autopost new posts on Clear Language Club to Bluesky. 🙃

The absolute softest of launches for the Clear Language Club blog. Just trying to make all the doodahs work, like the auto-post to Bluesky, which currently does not. Feel free to click about. www.clearlanguage.club/coming-soon/

This is interesting. A tool that uses AI to automatically write alt text for you if you give it an image. All processing done locally on your Mac, so in theory private and secure. Going to check it out. eyedrop.ai

Made a new little thing. Storing my #usability bookmarks, and thought I'd try to drop them here regularly. Here's 'Issue 1'. Kind of... an un-newsletter? A very mini publication? You decide! #digital #design #UCD

So I know a lot is going on right now, but I do want to share this: I’m excited to share the launch of the new Microsoft Inclusive Design website 💙 This project is my love letter to the community and practice that’s shaped my work for nearly a decade. inclusive.microsoft.design 1/

Latest edition of the now-called Clear Language Club newsletter from last week includes: – plain language vs plain English by @cjforms.bsky.social – user research with disabled people – designing for people who are deaf by @vitalyf.bsky.social – screen readers misconceptions by @tetralogical.com

Agree. Found myself nodding away at this too. And immediately removed the unread count badge from the app icon of my RSS reader. 👍

If you are on a Mac, this is the Bluesky app you have been waiting for. It’s fantastic. 👍

My pal and former colleague Rich Wells is featured on the @thisiscolossal.comossal website today. One of the most talented people I have ever worked with. Lovely bloke. Very tall. www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/01/rich-w…

A lovely, hearty recommendation, which is, of course, the very best kind. Thanks @thompsonsimon.com

Officially moved from Plain English Club to Clear Language Club. Waiting for some late-night DNS shenanigans. Also, here on Bluesky: @clearlanguage.club

My book, Accessibility For Everyone, is now free and online as a website. accessibilityforeveryone.site The book was first published by A Book Apart in 2017 but it holds up! It covers web accessibility for designers, developers, content folks, and really everyone who works in tech.

I've been working on the Plain English Club website to turn it into a blog and resource hub, as well as a newsletter. But I am in a tizz over the name.

One of my favourite internet things is still Carrd, which allows you to quickly and cheaply set up a one-page website. I've used it for all sorts of things, including my freelance website and a prototype user research library I once made for HM Land Registry.

Ace stuff from Ema Thornhill at Scope, neither of which I can find on Bluesky. "Sometimes the research sessions we do look nothing like the research sessions we planned. But that is OK because it means the participant took part in a way that was accessible, inclusive and comfortable for them."

I have a stack of things to add to Plain English Club Bookmarks. I also need to send a first newsletter of 2026. And turn the whole thing into a blog. I still think Bookmarks is a really brill resource. www.plainenglish.club/bookmarks/

Thanks @timapple.com! The good news is that I just about remember it. The podcast was called Write for Your Life and it still lives right here. This final episode was almost exactly 10 years ago. wfyl.captivate.fm/episode/red-...

I've been trying to write a review of my 2025, but various tasks keep getting in the way and actually, perhaps this sentence itself is all that is needed.

Just watched The Golden Compass with the kids and without getting too technical, I can say that it’s a load of old tripe. Worst film ever territory.

Internet of Public Service Jobs - 01/01/2026 newsletter.digitalbydefault.jobs/internet-of-... A little New Years Day treat!

Oh yeah and there's a UX Sky feed!

This is a fantastic list of design folks here on Bluesky. It also explains my overnight bump in followers, which I initially put down to my important announcement about having tidied my desk. Thanks for including me @spavel.bsky.social. 🙏

I have spent several hours attempting to tidy my desk/office/general tip area and I have to say it is now slightly better than it was before.

Bonus anniversary content: it’s ten years since this winning name/title combination on BBC News

Managed to pop out a last Plain English Club newsletter before Christmas. Contains all sorts of goodies for content designers and other clear language enthusiasts. www.plainenglish.club/inevitable-a...

Important information.

A website dedicated to laptops and their stickers. Hundreds of them. stickertop.art Thanks @kottke.org

The true pleasure of Bluesky. "When I look around, I see people who often took a big professional risk because they would not comply. In many cases, they had profiles they had built up for years. They let it go. They did this because they refused to extinguish their moral character."

Bagged my copy.

New tool from for managing your projects from 37 Signals. Kanban but without all the enormous guff you get with Jira and, these days, Trello. 👀 www.fizzy.do

Currently reading L.A. Baby by the marvellous Tim Key and it is, as you might expect, very funny. But also moving and thought-provoking and yes, daft. www.utterandpress.co.uk/products/l-a...

I love the remix of Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place in the midst of Kelly Lee Owens’ Boiler Room set (~33:50 mark). Had me chair dancing this AM! [soundcloud.com]

Am I the only person in the world who still uses an RSS reader to follow blogs and whatnot?

“Art is valuable precisely because it is not easy to create. We are interested in art, in any and all of its forms, because humans made it. That’s the very thing that makes it interesting; the who, the how, and especially the why.” [joshcollinsworth.com]

Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.

His excellency @gazaston.com shared this by @capwatkins.com with me earlier this year. I have found it a tremendous help in negotiating tricky conversations at work and... with the kids? capwatkins.com/blog/the-sli...

With new technology and AI changing industries all over the place, to keep with the times I’m thinking about turning Plain English Club into not just a newsletter, but also a… blog. Like, primarily a linkblog? As if it were 2005 again?

Latest Plain English Club newsletter features: – specialised language – writing online content by @sheltercharity.bsky.social – designing for people on the autism spectrum – designing user-centred AI labels Also, @cjforms.bsky.social on not using 'reading age' when talking about adults.

I send a new edition of the Plain English Club newsletter late on Friday afternoon, the absolutely worst time to send an essentially work-related newsletter. Indeed, it has been a while since I worked in marketing and comms. www.plainenglish.club/specialised-...

SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten. "I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA

I am one of these professionals. 👋