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 since 2009 in our Red Pony Express newsletter.
This collection features a selection of our best articles.
So many books, so little time. Is Blinkist the answer?
The tower of unread books on my bedside table is growing. And with it, my guilt. I consider myself a ‘reader’, not someone who smugly displays books but never cracks the spines!
Rearranging slide decks on the Titanic
PowerPoint’s inventors imagined a simple aid to verbal communication, yet now it has mutated into its own genre and embedded itself in the DNA of corporate and government communications. Is PowerPoint doomed to an eternity in the icy depths of workplace ennui?
Structural integrity matters
When a 12-storey apartment building collapsed in Miami in 2021, killing 98 people, many observers couldn’t understand how previous building inspections had failed to avert the disaster. We now understand that while faults were obvious, inspection reports failed because they obscured them.
Out-of-office and out-of-mind?
With many businesses closing over the holiday period, many of us will be setting up an automated email to let people know that we’re out-of-office. You wouldn’t want this email to make people think you weren’t serious about your job, would you?
Inventing a language of peace
When the French used their veto to vote down a resolution at the 1921 Assembly of the League of Nations, did they unwittingly thwart the world’s best chance to foster world peace and international understanding?
Notes on transparency
If we take transparency to be a feature of good journalism and reporting, does that mean euphemism is an enemy of ‘good writing’?
Using headings to create impact
Whether you are writing a 100-page report or a one-page fact sheet, effective use of headings can greatly enhance your document.
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.
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.
Neologisms: language upcycling through the ages
Unsurprisingly, neologisms are often the by-product of a cultural or technological shift. In the case of the pandemic, reactionary linguistic terms spawned rapidly to cope with an intensifying global crisis.
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.