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Ben Clancy @resentenced

Content designer ex @UKHSA ex @defradigital defradigital.blog.gov.uk/aut… @gdsteam insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/auth…

Joined November 2016
  • Tweets 37
  • Following 60
  • Followers 53
10 Photos and videos
The Oxford comma can be useful, and very expensive to ignore. nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/ox…

Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5 Million (Published 2018)

And state lawmakers have dispensed with commas altogether in the relevant provision of the law.

nytimes.com
“This is Ben, the content designer. He puts the right words in.” “It’s more like I take the wrong words out.” #ContentDesign
Dear Cabinet Office: now is not the time to panic and publish an FAQ gov.uk/government/publicatio…
Artificial Intelligence - how it can work with content design...and how it can't defradigital.blog.gov.uk/201…

Content design and artificial intelligence: friends or enemies?

You’ve probably heard the scare stories about automation cutting swathes through traditional employment. Artificial intelligence (AI) can now even write news reports – so could content designers who...

defradigital.blog.gov.uk
Digitising forms excited civil servants in the 1980s. Making those forms usable less so. Letter to @LRB lrb.co.uk/v41/n20/letters
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Get active! Why content designers use the active voice. defradigital.blog.gov.uk/201… Thanks to @SimonDBusch for his helpful edits.

Get active! Why content designers hate the passive voice

Content written in the active voice helps users understand what they have to do to complete tasks. It reduces confusion by making it clear who is responsible for every action.

defradigital.blog.gov.uk
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As a Londoner, I hear this kind of unparliamentary language any night in the pub. As a content designer, I say: apostrophes are important
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Newsletters are making a comeback. Not because of hipsterism or nostalgia but ignorance of good content design. Stop sending newsletters. They're bad content. insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/2014…

Reaching your users regularly without newsletters

GDS is regularly asked why we encourage the use of blogs over newsletters. We have 2 reasons: blogs perform better than newsletters we don’t publish duplicate content on GOV.UK Avoiding duplication...

insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk
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Stapler graveyard. People used to tippex their names on staplers. No one ever uses the landline either.
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"That's a bit 1990s." My most common content criticism for the 19th consecutive week.
The original home of content design took down the post-it notes. @gdsteam need a blue plaque in Holborn (or a blue post-it note)
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Plain English versus tech business talk x.com/alexhern/status/888002…
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Tired of lorem ipsum? The Partridge ipsum generator may be what you need parall.ax/partridge-ipsum
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Bad content klaxon: "Our first newsletter for 18 months!" You were doing so well. Stop emailing newsletters, please insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/2014…

Reaching your users regularly without newsletters

GDS is regularly asked why we encourage the use of blogs over newsletters. We have 2 reasons: blogs perform better than newsletters we don’t publish duplicate content on GOV.UK Avoiding duplication...

insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk
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"Further information" is for the organisation not the user - cut them from your content defradigital.blog.gov.uk/201…

Making guidance the right length

When producing Defra’s Smarter Guidance for GOV.UK, some people ask: ‘how long should we make this guide?’ The shortest guide I’ve seen was a single url. The longest was 40,000 words. These examples...

defradigital.blog.gov.uk
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“Civil servants, whether they think they’re doing it or not, have an affinity to how things were done before" Liam Fox
How to be an effective minister - interesting read for any content designers working in Whitehall instituteforgovernment.org.u…
@EmmaLouThom Relevant to your interests: Twitter now lets you use emoji characters in search mashable.com/2017/04/28/twit…
“I have read and agree to the Terms” is the biggest lie on the web. New browser plugin rates them. tosdr.org/
Content design test. Put this text in to plain English. You have 5 minutes. Your time starts now.
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