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.
How to make gravy
In his ode to a particularly Australian style of Christmas, Paul Kelly gave a recipe for How to make gravy (‘Just add flour, salt, a little red wine / And don’t forget a dollop of tomato sauce for sweetness and that extra tang’). For Christmas lunch, I will be in charge of the Christmas ham, as well as making the seasonal drink using Adam Liaw’s delicious cherry chinotto cordial recipe. All of this got me thinking about the art and science of writing recipes.
Command centre: using imperatives in copywriting
Of the four kinds of English sentences – declarative, interrogative, exclamatory and imperative – the imperative might be the one you use least in your writing. It can be tricky to tell someone what to do without sounding blunt, even rude.
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.
Too many notes – tips for succinct writing
Writing succinctly isn’t easy. Here are my top tips for trimming those excess words.
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.
Beware the certainty of numbers
As uncertainty and confusion about COVID-19 continue in people’s lives, those hungry for information are finding themselves taking a crash course in epidemiological terms. A number of information platforms have responded by publishing their own COVID-19-related glossaries, including the Yale School of Medicine and our own ABC. But what about COVID-19 numbers?
Editing as an essential service
Despite all of our advances in science and technology, falsehoods about the origin, spread and effective treatment of COVID-19 abound. In fact, the most effective communication tool humans have invented to date – the internet – has only served to give oxygen to rumours and lies and helped them to proliferate.
Four writing styles and when to use them
If you were to read the instructions for operating a nuclear reactor, you would expect it to be written very differently to a novel about a nuclear accident, or a newspaper editorial about the merits (or otherwise) of nuclear power.
A body of writing: good bones are just the beginning
When someone says a house has ‘good bones’ we tend to think of a solid structure, or a floor plan that can be used or improved without major renovation. In writing, ‘good bones’ also implies a sound structure, providing clear direction and logical flow of information. However, I actually think of this as the skeleton rather than the bones.
Sans Forgetica: the font to remember
Why would anyone design a font that is deliberately difficult to read? The answer is simple: to help people retain the information they are reading. A team of designers and behavioural scientists at RMIT University has created a new font for the specific purpose of aiding memory retention. It may seem counterintuitive, but by […]
Lessons from IKEA
As I assembled a new wardrobe last weekend in the spare-room-cum-study that is soon to be my daughter’s new bedroom, I was struck by just how simple yet effective the instructions were. Perhaps more striking was the fact that they didn’t contain a single word.
Don’t let the manual be an afterthought
I’ve come across a couple of events in the media recently that have served to highlight the importance of good documentation, and the significant risks of not having a clear and credible user manual.
Help documentation – how does this work?
If your business sells any type of product, whether it’s a physical object such as a board game or something less tangible such as a software application, providing your customers with clear, concise and easily followed help documentation is vital.