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\n I didnāt intend to leave it until April to write this one, but Iāll explain why a little later. Overall, though, 2024 was a good year!
\n\nI say 2024 was a good year, but it started with me in a pretty bad place. It quickly became obvious it was time to go back to therapy again (something Iād stopped just after my son was born).
\n\nI was lucky enough to find a great therapist based just a short walk from my house. This was super fortunate. More fortunate still, our healthcare policy at work covered the cost of some of my sessions.
\n\nIāve spent the last 16 months at regular therapy sessions, learning and unlearning a lot about myself. I tend to view success and failure as binary terms, I expect to be brilliant at anything I do (regardless of experience), and I obsess a little over measurable productivity.
\n\nFiguring this (and many other things!) out has helped me slow down, show myself a little more kindness, and generally improve my mental health.
\n\nAgain, I canāt overstate how fortunate I am to be in a position to afford private therapy sessions in the UK. Itās not super accessible in a financial sense, and our NHS mental health services leave a lot to be desired.
\n\nI started 2024 with the goal of completing a half-marathon around May. My training progress wasnāt as disciplined or as regular as Iād have liked (see: high self-expectations) but it was roughly on track until an injury made it impossible to continue.
\n\nWith my half-marathon plans dashed, I figured my next best option for improving my fitness was to head back to the gym. Again, super lucky that my employer more-or-less covers the cost of my membership.
\n\nThanks to my trainer, Iām back back into the swing of strength training and seeing my body composition improve. There are some third-order effects here, too; Iām eating better, have more energy in the day, and generally more aligned in terms of my lifestyle and health goals.
\n\nItās a long road ahead, but Iām feeling very patient about it all.
\n\nMy wife and I are vegetarian, so have long held the belief that while a BBQ is nice, a pizza oven is better. This year, we used the money we saved from wedding gifts back in 2021 and bought an Ooni Koda 12.
\n\nI tried my best to lower my expectations around my ability to make and bake great pizza (see: therapy) and ended up surprising myself. Theyāre not half-bad!
\n\nA good proportion of the summer was spent making pizza for family and friends, culminating in me catering for 30 at my mumās birthday party. I donāt want to make pizzas for that many people at once again, but Iām still pretty proud of how it turned out.
\n\nAnd yes, itās provided something new for me to obsess over. Flour, tomatoes, cheese. The legal definition of Neapolitan pizza. Proving times and hydration levels. Iām all in.
\n\nWe moved out of London at the end of 2023 to a small town in Buckinghamshire. 2024 was all about getting settled and branching out into the community.
\n\nOur town is huge on community-run events, moreso than a lot of places. Itās made me realise how much of that weāve lost. So weāre trying our best to support it and be a part of it.
\n\nThereās nothing specific to write about here, beyond that weāre loving it. We feel very fortunate to live where we do.
\n\nI found the first year of parenthood incredibly tough. In all honestly, I didnāt account for the newborn stage at all in my mental image of having a child.
\n\nAs silly as that sounds, it made those earliest months a real struggle for me. I was constantly worried about doing the wrong thing, aware that I could do a great deal while my son was breastfeeding, and generally feeling like a bad dad (see: high self-expectations).
\n\nNow my son is two and a half and I feel like Iāve found my groove. Heās the funniest, kindest little guy and we have a lot of fun together. I have a better understanding of his needs and, arguably of equal importance, Iām more aware of when I struggle and need to tap out.
\n\nIn 2014 I managed to read 10 books. It was two off my goal and nowhere near my 2019 record, but a big step forward on the last few years.
\n\nI have another post about what I read queued up, but safe to say there were some goodāuns. I also read a lot more fiction than I have previously!
\n\nI started 2015 by buying a new Kindle Paperwhite because age is creeping up on me and Iām finding the text in some books too small to read (especially in the evenings). Weāll see what impact that has on my reading rate.
\n\nFor 2025, I have a few goals:
\nIāve had a funny relationship with the news for a long time. I studied journalism at university where following the news was just something you had to do. I remember coming home drunk from a night out, landing in bed with a polystyrene box of chips and turning on the TV to watch the world fall into a global recession.
\n\nItās been a long time since Iāve worked as a journalist, but the need to keep up with the news has always stuck with me. I donāt think thereās anything inherently wrong with that. Itās good to know whatās going on in the world. Iād even say that being informed is part of being a good citizen of the world.
\n\nThe problem is that news media has evolved into something thatās sensational, divisive and anxiety inducing. 24-hour news channels repeat the same awful stuff over and over. Advertising models put pressure on editorial staff to highlight the most sensational, attention-grabbing stories (and theyāre normally negative). If you try to keep up, you donāt feel good.
\n\n2020 really compounded this problem for me. I was refreshing bbc.co.uk/news and theguardian.com almost constantly. And while the state of the world in 2020 was objectively not great, this little pattern Iād got myself into made me feel worse and worse. My anxiety went through the roof.
\n\nThis year, Iāve been making some changes and I think Iāve found a news media diet that strikes a balance between staying informed and staying calm:
\n\nEvery morning I listen to the Global News Podcast from the BBC. It lasts for about 30 minutes, which fits in nicely with the time it takes for me to get ready and start my day. And because itās produced by the BBC World Service, it has a nice, global spread of news stories. Most English-speaking news outlets bias towards a western-centric set of headlines. This reminds me me that the world is a big place, that there are people that donāt look, talk and think like me, and that the issues that bother me arenāt the only ones out there.
\nOn Fridays, I get a copy of The Guardian Weekly in the post. I tend to read it on a Saturday. Like the Global News podcast it features a global spread of news stories that have happened over the last week. More importantly, because itās āslowā news, the style of reporting is more thoughtful and considered, rather than immediate and reactive.
\nThatās pretty much it. I use Appleās Screen Time to effectively block both the BBC and The Guardianās websites on my devices (by setting a limit of one minute), and I try not to use Twitter as a news source. All of this combined has had a noticeable impact on how I feel. Iām less anxious, I feel like I have a greater sense of perspective and Iām still satisfied that Iām informed enough about whatās going on in the world.
\n\nMy experiment hasnāt really ended. Occasionally Iāll introduce another source of news, like The Slow Newscast from Tortoise Media or More or Less from BBC Radio 4. Iām still seeing how they fit in to my routines and whether or not they have a positive effect on me. Iāll try and remember to update this post if any of these experiments stick.
\n", "date_published": "2021-04-16T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["personal"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2021/making-social-media-painful/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2021/making-social-media-painful/", "title": "Making social media painful", "content_html": "Over the past few years, Iāve been trying lots of different things to kick my social media habit. I deleted my Facebook account a while back but I get some value out of Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn ā enough to stick around on those platforms. So Iāve been putting some guardrails in place to keep my time on them down to a minimum.
\n\nI started by using Appleās Screen Time limits to place a 15 minute per day restriction on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. But itās easy enough to override that and give myself an extra 15 minutes or longer. That override process almost becomes unconscious, like riding a bike or driving my car. Itās only partially useful as a solution.
\n\nBut there is one āhackā thatās helped me to get my social habit down to something thatās both manageable and acceptable. And thatās to introduce as much friction as possible by using the mobile web browser versions of each platform. It works for a few reasons:
\n\nWhy make something deliberately worse? Well, like I said at the beginning, I still get value from these platforms. I love using Instagram to see what my friends are up to in their lives. And Twitter is great for discovering new stuff. But their apps are brilliant, and thatās the problem. Theyāre too convenient and too enjoyable and thatās how ājust 15 minutesā on social media unconsciously turns into an hour.
\n\nThis approach is based on James Clearās habit forming and braking ideas from his excellent book, Atomic Habits. He says that you can form habits by making them obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. The opposite is true for breaking habits; make them invisible, unattractive, difficult unsatisfying. And thatās exactly what Iām doing here.
\n\nIf youāre the kind of person who compares social media platforms to the tobacco industry, I guess you could consider this the equivalent of forcing all cigarette brands to use plain packaging with huge health warnings on the front. Making something less appealing makes it much less likely to take over your life.
\n\nThere are some downsides to this approach. Like I mentioned above, new features take a long time to show up (if at all), so if you want to check out Fleets or Spaces on Twitter, youāre out of luck. The experience of posting on the mobile browser versions of these platforms is more awkward. Especially on Instagram. But if youāre trying to cut down on your social media usage, that might not be a bad thing either.
\n", "date_published": "2021-04-03T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["personal"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2020/2019-books/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2020/2019-books/", "title": "Books I read in 2019", "content_html": "Through a combination of sheer determination and something akin to a miracle, I read 17 books in 2019. My goal was to read 12, so shooting past that feels like an achievement.
\n\nI love reading, but Iām not particularly disciplined at it. And much of the world is designed to be more distracting than a book. But last year I told myself Iād sit down and read for 30 minutes each day. I managed this most days. Not every day, but enough to read 17 books, so Iāll take it. This year, inspired by this post on Farnam Street, Iām aiming for 25 pages per day.
\n\nAs I went along, I tried to keep track of how I felt about each book and gave it a rating. But ratings are pretty dumb and everyoneās scale is different, so I ditched them here. I struggle to finish books I donāt like, and every book here I finished, so by that measure these are all good books ā I just happened to enjoy some more than others. Your mileage will vary though, and thatās the fun of it.
\n\nAround half of the books I read last year were paperbacks, a few (regrettably) were hardbacks and the remainder I read on the Kindle. Iām not a big fan of Kindles and Amazon in general. I should probably look at a more ethical alternatives, but I read ebooks significantly faster than dead trees for some reason. I have no idea why.
\n\nFinally, I havenāt included links to any of the books below, because theyāre all pretty easy to find in lots of places. If youāre in the UK, go grab one from a local book store or at least Waterstones. Every time I walk into a Waterstones I realise how much I never want it to disappear. If youāre in the US or anywhere else, youāll probably have your favourite non-Amazon book stores, too. Those are the best.
\n\nThis was tough going for my small brain and his thought experiments when a little further than I could handle, but itās an amazing read on the future of AI all the same.
\n\nQuite philosophical and a little meandering in places, but overall an interesting and informed critique of social media as it stands today.
\n\nA great place to start if you want to build useful habits to propel you through life. Well written and explained, if a little obvious in places.
\n\nA good, political take on what technology is doing to our society as a whole.
\n\nIāve always loved Calās writing and this one is no exception. This book is for everyone, really. Highly recommended.
\n\nI struggled the most with this one out of Yuvalās ātrilogyā of books, it was interesting but Iām not really sure it felt as clear or focussed as the others.
\n\nLoved it. Devoured it in a couple of days or less. Canāt wait to see it made into a film.
\n\nGood, if a little jumpy and erratic in places. A great starting point if youāre wondering why the world leaves you feeling so anxious.
\n\nFor people who do business internationally, this one is a very handy read.
\n\nDan Harris has nailed it when it comes to talking about meditation in a way thatās not off-putting or overly spiritual.
\n\nOne of my favourites of the year. A true story thatās hard to believe in places. Plus, itās coffee, so that was always going to go down well.
\n\nA really good overview of what to do with money and how to make the most of it in the UK. Very accessible.
\n\nA super interesting and practical take on getting shit done by two guys who clearly know how to sell their ideas.
\n\nI enjoyed this one more than Homo Deus, but I felt like the ending was a little rushed and I wish there was more substance in places.
\n\nMy favourite book of the year. Full of powerful anecdotes and brilliantly understandable insights that explained algorithms, AI and Machine Learning in ways that Iāve never grasped before.
\n\nI rated this three stars write after I read it (which is a good rating!) but in hindsight, that feels a little harsh. A handy collection of insights ā some of which Iāve definitely come across, others not.
\n\nThis book resonated with me pretty heavily and forced me to think a lot about my reactions to situations, particularly in a work context. Iād do well to read it again, no doubt.
\n", "date_published": "2020-01-25T00:00:00+00:00", "tags": ["personal"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2020/turning-30/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2020/turning-30/", "title": "30", "content_html": "I turned 30 this month ā hooray! š In the lead up to my birthday, lots of people asked me how I felt about this milestone. Was I worried? Was I anxious? Honestly, Iāve felt none of these things. Hereās where I did land with itā¦
\n\nYour first decade of your life (0ā10 years old) is spent with training wheels and guard rails. Youāre not really going anywhere or doing anything, youāre simply being moved through life by a more responsible adult.
\n\nThe second decade of your life (10ā20 years old) is spent learning to ride independently, falling off, fucking up, but always in the comfort youāll have someone to pick you up you when you do. Itās quasi-independence, with a set of capable hands waiting in the wings if you need a little help.
\n\nThe third decade of your life (your 20s) is true independence. But this is the first time you get the opportunity to really go anywhere on your own steam. Youāll take wrong turns. You wonāt really know where you are or, ultimately, who you are. Itās a time for getting lost and finding your way.
\n\nThe fourth decade of your life (your 30s) is where youāve largely found your way and found yourself. You might not be fully there. But youāre broadly aware of where the wrong turns will take you, and your careful and responsible enough not to fall off and break your arm in the process.
\n\nKnowing roughly where Iām going and being a competent enough passenger in life is whatās making me most excited for my 30s. Iāve never felt more grounded in my professional endeavours and in my personal life. And Iāve never felt more grateful for it all, either.
\n\nI donāt really have any resolutions for 2020 (or my 30th year), I just want to get better at everything that interests me.
\n", "date_published": "2020-01-05T00:00:00+00:00", "tags": ["personal"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/write-shorter-sentences/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/write-shorter-sentences/", "title": "Write shorter sentences", "content_html": "When Iām editing a piece of writing ā my own, or someone elseās ā I always ask the same three questions:
\n\nOkay, thatās four questions, but weāre focussing on words and not numbers here. And besides, if I could only do one thing to improve a piece of writing, itād be answering question three ā could the sentences be shorter?
\n\nWhy focus in on short sentences? Well, for a start, shorter sentences make writing more interesting. They give it a sense of rhythm and pace. Like this. And when you follow up a super-short sentence with a longer one thatās full of detail, the momentum of it brings your reader along for the ride.
\n\nOn top of this, using shorter sentences will make your writing more clear. When youāre explaining something complicated, itās easy to default to a stream of consciousness and write a single, long sentence, broken up into lots of tiny subclauses by commas, that confuses your reader, as you get further and further away from your original point.
\n\nBut short sentences do the opposite. They break up your idea into simple, digestible thoughts. And they force you to think a little more about what youāre trying to say. Go on, try it. And if youāre not convinced, read the last paragraph again.
\n\nFinally, by focussing on shorter sentences, Iāll often end up answering my other two editing questions by accident. By writing more clearly, the true meaning of what Iām writing will become obvious. Itāll soon become clear whether or not it meets its original purpose. Better still, shorter sentences tend to be active ones. Writing in the passive voice nearly always makes your sentences longer.
\n\nSo, if youāre editing your work (or someone elseās), take a look at the length of those sentences. Do they vary in length? Could you follow up a long sentence with a shorter one? The title of this post is perhaps a little misleading, because not every sentence should be short. Youāre looking for variety. And if you come across a horrendously long sentence, see if you can break it into two. Or three. Or more.
\n\nShort sentences are great. Use them, and I guarantee your writing will read better.
\n", "date_published": "2019-09-23T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/a-pricing-model/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/a-pricing-model/", "title": "A pricing model for freelancers and agencies", "content_html": "Most agencies and freelancers price their work like this:
\n\nāWeāll draft a thing, youāll give us feedback, weāll write you a second draft, youāll give us more feedback, then weāll write a final version and then youāll pay us xā
\n\nIt sort-of works, and flat fees are far better than charging by the hour. For freelancers, it makes work far easier to come by, and it reduces tension in a client-agency relationship.
\n\nHowever, having a set number of drafts for a set cost causes problems when youāve got a client thatās scared to commit to finishing the thing.
\n\nThat fear of commitment to a final output often manifests itself as an unwillingness to sign anything off, inconsistent feedback that flip-flops between opposing ideas, and endless, endless drafts.
\n\nSo instead, what if agencies and freelancers priced their work like this:
\n\n| Work | \nTotal cost | \n
|---|---|
| One draft + final deliverable | \n1x | \n
| Two drafts + final deliverable | \n2x | \n
| Three drafts + final deliverable | \n3x | \n
| Four drafts + final deliverable | \n4x | \n
Is it harsh? A little. Is it fair? Probably.
\n", "date_published": "2019-04-17T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/hello-sketch/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/hello-sketch/", "title": "Hello Sketch", "content_html": "After almost two fantastic years working for Sideshow, Iām incredibly excited to be joining the team at Sketch.
\n\nI worked with Sketch back in 2017 on some of their web and blog copy and Iām looking forward to doing a whole lot more of that. It also gives me an opportunity to rebuild my old sit-stand desk and set up a new home office down on the South Coast.
\n", "date_published": "2019-04-01T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["personal","work"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/the-everything-machine/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2019/the-everything-machine/", "title": "The everything machine", "content_html": "The act of converging technologies is one of the great feats of the 21st Century. Itās evidenced by the meme that tends to show up in the slide decks of semi-knowledgable speakers at conferences. You know the one. Thereās a desk full of objects. A calculators, a stack of books, a notepad, an alarm clock, a typewriter. In the next image, itās a single Macintosh computer.
\n\nHaving two separate devices for different jobs that share similar silicon has always been an inconvenience. And one that engineers have endeavoured to fix. Remember those combined TVs and VCRs? I had one in my bedroom when I was a kid. Go a little further back and there are those combined alarm clocks and tea-makers. Whenever a new thing combined two previously separate things, we were living in the future.
\n\nThe computer is the classic example. But the smartphone is where weāve peaked. We carry more computing power in our pockets than we used to put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Weāre carrying the worldās most popular camera in our pockets, along with an always-up-to-date GPS, a full set of the worldās maps (at every level of detail) a way to see anyone, at any time, and a way to look up anything instantly.
\n\nThereās no denying the allure of having every piece of essential 21st Century technology in your pocket. The everything machine goes with you everywhere. Itās in your hand more than anything else in a given day. Itās likely the first thing you reach for when you wake up. And the last thing you touch before you fall asleep. Few objects in the history of time have received this privilege of intimacy and trust.
\n\nBut the technology we use is exactly that. We choose how we use it. And that usage shapes up. Over the last year or so, Iāve been thinking a lot about the everything machine in my pocket and what itās come to mean to me as an individual. And I think Iāve decided I donāt want an everything machine in its truest sense.
\n\nIāve been a fan of technology for as long as I can remember. And while Iāve never had the means to always have the latest everything machine, Iāve been fortunate enough to never be too far behind. My first iPhone was the iPhone 4. One of Appleās best in terms of its industrial design. Save for the whole antennae-gate thing.
\n\nBefore the iPhone, Iād mostly had Nokias. And while I loved their simplicity, I often felt frustrated that they couldnāt do everything an iPhone could. So, when I got my ideal everything machine, I went all in. I spent more time than I care to recall finding the best apps, wading through settings and menus and finding ways I could mould this device to best suit the things I wanted to do.
\n\nOf course, I had the Facebook app. I loved Facebook. And why wouldnāt I have it on my phone? The same went for Twitter. And then Instagram came along. That caught my imagination in a way that Facebook and Twitter hadnāt. It was a platform that emphasised creation over consumption. At least for a little while.
\n\nMy first job as a journalism graduate was writing for a technology magazine. It was a dream come true. I got to put this weird hobby of mine to greater use. And Apple gave me free phones for a while. I never got to keep them. But for a short period of time, I always had the latest everything machine in my pocket.
\n\nIt was around this time that people around me would find themselves in the company of someone who retreated to their phone at every available opportunity. Iāve always found myself to be an introverted person, and Iām fine with that, but my solution to this was to bury my head in a screen. And what better screen for it than the one where I could do everything?
\n\nAt this point, for me at least, the everything machine went from being a means to an end, to the end itself. Instead of using it to achieve some greater goal, the goal was to spend as much time consumed by this palm-sized slab of metal, glass and silicon as possible. And it was easy.
\n\nAs Iāve started to question my relationship with technology. Iāve begun to realise itās not as mutually beneficial as I first thought. For a long time, spending hours in apps on my phone felt like a righteous cause. Iām socialising! Iām learning stuff! Iām having fun! Iām keeping in touch!
\n\nBut taking a step back, it feels like being able to do all of those things almost simultaneously isnāt the right approach. None of us can truly multi-task. But we feel like we can. Everything machines are fast. And they let us switch contexts at an alarming rate.
\n\nAs a writer, I know I do my best work with an intense focus on the job in hand. And Iāve tried to set up my environment to help with this. I use iA Writer, in dark mode, full screen, with a monospaced font. There are podcasts playing in the background. The TV is off. The only noise is ambient, constant and reassuring. Save for a few short breaks, Iāve been staring at this same screen for over an hour now.
\n\nAs a human, I know I struggle with intense focus for any great period of time. A couple of years ago I tried to develop a meditation habit. And while I canāt confess to have successfully stuck at it consistently since then, itās hammered home the importance of focus on a single task. The clarity and calm that comes from focussing one the breathāand nothing elseācanāt be overlooked. And itās had a huge bearing on how I think about the technology I use.
\n\nWhile I tried to develop my ability to focus on a single task through meditation, I was simultaneously undoing all this work with my everything machine. In a heartbeat I could go from watching a Vox explainer on YouTube, to replying to a message, to posting a questionably funny Tweet, to reading a work email, to feeling anxious about the work email, to desperately wanting reassurance about my questionably funny Tweet via likes.
\n\nIt all felt right at the time, but looking back, it feels off.
\n\nIāve been undoing the everything machine for some time now. It started with removing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from my iPhone. Now they live solely on my iPad (theyāre available via the web browser on my Mac, too, but thanks to their mobile-first engineering focus, their web apps are far less appealing).
\n\nNow, if Iām on my iPad, itās largely to check Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. My iPad lives at home, it doesnāt come to work with me, it rarely travels with me, itās not in the queue at the Post Office, itās not in the toilet at work. Itās not my everything machine. But it is the place I go to when I want to be completely unproductive on the internet.
\n\nThe final big leap was email. Iām fortunate enough that I donāt need to check my work emails out of hours. I could if I needed to, but the need isnāt there, so I donāt. That left my two personal email accounts on my everything machine. And without social media, that was my go-to for time wasting. No matter how many times I hit unsubscribe, thereās always another newsletter or promotional email to read.
\n\nEvery time I opened up my personal emails, I pulled to refresh and ding, ding, ding! Jackpot! One. Five. Three. Nine emails! Like a fruit machine. Yet none of this stuff was essential to me. People call or message me if itās urgent, work never comes through to my personal emails. Itās all newsletters (which I love, but they arenāt life or death communications) and marketing. So I switched off these accounts on my phone.
\n\nFor the first days, much like when I deleted social media from my phone, I found myself looking for apps that werenāt there. But over time, it felt like Iād reclaimed some time back. Looking for something that didnāt exist on my everything machine forced me to question why it was out of my pocket in the first place. Using my everything machine was no longer about doing the most all at once. It was about knowing exactly what I needed it for, doing that thing, then putting it away again.
\n\nThis is the part of the story where I need to recognise my own privilege. Not everyone is in a position to have multiple devices for different functions and purposes. So, while the next part to this story might not be achievable for everyone, I think everything Iāve said above still applies. After all, if youāre reading this article, youāll most likely be doing it on a computer or a smartphone.
\n\nFor Christmas this year, my girlfriend bought me a Nintendo Switch. And my parents bought me a Kindle Paperwhite. Introducing two new electronic devices into my life when Iāve spent so long renegotiating my relationship with my everything machine might feel a little off. But these arenāt everything machines.
\n\nWhen I wake up my Nintendo Switch and play Mario Kart, I can only do one thing. Play Mario Kart. I donāt get push notifications about messages from friends, breaking news or emails. I just play the game thatās in front of me. Thatās all the screen shows. Likewise, when I wake the screen on my Kindle and open up a book, I canāt switch apps and refresh Instagram. I can read a book and thatās about it.
\n\nThese devices have a single purpose. But in many cases, they share the same silicon. For an engineer, and for our attention economy, thatās an issue. Itās an inefficient use of physical resources. And it means that when Iām done reading or playing games, Iāll put it down and move onto something else. You canāt sell ads off a single-use device (although Amazonās Kindle offers make some effort to).
\n\nFor me, removing some of the things that the everything machine can do feels like a better way to navigate my relationship with technology going forward. It can still do incredible things. Itās the best way to keep in touch with anyone beyond face-to-face chat. Itās the only device I have to help me navigate from AāB. And itās still how I read a lot of stuff (thanks to Instapaper and Reeder).
\n\nBut now, my everything machine isnāt about everything. Itās about the most important things I want out of portable technology. If I desperately want to do anything else, I can still do it. Thereās just enough friction (downloading apps, logging into websites, etc.) to make me question whether nowās the best time to be doing it.
\n", "date_published": "2019-01-04T00:00:00+00:00", "tags": ["personal","thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2018/iphone-apps/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2018/iphone-apps/", "title": "Apps that make my iPhone better", "content_html": "Back in September, I wrote about some of the apps that make my Mac better. So I figured itād make sense to do the same for iOS. Or more specifically, my iPhone.
\n\nIāve lost count of how many times someone has asked me, āWhat apps are good?ā only for me to completely flounder. So from now on, Iām sending them here. And if youāre here already, lucky you!
\n\nOver the last few years, Iāve been continually assessing and reassessing how I use my iPhone. Or rather, how I should use it. My home screen has changed a fair few times, but right now, things are pretty stable. Here are five of the highlights:
\n\nI stumbled across Todoist via a blog post about the realities of remote work by the companyās founder, Amir SalihefendiÄ. I hugely appreciated Amirās perspective and figured that if it was so well-aligned with my own, his take on what makes for a to-do app might be a hit as well.
\n\nTo me, Todoist is a like a more powerful take on Appleās stock Reminders app. You can split tasks up by project (much like I can add reminders to different lists in Reminders). But on top of this, you can set things like priority and filter through tasks not just by project, but by due date, priority and more. Itās super helpful and the quick capture function means I can get stuff out of my head the moment it pops up (which is handy, because my short-term memory is worryingly bad).
\n\nTodoistās native apps are smashing, as is its web app and browser plug-ins. The free version is incredibly powerful and the premium subscription has a compelling set of additional features.
\n\nAppleās stock Calendar app has had a pretty rough ride over iOSā lifecycle so far. And right now I think itās in a trough, rather than at a peak. Which is sad, because I wish I could keep things simple and use more stock apps.
\n\nFantastical 2 takes all the frustrations I have with Calendars and fixes them. Itās got a brilliant quick capture feature, plenty of extensibility via Appleās Shortcuts app, and enough options to customise the calendar view that I can see what I need to see easily.
\n\nAs the clichĆ© goes, you donāt know what youāve got until itās gone. And when Instapaper blocked out its EU users for a while after GDPR came into effect, I really missed this app. Now itās back in my life (and independently owned again), I appreciate it even more.
\n\nIn a nutshell, Instapaper saves stuff from the web in a calmer, more readable format. I use it to save interesting, long-form articles if I havenāt got time to read them when I stumble across them. Their premium subscription also gives you the option to send articles to a Kindle device, which is probably worth paying for alone.
\n\nIāve been pretty lazy about my meditation practice (if you can call it that) lately. But Oak is by far and away my favourite meditation app Iāve used. It gives me the option of both guided and unguided meditations, logs sessions to Appleās Health app and keeps things brilliantly simple.
\n\nIāve plugged Betterās Mac app before, but since then the developers have dropped its price to the App Storeās cheapest pricing tier and in my view, that makes it a must if you value your privacy online.
\n\nIn the latest issue of Offscreen Magazine, Amber Case tells an interesting story about a Xerox PARC anthropologist called Lucy Suchman. The story goes that Suchman was tasked with working out why customers found their photocopiers so difficult to understand and use.
\n\nAt the time, engineers placed every possible control and setting front and centre, giving customers an overwhelming number of options to understand and decisions to make. Most companies ended up hiring someone specifically to work the photocopier.
\n\nWhen Suchman conducted her research, she discovered most customers only wanted to copy a single side of A4. So, she suggested that they created a big green button to do just that. That big green button made sure that most customers got exactly what they wanted straight away. No more confusion.
\n\nThere are a few articles that suggest this story isnāt 100% accurate. But itās a great story all the same. And it got me thinking about the Suchmanās big green button as a metaphor for copywriting. Regardless of the truth behind the tale, I think the metaphor holds up.
\n\nAs writers, weāre often on the outside looking in. Thatās tricky at times, because weāre always learning. But it also lets us look at things in a way that the people on the inside ā the ones with all the knowledge ā canāt possibly do.
\n\nWhen youāre close to your product or service, you want the world to know about all of it. But the world doesnāt need to know about all of it. Most of the world wants to know about some of it. And quite often that some of it is enough. Thatās your big green button. And our job as writers is to look for it.
\n\nWhen you focus on your big green button, your writing becomes clear and concise. Thereās always a temptation to include every possible feature, service, option or use case. But thatās often the fastest way to take the impact out of your message.
\n\nDoing away with 80% of what you could say, in favour of what you should say, isnāt easy. But itās the best way to be useful.
\n", "date_published": "2018-09-25T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2018/apps-that-make-my-mac-better/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2018/apps-that-make-my-mac-better/", "title": "Apps that make my Mac better", "content_html": "Iām unashamed an Apple nerd. I bought my first MacBook from a guy on eBay in 2007 and havenāt looked back. My first job out of university was writing for a magazine that covered Apple. And Iāve tinkered away on macOS and iOS ever since.
\n\nOver the years, Iāve tried and tested a whole bunch of apps and utilities to make working on my Mac a better experience. Iām pretty happy with my setup, so I figured Iād share a few of my favourites.
\n\nThe list below is by no means exhaustive, nor will it likely read the same six months to a year from now. Iāll try to remember to keep it updated, if I can. No promises, though.
\n\nI took longer than Iād like to admit to see the point in 1Password. But itās been well over a year since I started taking it seriously, and Iām never looking back. If youāve got a bad memory (like me) and huge amount of website and app logins to juggle (also me), this is your saviour.
\n\nIt generates super secure passwords, saves them, and lets you log in to stuff faster than itāll ever take you to recall which of the ten passwords you rotate between (also once me).
\n\nOnline security is important, but itās also a lot of effort to get right. This makes it effortless. Seriously. Itās worth every penny.
\n\nAd blockers are an ethical minefield. On the one hand, online advertising (and particularly ad tracking tech) is creepy and invasive and probably worse than we all take for granted. On the other, ads pay the bills because most of us donāt pay for content online. And thereās some really great content online.
\n\nBetter is about the best compromise in this ethical minefield. It seems to focus mainly on weeding out the worst culprits (i.e. the ad tracking that follows you around and doesnāt respect your privacy). The bonus is that disabling a lot of that stuff also makes websites much faster as your Mac isnāt trying to download so many tracking scripts.
\n\nWhen my stupid monkey brain canāt focus, I flip on SelfControl so it blocks a bunch of the internet, as well as access to APIs that my third-party Twitter client (Tweetbot) uses. Itās annoying and embarrassing that I even have to physically block access to distractions. But this is by far and away the most effect way to do it.
\n\nA word of warning: once you set SelfControlās timer, thereās no way to avoid the block once its timer starts. For reals. Seriously. Donāt even try. If you do manage it, thereās a high chance youāll be breaking something you donāt want to break.
\n\nWhen you write for a living, thereās no getting around using Microsoft Word at some point. But thereās also no getting around the fact that it looks like the cockpit of a plane, when all you really want to see is the sky ahead of you. So. Many. Buttons.
\n\nIf and when I can, I switch to writing in iA Writer. Itās beautifully designed and makes the writing process a lot calmer and more focussed. Itās Markdown friendly, exports to Word nicely, and even lets me upload straight to WordPress if I want. If you write regularly and donāt like looking at all that mess in Word, this is your app.
\n\nWeāre entering nerdy territory here, but I really like Matthew Palmerās Vanilla. So much so I paid for the upgrade to it, despite not really needing the upgrade features.
\n\nVanilla hides your Macās menu bar icons in a really elegant way that makes me wonder why Apple hasnāt done something similar already. Itās occasionally buggy, but Iāll take the odd glitch in return for a solution for my fastidious need for a tidy desktop.
\n\nI think five recommendations is a good place to start. I could go on for some time, but I donāt want to overwhelm you. Or worse, bore you. If youāre looking for a specific recommendation for an app, feel free to email me. At best Iāll have the perfect app for you, and at worst weāll work it out together.
\n", "date_published": "2018-09-22T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2018/how-to-spot-passive-voice/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2018/how-to-spot-passive-voice/", "title": "How to spot the passive voice", "content_html": "The passive voice ā or passive sentences ā are subject to almost universal scorn and banished in just about every brandās Tone of Voice guidelines. I know Iāve banished them when writing up Tone of Voice guidelines for clients. But Iāll also happily admit it took me a long time to know exactly what passive voice was and how to spot it from a mile off.
\n\nSo, in the spirit of making the complex stuff simple, I figured it might be helpful to others to write a super quick guide.
\n\nBefore we dive into what passive voice is, how to spot it, and what to do about it, letās talk about why itās got such a bad rap.
\n\nPeople write in the passive voice when they want to sound official or important. Mainly because itās a mainstay of legal writing. It sounds official, and somewhat aloof. Thatās great if you want to come off as official and aloof, but not so great if you want a brand to have a friendly, conversational voice.
\n\nIn the age of chatbots and smart speakers, cutting passive voice from your copy is even more important. Robots reading passive voice sound terrifying and even less human. And the last thing we want is anyone feeling terrified of your brand.
\n\nThere are a lot of ways to describe what passive voice. But this is the only one that clicked for me. Passive voice, in most (but not all) cases, involves removing I or we from the sentence, it isnāt clear whoās performing the action the sentence describes. For example:
\n\n\n\n\nāYour account details will be emailed to you.ā
\n
In this case, itās not clear whoās doing the emailing. Is it robots? Is it monkeys? Is it email-a-tron-9000? Itās not at all obvious. In fact, the easiest way to spot passive voice is if you can add āby robots/monkeys/email-a-tron-9000ā to the end of the sentence and it still make sense. Like this:
\n\n\n\n\nāYour account details will be emailed to you by robots.ā
\n
See? Weird. It feels inhuman (literally), impersonal and a bit stuffy. If thatās how you want your brand to sound, great. If it isnāt, try dropping a we, us, or even an I into that sentence. Like this:
\n\n\n\n\nāWeāll send you an email with your account details.ā
\n
Thatās it. Easy. That passive voice no longer exacts. Itās active voice now. And it feels a lot better. Donāt you think?
\n\nQuestion: My manager says I have to write formally and I canāt say āweā in case someone takes us to court over a missing account details email. So, I canāt do it.
\n\nAnswer: Thatās not a question, but I hear what youāre saying. The reality, though, is that you are your brand. If that emails goes missing, people are going to be mad anyway. And not including we or I in that copy probably doesnāt absolve you from your responsibilities anyway.
\n\nGo on, write that sentence in active voice. You can do it. I believe in you.
\n\nQuestion: But my manager says weāre a serious company for serious professional people and the writing youāre describing sounds child-like or condescending.
\n\nAnswer: This is false. Weāre all human. Letās act like it, eh? Even the people who wear suits and have trouser presses in their office wonāt think any less of you. I know because I write for those people every now and again. No-oneās given me a clip around the ear and told me to talk properly yet.
\n\nQuestion: Iām a better writer than you and your explanation of passive voice isnāt 100% watertight.
\n\nAnswer: I know, I know. Iāve probably missed something out. But I think youāll agree this is probably the most likely scenario that passive voice crops up in, no? You probably are a better writer than me, though. And Iām okay with that. Weāre all on a journey, friend.
\n\nQuestion: I still donāt understand what youāre on about / I have another reason why passive voice is entirely necessary.
\n\nAnswer: Look, buddy, people are getting bored now. Letās chat over email about it? Iād be more than happy to go over it/prove your manager wrong.
\n", "date_published": "2018-09-16T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/sideshow/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/sideshow/", "title": "Hello Sideshow", "content_html": "TL;DR Iām out of the freelance game and working for an awesome agency
\n\n\n After almost two years of working for myself, Iām super happy to be heading back into an office every day. Iām joining the wonderful folks at Sideshow and I couldnāt be more excited.
\n\nAfter spending a few months contracting for them on various jobs, it became abundantly clear that the folk at Sideshow were the kind of people I wanted to spend more time with. So thatās exactly what Iām doing. Have I told you Iām excited? Because Iām excited.
\n\nIf youāre in need of a freelance writer for a project, I can happily recommend you a few. Just send me an email. Or perhaps youād be interested in the services of a rather excellent agency?
\n", "date_published": "2017-07-17T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["personal","work"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/sketch/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/sketch/", "title": "Helping Sketch find their voice", "content_html": "I got to commission some super cool people to write guest columns for us when I worked for iCreate Magazine. One of those people was Christopher Downer (who wrote about designing an ace app called Clear back in the day). Early in 2017, that came full circle when Chris got in touch to ask if Iād help Bohemian Coding (the ace folk who make Sketch) with their copy.
\n\nSketch is well known and loved among the design community, but its developers ā Bohemian Coding ā felt there was room for improvement in the way they communicated the appās rapid development.
\n\nThey asked me to help them overhaul their blog posts (which mark every major new release of the app) to highlight key new features and communicate vital changes that could impact on usersā workflows.
\n\nFollowing that, I worked on their in-app prompts, subscriptions flows and the homepage copy for their website.
\n\nBefore I got stuck in writing fresh posts, I took the opportunity to review what the team has previously published. I also looked at competitor communications, reaction from users and made a note of the kind of questions being asked after every update. With that in mind, I went about creating a consistent structure and voice that could be applied to every update post.
\n\nThe new structure would give users some handy familiarity and allow them to easily navigate each post to find the information they needed. A short summary at the very top of each post rounded up the biggest changes for users who were short on time.
\n\n\n\n\nāWe move fast, and so does our excellent developer community. Thatās awesome, but it means a lot of manual plugin updates. On some occasions, an older plugin might not be compatible with a new version of Sketch, which causes even more issues. With Sketch 45, weāve taken some steps to fix this.ā
\n
![\"Hands](\"/uploads/2018/02/Sketch-Blog-Photo-by-Alejandro-Escamilla-on-Unsplash.jpg\")
\n You can view three update posts I wrote (for Sketch 43, Sketch 44 and Sketch 45) on the Sketch Blog. You can also see some of the copy I wrote on the homepage of their website.
\n", "date_published": "2017-06-20T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["work"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/offscreen/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/offscreen/", "title": "Writing for one of the webās most respected publications", "content_html": "Iāve long been a fan of Kai Brachās Offscreen Magazine. My background in technology journalism gave me a serious appreciation for how the publication approaches the subject. Itās calm, considered and contains a healthy dose of skepticism. When Kai asked me if I could work on a piece for issue 16 of the magazine ā effectively of re-launch, with an all-new design and fresh editorial ā I was overjoyed!
\n\n![\"Offscreen](\"/uploads/2018/02/Offscreen_1.jpg\")
\n Offscreen hadnāt featured a profile like this in previous issues, so I was working from a few similar pieces around the web that Kai had sent me. After a while researching Opendesk (Kai had fortunately already been in contact with them and had them on board!), I set up an interview with co-founder Joni Steiner and chatted at length with him about the company and its principles.
\n\nAfter a couple of rounds of edits between Kai, Joni and myself, we had a finished piece! Iām really happy with how itās come out and itās always a joy to see the work youāve done in print. Issue 16 is available to buy on the Offscreen website. If you work in front of a screen, Iād highly reccommend that you pick it up.
\n", "date_published": "2017-03-17T00:00:00+00:00", "tags": ["work"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/perfect-presentation-playbook/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2017/perfect-presentation-playbook/", "title": "Writing the book on perfect presentations", "content_html": "Around the tail-end of 2016 I had a spare week between client contracts, so I decided to use that time to scratch my own itch. To me, that meant sitting down to start writing a short book Iād sketched out about a year earlier.
\n\nIām a sucker for a great presentation. I watch Appleās keynotes religiously and Iām forever amazed by the mystical, magical powers of by Appleās Keynote. Yes, those are two different things.
\n\nAnyway, having put together a few presentations (for myself and previous employers), the ego in me decided that I knew what worked and what didnāt. And thatās how The Perfect Presentation Playbook was born.
\n\n\n\n\nāThe Perfect Presentation Playbook is your guide to writing, designing and delivering perfect presentations. Whether youāre working on a motivational speech, a new product announcement or your companyās fourth quarter financial results, the ideas in this ebook will help you create a presentation to remember.ā
\n
All told, it took me about a month and a half to write. Iād get up early and write for an hour or two before I started a dayās worth of client work. Then I commissioned designer and illustrator Daniel Duke to bring it all together. Iām also forever indebted to my podcasting co-host and editor of ATTN:Magazine, Jack Chuter, who proofed the whole thing.
\n\nThe final result was a 47-page guide to structuring, writing, designing and presenting a perfect presentation. It was a lot of fun to put together, especially when it came to articulating all the little things Iāve instinctually included in presentations over the years without really realising.
\n\nThe hardest part of the whole project wasnāt writing the book, though. It was getting it ready for digital distribution. I went down the ebook route (because printing physical copies was too expensive, even with print-on-demand) and boy oh boy was there a lot to considerā¦
\n\nIf youād like to see the final product for yourself, you can buy a copy. For your hard-earned cash, youāll get a PDF, Kindle and generic ebook file as an instant download.
\n", "date_published": "2017-01-03T00:00:00+00:00", "tags": ["work"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2016/one-piece-of-advice/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2016/one-piece-of-advice/", "title": "Creating a new magazine from scratch", "content_html": "As a writer and former features editor with a background in ābig publishingā, it probably comes as no surprise that Iām a huge fan of magazines. When my former employers, Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), asked me to produce their new alumni magazine it was a bit of a dream come true.
\n\nThe brief from AUB was fairly open:
\n\n\n\n\nHow can we create an alumni magazine that engages stakeholders on every level, while shunning the traditional, chest-beating style often adopted by HE institutions?
\n
Iād be working with their partner agency, Bond & Coyne, on the magazineās design, which would be loosely based on their āOne Piece of Adviceā alumni initiative. The editorial direction and just about everything else was up to me.
\n\n![\"Close-up](\"/uploads/2016/04/OPOA_4.jpg\")
\n Through a series of workshops with AUBās marketing team and Bond & Coyne, I developed the magazineās editorial direction, produced a list of potential features, planned out the editorial workflow and briefed contributing staff.
\n\nI worked closely with photographer and AUB alumnus Bill Bradshaw and the designers at Bond & Coyne, who commissioned illustration graduates from the university for the magazineās artwork.
\n\nWith copy for the magazine coming in from around 15 contributors, I edited every piece to ensure the overall tone and flow of the editorial was coherent, while retaining the individual voices throughout.
\n\nI was also incredibly fortunate to contribute one of the magazineās larger features ā an in-depth interview with legendary architect Sir Peter Cook.
\n\nThe whole project, from concept to completion, took around three months.
\n\n![\"Stack](\"/uploads/2016/04/OPOA_3.jpg\")
\n The One Piece of Advice magazine was launched at a major event in Bournemouth where it received high praise from the universityās Principal and Vice-Chancellor, alumni and contributors. The first issue featured 100 pages of interviews, essays, and artwork by AUB staff, students, and alumni.
\n\nI went on to produce three more issues of One Piece of Advice as its editor-in-chief. They featured the likes of Morag Myerscough, Hattie & Flora, and Bob & Roberta Smith.
\n\nAll four issues are sadly out of print (although Iāve naturally stashed a few away), but you can download PDF versions from Arts University Bournemouthās website.
\n\nPhotography: Bill Bradshaw
\n", "date_published": "2016-11-12T00:00:00+00:00", "tags": ["work"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2016/freelancing-tips/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2016/freelancing-tips/", "title": "Seven freelancing tips that worked for me", "content_html": "A year ago, I quit my day job as a web editor for a university to be a freelance copywriter. Since then, itās been the rollercoaster that every freelancer talks about. Iāve edited magazines, picked up awards and moved to a new city. Iāve also freaked out about whoāll pay my rent next month or if Iām even any good at what Iām doing at all, but thatās another story.
\n\nWhen I started, I read a lot about how to be a great freelancer and tried to set myself some rules for how I wanted to work. A year on and I have a pretty good idea of whatās stuck for me, so I thought Iād share what works (and what doesnāt).
\n\nIāll happily admit that I stole this from Jessica Hischeās ultra-schedule post. Itās a great idea and for the most part, Iāve stuck to it. There have definitely been a few occasions where client schedules have meant that Iāve had to get something sorted by a Monday, but as a general rule, not having deadlines at the very start of the week has made for stress-free weekends.
\n\nAgain, I stole this entirely from the aforementioned Jessica Hische post. Maybe itās just me, but I actually run out of admin to do by Monday lunchtime, so I end up doing client work. Still making a habit sorting out my books every Monday has made life a lot easier for me and my accountant.
\n\nHiring my accountant and paying a designer to sort my branding and business cards for me were two of the best decisions Iāve made as a freelancer. It might feel like an unnecessary expense, but it took me two whole days of pure stress to sort my tax return out last year. Thatās two whole days I wasnāt working or earning money. Effectively, the two āextraā days Iāll work this year will pay for my accountant. Hiring people who have the skills you donāt feels great.
\n\nThe biggest struggle I had over the last year as a freelancer was pricing and estimating time on jobs. Iām getting better at it as time goes on, but in the beginning, it was really easy for me to price too low and underestimate how long a job would take me. No-one loses out in this situation except me. I was working longer hours for less money. If you find yourself doing the same, try upping your day rate or āoverestimatingā your time. Chances are, that change will actually take you to where you shouldāve been in the first place.
\n\nThis can take a while, but finding out when you work best and setting your schedule around that is one of the best things you can do to make your working day better. My creative focus is best early in the morning, so I make a point to get into the office (I have a desk in a coworking space) before everyone else and leave somewhere between 3pm and 5pm. I canāt concentrate late in the afternoon so I donāt even bother trying. It takes a while to learn how to listen to yourself in this respect, especially if youāve been tied down to a companyās set working hours for a while, so experiment with your hours until you find what fits.
\n\nThis isnāt a rallying call to find a āwork/life balanceā in the sense that those two things are mutually exclusive. In fact, if youāre freelancing, thereās a chance that you love work and, to an extent, work is life for you. Finding a way to walk away from work and focus on the other stuff that matters is important, though. Iāve only just cracked this by hiring a desk in a coworking space. Now I walk for 20 minutes every day to get to work and that time gives me a chance to shift gears and prepare myself for whatās ahead (or wind down at the end of a busy day).
\n\nI sort of stole this from an excellent post by Matt Gemmell on working from home. He says it a whole lot better than I can:
\n\n\n\n\nItās fine to schedule a half-day off for the launch of that new game, or take advantage of cheap daytime movie tickets once in a while. Otherwise, why bother at all?
\n
This piece was originally posted on Medium.
\n", "date_published": "2016-10-01T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2016/app-store-release-notes/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2016/app-store-release-notes/", "title": "Writing great app store release notes", "content_html": "Iāve written before about how great copy should live everywhere. If youāre an indie developer trying to make your mark on the App Store, ensuring that the copy inside and around your app is written to win over users can only be a good thing. Not convinced? Here are a few reasons why:
\n\nIt doesnāt have to be hard. If youāve ever stood in front of a stranger and explained how your app works to the point where theyāre smiling, youāve pretty much nailed it already. Write whatever you said down and youāve got a solid starting point.
\n\nYouāll delight the nerds. Thatās right, the people (like me) who are prepared to pay money for your app and probably pay again for the next major update or release. Nerds like us notice notice the little things like personalised error messages or on-boarding tutorials and weāll return the favour by evangelising about your app to anyone whoāll listen. Thatās free marketing, right there.
\n\nA lot of the time, itās free! Of course, if you hire a copywriter it will cost money (and as a copywriter, Iād recommend it), but places like the release notes you can find in the Updates tab of the App Store donāt charge extra when you write something nice.
\n\nAre you convinced yet? Good. Now, letās get down to the business of writing great release notes. Here are a few of the worst, the most average and the best examples Iāve seen in my own App Store updates recently.
\n\nNote: If youāre reading this on a smartphone, the images below might not be big enough for you to read, so Iād recommend switching to a larger device. I fully realise and apologise for the irony of this.
\n\n![\"Three](\"/uploads/2018/02/good-app-release-notes.jpeg\")
\n Above are some of the best release notes Iāve noticed recently. Before you say it, I know these are all from relatively big developers (Swarm being the biggest, here), but as weāll see later on, release notes from big developers are a real mixed bag. And theyāre where you, you brilliant indie dev, can differenciate yourself.
\n\nWhat makes these so great? A few things:
\n\nTheir length and detail is appropriate for the update. Swarmās 4.0 release completely redesigned profile pages, so obviously it warrants talking about. If youāre overhauling a major section of the app, you owe it to yourself (or your developers) to give it some love when it comes to the release notes. On the other hand, DICE have far less to talk about (theyāve improved browsing speeds within the app), so things are a little shorter, but theyāve still found a way to make things interesting.
\n\nTheyāre written by humans, for humans. When youāre writing commit messages for Git, itās easy to let that straight-to-the-point, technical style of writing find its way into everything else. These three examples do a great job of communicating in a way thatās human. Remember what I said earlier about explaining your app to a stranger? Itās much the same hereāāāexplain your updates like youāre talking them through with a (nonātechnical) friend.
\n\nThey know their audiences. Each set of release notes has a slightly different tone, and thatās okay. DICE went for comedy, SpareRoom played it straight. Both work perfectly because itās a tone thatās tailored to their audience. It makes sense that SpareRoomāāāeffectively a utility and service appāāākeeps their updates to the point and friendly, while DICEāan app designed to revolutionise the leisure industriesāgoes for something a little more entertaining. Your app likely started with the aim of solving a problem for a specific audience, why shouldnāt your copy do the same?
\n\n![\"Three](\"/uploads/2018/02/bad-app-release-notes.jpeg\")
\n These are all pretty average examples of release notesāāāin every sense. Theyāve both average in terms of quality and average in terms of them being the most common style of release notes I see in my Updates tab. Hereās why theyāre not good, though:
\n\nThey donāt sell the benefit. While you might not really be shooting for sales in the Updates tab (after all, these people have already downloaded your app if theyāre updating it), thereās still no excuse not to be selling the benefits of your updates. By that, I mean explaining what ābug fixesā or ābackground performance tweaksā actually mean for the user. Will your app run faster as a result? Have you fixed a common crash? Great! Tell me about it. This is the perfect opportunity to show that youāre not out to make a quick buck and care about making meaninful updates to your app that actually benefit your users.
\n\nTheyāre vague. Snapchatās āRedesigned with new fun ways to talk to your friends!ā line is a good example of a vague benefit. People love specifics. Does this mean I can send more emojis? Does this mean itās easier to take a selfie? Tell me what those new fun ways are and Iāll be far more likely to open your app and engage with it than discard it as another invisible update. You like active users, right?
\n\nThey lack personality. Google Mapsā release notes arenāt terrible, theyāre just missing an opportunity to show off the brandās personality. We know it exists, so why canāt it exist here? Sure, if youāre making an update that fixes that bug that accidentally doubleācharged everyone for an ināapp purchase, keep it humourāless and apologetic, but if youāre doing great things, be happy about it!
\n\n![\"Three](\"/uploads/2018/02/ugly-app-release-notes.jpeg\")
\n Okay, letās keep this short. Donāt state the obvious. I know you āmake frequent updates to the appā because youāre in my updates tab every week with the same terrible message. Of course Iām going to āget the latest versionā because automatic updates are a thing. You are telling me nothing helpful here. Nothing at all. All youāre telling me is that youāre lazy when it comes to communicating with your users.
\n\nIf youāre still not sure whatās wrong with this last batch of examples, please reāread this article until you do. I promise itāll make sense sooner or later.
\n\nThatās a very good question! Not as many people read these since Apple made automatic updates a thing, but some people still do, is my answer. The thing is, it doesnāt matter whether four, 40 or 40,000 people read your release notes. The people that do are the people that judge you on your attention to detail, after all, theyāre interested in the fine details of your point update. Please them with appropriately detailed, entertaining and useful release notes and youāll turn a user into a fan. Iām sure of it.
\n\nLikewise, I know that automatic updates have meant that the importance of the Updates tab has really taken a hit. But I see it as a different opportunity now. You might need to rely on an ināapp method for explaining new features to users, but you can use the updates tab to show them that you care about every aspect of the experience your app gives. Who isnāt going to love that?
\n\nThis piece was originally posted on Medium.
\n", "date_published": "2016-04-15T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2015/the-ad-that-ate-itself/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2015/the-ad-that-ate-itself/", "title": "The ad that ate itself", "content_html": "John Lewis, we have a problem. The annual Christmas ad is starting to show its age. This isnāt a blow-by-blow post-mortem of #ManOnTheMoon, though.
\n\nJohn Lewis has (rightly) received praise for addressing the issue of elderly loneliness at Christmas. Working with Age UK is an admirable way to go, too. But for some people, this yearās ad didnāt do it for them.
\n\nStuart Heritageās hilarious take presents a (possibly not serious) reason why this ad didnāt strike up the same response that Monty did. Namely, the ad has strayed too far away from the products that John Lewis sells. But I reckon thereās a bigger problem.
\n\nFive years in and weāve got a formula. High sentimental value, a couple of key characters, a twinkly soundtrack, the spirit of giving, a heartwarming ending. The names and faces change, but the moral remains the same; buy something special for someone special this Christmas.
\n\nThereās nothing wrong with this. Itās an advert, after all. Selling stuff is what they should do. But formulas and genres back creativity into a corner.
\n\nAt the end of Stuart Heritageās Guardian piece (which asks the question āWho is Moon Hitlerā in case you were still holding off reading it), he predicts the future of the John Lewis Christmas ad:
\n\n\n\n\nāAt this rate, next yearās advert will be the story of an alcoholic carrot or a plasticine spaniel with abandonment issues or just a damp napkin with a frowny emoji drawn on it, and itāll be three times longer than it needs to be, and itāll cost the equivalent of Portugalās GDP to make, and itāll be soundtracked by a melancholy plinky-plonk cover of the Big Break theme tune.ā
\n
Thatās taking things too far, perhaps, but it proves that thereās certainly now an expectation for what a John Lewis Christ ad should be, whether youāre a cynic or a true believer. The problem with expectations is that itās as easy to fall short of them as it is to surpass them.
\n\nIn year six John Lewis have their work cut out for them. Like being Madonna, Tarantino or Taylor Swift, thereās a pressure to reinvent or lose relevance. How do you go about delivering something spectacular every year without doing a Coca-Cola? I suppose thatās why you have Ad Ageās International Agency Of The Year on board, isnāt it?
\n\nThis piece was originally posted on Medium.
\n", "date_published": "2015-11-06T00:00:00+00:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] }, { "id": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2015/about-app-copy/", "url": "https://freddiewrit.es/journal/2015/about-app-copy/", "title": "App is performing a database migration, please be patient", "content_html": "I didnāt have a clue what that meant either.
\n\nI mean, with my experience in technology, I could likely guess that this was the result of some kind of update, but should I really have to decipher it? All I wanted was to find out my options for a train to Brighton the next day.
\n\nCopywriting isnāt just about sales or marketing, or at least it shouldnāt be. Copywriting should span across every aspect of your business. Not convinced? Thatās cool. Just stick me while we unpack the above, will you?
\n\n\n\n\nāApp is performingā¦ā
\n
Hang about, why is the app talking in the third person? Itās intelligent, I know, but itās not Skynet levels of intelligent just yet, is it? Should I be worried? What is āAppā? Maybe Iām taking things a little bit too far, but youāve not even told me why my train times arenāt showing up and youāre already speaking to me in vague abstractions.
\n\n\n\n\nāā¦a database migration,ā
\n
Apparently thereās a database involved. Why does the app have a database? Am I on the database? I have no idea. I want to look at train times, not a database. And why is it being migrated in the first place? Where from? Where to? Itās all a bit hard to decipher, really. But it doesnāt have to beā¦does it?
\n\n\n\n\nāā¦please be patient.ā
\n
Right, letās give this another go. Letās decipher the technical jargon, take some ownership for whatās going on, be a little more human about the process and give an instruction that actually benefits the user. Letās tryā¦
\n\n\n\n\nāWeāre just making sure your train times are correct. Weāll be done in a minute or two, promise.ā
\n
If Iām being self-critical, maybe this is too human. Maybe the database migration doesnāt have anything to do with train times (although, if it doesnāt, what is it all about?) Perhaps this is a little too colloquial, but, answer me thisā¦
\n\nDoes my message feel a little better than the original?\nNo, not āIs it more accurate?ā or āIs it generic enough?ā, the question is āDoes it feel better?ā. Technology, and software in particular, should make users feel something. Ideally something good. Especially when theyāre this close to the inner workings.
\n\nIt might seem expense endeavour or a thankless task (and to an extent, both might be true), but ensuring every inch of your website/app/tool is covered by great copy is important. Itās the difference between something that feels cheap and something that feels great. Itās the difference between something you couldnāt care less about and something which feels like itās grateful for your time, for your eyes, for your unique visit.
\n\nYou might not have noticed this before, but Iām pretty sure when you lay in bed tonight and open and close most of those apps on your phoneās home screen, youāll start to. Great copy doesnāt live on the marketing website, or in the on-boarding, or in the help pages. Great copy lives everywhere.
\n\nThis piece was originally posted on Medium.
\n", "date_published": "2015-10-24T00:00:00+01:00", "tags": ["thoughts"] } ] }