About me

I am a freelance content designer and copywriter. I founded Very Meta in 2017 and since then I’ve worked on a wide range of projects for a diverse collection of lovely clients. Most recently, I’ve taken senior and lead content design roles working on projects typically in the public and charity sectors.

I’m a big fan of making complex things sound simple and consider myself a bit of plain English specialist. But as you probably know, content design is about far more than words. So it’s handy that I also enjoy getting my teeth into user research, prototyping, journey mapping and all the other gubbins needed to make services work well.

One of the great things about working with public sector teams is I often get to pass on the stuff I know, so they can do it themselves. That might mean some good listening on my part to make sure they get the right content strategy, guidelines or even people in place. But it can also mean hands-on content design or plain English training that helps build their practical skills.

What am I like to work with? I should probably get some testimonials, but the feedback I often receive suggests I’m calm, positive, always open and generally very optimistic about designing content that really helps people.

The before times

I’ve been freelancing for almost seven years. I previously worked at two agencies where I earned my content chops, learnt how to interact with clients and colleagues, and led multidisciplinary teams.

Patience. Politeness. Persistence. That kind of thing.

Headline news below. Read my full job history.

The Workshop

Once a top 50 design agency that delivered large-scale digital projects for notable clients. I started out writing copy for Morrisons and Castrol (yikes) and ended up working on big website projects for the likes of learndirect, Sheffield Hallam University and various government departments. This was back in the late 00s, when I was already the kind of content bod who did the user research, wireframes, information architecture and lots more you might now call content design.

Yoomee

A great digital agency that exclusively worked with charities and third-sector organisations. I was senior producer, which meant organising and leading multidisciplinary teams on top of all the actual content work. I worked on web projects for clients including Eden Project, Kirklees Council, mHabitat, Save The Children and Breast Cancer Now. Yoomee is where I first got to grips with agile projects, design sprints and other ways of working that are commonplace now.

Two more things!

Sheffield Content Club

I’m the host and organiser of Sheffield Content Club, a meetup for the city’s content designers and creators. It’s a welcoming space for content folk to come along, meet like-minded souls and hear some useful talks from great speakers.

Visit Sheffield Content Club

A is for Angelica

I wrote an actual book! My debut novel was published in 2012 by Legend Press and you can order it from your favourite book retailer right now. People have said some very nice things about it, including the Daily Mail (yikes), Time Out and Costa Prize-winning author, Nathan Filer.

Read about A is for Angelica