“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. 👋

New favourite example of structural ambiguity

The BBC's Accessibility Guide has several resources, including step-by-step instructions to using assistive technologies. The resource includes insight into several assistive technologies, including VoiceOver, JAWS, NVDA, TalkBack, ClaroRead, and Dragon. bbc.github.io/accessibilit...

Completely forgot that I made a list of content designers you can follow when I first signed up to Bluesky. Here they are look. Absolute word nerds, the lot of them. go.bsky.app/7Pm7ERf

Pleased to announce that the most popular link in last week's Plain English Club newsletter was this EXCITING list of words to avoid from the Office for National Statistics style guide. Wild time in content world. service-manual.ons.gov.uk/content/lang...

I sent a new edition of the Plain English Club newsletter this week. It features: – all things user stories > @curiousscutter.bsky.social – content portfolios > Emily Wachowiak – trauma-informed content > @traumainformedcontent.com – content design and AI > Danielle Mclune Plus other goodies. 💌

I've spent more than a year working on a project that I can't really talk about yet. But I did just add some other work I recently did for @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social to my content design one-page portfolio. verymeta.com

Much-needed couple of hours in the hills for a bit of a fresh air. Very lucky to have all this on our doorstep. (Houndkirk > Burbage > Long Causeway for fellow Sheffield folk.)

Noticing all the content design bods doing content design talks at the Button conference. I've done enough noteworthy *things* on enough noteworthy *projects* over the last few years that I should probably apply to become a content design bod doing a content design talk at the Button conference.

Hosted the 14th edition of Sheffield Novel Slam last night. It's always a great event and we had loads of talented writers doing their thing, despite the actual terror of having your writing judged live on stage. I took no pictures.

Last day of producing a daily podcast for the Trans Pyrenees Race today. Very much love playing a small role in this mad community I've found myself a part of. The people who do these races are both bonkers and brilliant. Just a few more dots likely to arrive in San Sebastien tonight.

My most pet of peeves.

I feel quite strongly that the new liquid glass design on Mac OS is absolutely rubbish. Bewildering stuff.

Finally had time to finish up Suzy's (wife) Etsy shop for her alphabet, circus letter art prints. They are lovely on a wall and obviously, you should buy them all. And that rhymes. www.etsy.com/shop/circusl...

Rumicat looks like a simple, free way to send a newsletter if you don't need bells, whistles or the need to share your newsletter platform with dreadful people. Strong Tinyletter vibes before it got Mailchimped. www.rumicat.com

Since 2019, the @relay.fm community has raised over $4 million for the life-saving work of St. Jude. When I stepped foot on its campus with my son in 2009, I had no idea where life was taking us, but I'm thankful it's here. stjude.org/relay

I'm not producing the podcast for the Transcontinental race this year, but I can tell you I have spent the last couple of hours watching two dots hurtle across Italy to see if they catch a ferry by 11pm. Ridiculous people. Wish more people knew about these feats! dotwatcher.cc/race/transco...

You don't necessarily need to say "image of" in your alt text for users to know it's an image. Screen readers will announce that it's an image. But it can help readers to specify if it's a hand-drawn image, Polaroid, infographic, screenshot, chart, map, diagram, or so on.

I read Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' for the first time this week and it turns out yes, it is about as brilliant a short story as you can write/read. 👍

absolutely spectacular writing from the Wikipedia editor who added this to Jim Carrey's entry en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Car...

This was my experience before moving away from Substack (for other reasons).

A blog post – imagine! – that contains some information about a thing that I did. And done for the last few years. Which is produce podcasts for very long bike races.

Saw The Ballad of Wallis Island last week and would heartily recommend it. Full of warmth, plenty of laughs and avoids all likely clichés pretty nicely. 👍 www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTi-...

After starting the year with good social media intentions, I am back firmly in 'I am very busy and the world is on fire, so what's the point' territory. 😢

Well this couldn’t have come at a better time www.bbc.com/news/article...

Bluesky has a setting that will remind you to add alt text before posting any images. Go to "Settings," then "Accessibility." Select the checkbox for "Require alt text before posting."

Good morning 🌄 Just a reminder that we've collated a list of European litmags and journals. Let us know if we've missed any. The literary community is growing fast on here! bsky.app/profile/did:...

New Pulp single is two-toots tremendous. 🎺🎺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_xn...

By designing for micro trauma, we're not just helping people on tough Tuesday afternoons; we're creating systems robust enough to support people through major life crises too. This shows us both what to avoid and how to approach sensitive topics with care. Here's my latest article, on micro trauma.

Early exit polls suggest the new pope did particularly well with male voters aged 45-79.

Lots of new sign ups to the newsletter from this today. Closing in on 1000 total subscribers, which is quite a lot considering there are only *so* many content professionals in the world. 💌

fyi how to become pope btw

Exciting new edition of the now-called Plain English Club newsletter, finally. Features the likes of @lapope.bsky.social, @hilarymarsh.bsky.social and the style guide of the Australian Government, no less. Subscribe and share. Please clap.

Done mine. Do yours.

The Bee Magazine launches TODAY. It has been created to redress the class imbalance in literature, and features an array of writing talent. Big respect to editors Richard Benson, Claire Malcolm and all at @newwritingnorth.bsky.social. Please support it if you can. Go to TheBeeMagazine.com.

Not many people know this about the producer Phil Spector, but his brother is in charge of quality-checking potato chips. His name is Crispin.

Busy weekend. Cycled 112km. Walked up a hill. Booked a holiday. Watched Mufasa. Saw parents. Barely sat down for a second. 😅

Spent mot of the weekend making a fence and I have to tell you, I quite enjoyed it. 🤺

Absolutely glorious evening for a solo ride on the bike. I live in a big city, but it took just 30 hilly minutes to get here.

Some pretty decent advice from author Lauren Groff, which I read while staring and despairing at my eternally unfinished second novel.

I have officially opened an Etsy store... ...for my excellent wife's circus typography digital art prints. They make great letter art birthday gifts for kids. Good wall decor. Many children's bedrooms. Anyway, also a chance to test out my SEO skills. www.etsy.com/shop/circusl...

they're white checkmarks. the background is blue. can't believe you've done this.

I mean I’m as pleased for him as anyone but.