Insights archive
Red Pony is a team of writers, editors, Microsoft Office template developers and communications trainers. We have been writing about our areas of expertise for over a decade in our Red Pony Express newsletter.
This collection features the best articles from the last 10 years.
Tips for curing writer’s block
As a professional writer I occasionally get stuck with that dreaded affliction called writer’s block – the feeling of being stuck and unable to write. Most writers experience this feeling at some point, and it can last for anywhere from minutes to years.
Holiday season reading
The year is quickly coming to an end and Christmas is just around the corner. One thing I really enjoy about this time of year is finally having the time to finally read some of the books that have been piling up on the shelf.
From Shakespeare's Globe to Fountain Gate: how pop culture shapes English
Pop culture enriches language in delightful ways. TV catchphrases that become part of everyday speech transcend their origins, like countless phrases from Shakespeare which seamlessly integrate into modern English.
Taking simple seriously
While we’ve documented the formal push by governments in the United States and New Zealand to legislate plain language in the past, we’ve recently seen a shift towards producing easier to read documents at the grassroots level here in Australia. At Red Pony, we use a 3-tier system to classify the different requirements for any simplified English project.
How the ATO use 'nudge' theory to get more people to pay their taxes
The concept of ‘nudge’ theory – using subtle prompts to influence human behaviours – is being used by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to encourage tardy taxpayers to make good on their debts.
Simplified Technical English: what it is and why it exists
Some time back, my colleague Andrew Eather wrote a Red Pony Express article about contronyms: a word that can have completely opposite meanings. The English language is endlessly plastic, but this can be a problem when lives depend on precision.
Red Pony Express marks its 15th year
Back in 2008, my colleague Andrew Eather and I began working on ideas for a newsletter we could send out every couple of months. In the tradition of the television ‘clip show’, I’m going to look at some of our previous articles and the people who wrote them.
A thousand words: Writing effective image descriptions
Images are a great way to make writing engaging, but are they making your writing less accessible? By providing a simple description of each image using the alt-text field in webpages, Word documents and other digital formats, you can make your content more accessible to users of screen reading software, including people who are blind or have low vision.
How to interview a subject matter expert
In the previous issue I wrote about thought leadership and offered some tips to help you share your specialist knowledge with others. This time around I want to share some advice for interviewing someone to help draw out their expertise.
NZ a step closer to making plain language law
The New Zealand Government is looking to pass legislation that will make it a legal requirement to use plain language for official documents and websites. It’s time we did the same in Australia.
How to write a great thought leadership article
Writing an article, web page or blog post where you share your expertise is a chance to provide interested readers with information useful to them, while also building your profile as an expert in your field.
The difference between copyediting and proofreading
When you’re outsourcing a content project, what services do you need and how do you tap into the right level of editorial expertise?
What’s in a place name?
Although many of us remain armchair travellers due to COVID-19 restrictions, the landscape of Australian language is constantly shifting.
Taking the pain out of annual reports
While your annual report might have to be compiled yearly, that doesn’t mean the same people will be involved each time. Document any lessons from the process that will make it easier next time around for all those involved.
No place for hope
When you’re applying for grants, awards and tenders, it’s no time to be modest, uncertain or even loud. Simply make your claims, back them up and be rigorous. The rest may well be fill. Even if your application does not get what you would’ve hoped for, assessors will thank you for making their jobs easier.
The smell of a message
And right there is one thing that scent marketers have learned at a cost: smells evoke memories, and a smell that appeals to one demographic may put off another.
Being more productive by doing nothing
Being continually connected to your email and phone between meetings not only fills your day, it also makes it difficult to think beyond the immediate demands on your time. The problem is potentially more acute now that many of us are working more hours from home due to the current pandemic, making it even harder to completely switch off.
Why I’ll persevere with reading poetry
Have you ever read a poem that’s left you with a sense of unease or ambiguity because you found it obscure or open-ended? Or because you felt you didn’t quite get a message that you should’ve gotten?
Maintaining your language style guide
A language style guide specifies how people should write for your organisation – how formal or casual the tone, any preferences for certain terms, whether or not to use Oxford commas … it’s effectively the language equivalent of a design style guide that specifies such things as the colours of the logo and the fonts to use.
How COVID-19 is changing the way we work
The pandemic has accelerated work trends that might have otherwise taken years to become common practice. Fortuitously, many of the technologies required to make this possible have matured at just the right time, including the availability of broadband internet and powerful portable computers combined with ubiquitous teleconferencing applications like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.