Principles

Principles matter to me. These aren’t hollow statements – they’ve shaped my business, influenced who I work with, and govern my decision-making. If you like the sound of them, hopefully I’ll be a good fit for you and your organisation. (I can help you come up with your own set of principles too.)

1. Nothing for me without me

I take a participatory approach to content. This means I see your users as active citizens, not passive beneficiaries/consumers. And as such, I’m not going to design for them, I’m going to design with them. It also means that I don’t work in isolation – I want to get you and your team involved in the process, so that you can truly own the work when I’m gone.

2. People and planet before profit

The wellbeing of people and our ecosystem are more important to me than profit. I aim to make ethical, sustainable choices for my own business, and educate myself so I can do better. And in my capacity as a content consultant I’ll always try and help you find ways to do the same. I don’t work with organisations that treat people or the planet badly.

3. Growth does not equal success

I’m not anti-growth, but I have no interest in growing my business. To me, success looks like leaving work each day feeling like I did some good, and with time and energy for the other things I love (my family and friends, my dog, the outdoors, and photography). If you want content that will help you grow, I can do that. But I can also help you explore other ways of quantifying content success.

4. And then what happens?

No one can predict the future with 100% accuracy. But I always ask ‘and then what happens?’ to try and avoid short-term thinking and negative, unintended consequences in my work.