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I’ve spent my whole working life helping people to keep their writing clear and simple, so it was an honour to be asked to help judge the 2012 Centre for Plain Language ClearMark Awards.

The WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards winners have been announced and we are delighted to say that one of our clients has won the private sector web content category.

Optimal Usability specialise in design that makes things easy. Their web content was no exception.

It’s half time in the judging of the web content categories in this year’s WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards. A good time to take five and reflect on the quality of the writing on New Zealand websites.

We are currently working with a dream client – a high profile public organisation that’s redesigning its already popular website. Our brief: to help them make their content even better.

This project has been different in every way to every other project we’ve ever worked on. And because of the rise of content strategy, I know it’s a harbinger of things to come.

Found: one brilliant content strategy podcast. I’ve just been listening to Daniel Eizans and Kristina Halvorson and must share now!

Daniel is a content strategist at the bold and beautiful American ad agency Campbell Ewald. He nonchalantly tells us they’ve had a content strategy group for three or four years. Hear that New Zealand agencies?

A year or so ago I had a whinge in this blog about the lack of content speakers or workshops in the Webstock line-up. The Gods answered with the delivery of Brain Traffic’s Kristina Halvorson to New Zealand for Webstock’s content strategy workshop in February.

So it’s 2011 but I can’t shake a funny sense of de ja vu. Remember the millennium? There wasn’t much to remember really, the clocks ticked over and life went on as usual. This year has a similar feeling …

I’ve been pondering blog number one, 2011 … What’s the big thing this year? Content strategy, yes, but do designers care? Do they know they should?

We’re shutting shop for a few weeks, back on the 24th of January. Huge thanks to everyone who’s helped to make our year so busy.
See you all next year. Happy holidays!

It’s official! President Obama has signed the Plain Writing Act of 2010 (H.R. 946) into law. This means United States government agencies will have to make sure their public documents are clear, concise and well organised.