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.
One idea for better writing
It sounds a bit simplistic to say to that one idea will improve your writing, doesn’t it? But it’s true. Just one idea can make a big difference.
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.
Is English becoming toxic?
Despite a global push for the use of plain English to boost reader understanding and accessibility, recent language trends and buzzwords suggest that English is actually becoming less accessible for the average user.
The real magic of a letter to Santa
In a time when communication is primarily digital, and mostly informal, the seemingly simple act of writing a letter to Santa retains a special significance. Children once wrote regularly to people such as grandparents, other family members and penfriends. Now, a letter to Santa may be a child’s only experience of formal correspondence.
Words are cheap but jargon comes at a cost
Most professions and industries have their own jargon – words and phrases that have a specific meaning within a particular group but a different meaning (or none at all) outside the group. To those who use it regularly, jargon can be inclusive. It’s the kind of language you hear at […]
Writing that’s ‘fit for purpose’
To determine whether something is fit for purpose, it must first be clear what the ‘purpose’ is. What are you intending to use the product for? The same applies to writing. All writing has a purpose or particular objective for a specific audience.
Time for a good segue
As I join the Red Pony team, it seems the perfect time to write about segues. A segue is ‘an uninterrupted transition from one piece of music or film scene to another’ in musical terms or, more generally, a ‘smooth transition from one role, state, or condition to another’ (Oxford Dictionaries). The second of these […]