A designer who writes.
I have blogged intermittently since the mid 90s. Thankfully, much of the early teenage angst is lost to time. This collects my writings from this site, an earlier personal website, and some newsletter projects over the years, in mostly chronological order. I also publish new writing here. I publish somewhat more formal writing about content strategy and design careers at Content Career Accelerator.
I’ve seen some recent discussion about whether and how to reply to messages from recruiters, especially if you’re not actively unemployed, not looking, or otherwise not all that interested. Me, I respond to almost everyone on LinkedIn who has a profile picture of a human being and sends a reasonably coherent message. I don’t think … continue
For many content jobs, especially content strategy, content operations, and content management roles in traditional enterprises, you might not need a portfolio.
Five questions about content strategy, answered. Marketing language versus usable language, key skills, iterating your strategy, and more.
Making content and design equal partners? It’s doable or it’s not. It’s fixable or it’s not. Or it might be fixable, in the future, if X Y or Z things change — things that are always going to be out of your control.
Your search for a UX content job may not resemble any of your prior job searches, especially if you are trying to transition from a professional background outside of product and UX. You’ll need to look and read more carefully, search more deeply and creatively, and, in some cases, work quite a bit harder than you might have to work for another kind of job.
When reviewing or critiquing design work, it’s so, so, tempting to see something different…a different word, a different phrasing, a different pattern…and want to “fix” that difference. But making things consistent just for consistency’s sake sometimes leads us to the wrong choice.
What are you actually trying to accomplish with your content design or UX writing portfolio? Here’s one answer: Show someone that you understand it. That’s the short version, anyway, from my response to a question about portfolios and case studies during the recent SVC-hosted panel on landing your first content design job. The gist of my sentiment is that, … continue
The fine folks at the School of Visual Concepts, for whom I occasionally lead a course on Content Strategy Fundamentals, have made the video available from a recent panel discussion I participated in, moderated by Elly Searle, about getting your first job in content design. I’m of the opinion that the job you have now … continue
I’m going to break form and include an image this issue, which I almost never do. I wanted to share this photo, and my gratitude, for the folks who showed up to participate in the “fun run” I led at Confab 2022 this year. Lookit these hot doggers! As I told some folks in the … continue
When it comes to maintaining a productive, creatively fulfilling life, the simple answers are terribly alluring. I’ve swooned to the siren songs of bucking up and toughening up and not giving a fuck and pulling on my bootstraps just a little bit harder. But like the Sirens themselves, those songs are just myths. What I’ve … continue
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