Content design Guides, templates and articles
Guides, templates and articles about content design, government communications, digital experience with a few case studies thrown in for fun.
How to measure content design impact when there's no baseline
Measuring content design impact without a baseline: pick one defensible measure, record the diagnostic state precisely now, and your first number is the before.
A government chatbot is only as good as the content behind it
A government chatbot just repeats the content behind it. Why government chatbot content design in Australia, not the platform, decides if the answers are right.
The DTA AI impact assessment tool: what content teams should do now
The DTA AI impact assessment tool now applies to any government content team using AI to draft or edit. Run it as a self-audit before procurement or audit does.
Content audit metrics: the five measures that get executive sign-off
Content audit metrics that get executive sign-off: relevance, accuracy, accessibility, traffic, and decision-readiness, scored on one cover page they will read.
How to write alt text for (Australian government) websites
How to write alt text for Australian government websites: when an image actually needs it, how to describe its purpose, and who should own it in your workflows.
Evaluation reports need a content design layer
Content design for evaluation reports turns a 90-page PDF into a four-page decision-ready brief, so the people who hold the budget actually act on the findings.
How to brief AI for content: the three layers of context it needs
Generic AI content is a briefing failure, not a model failure. How to brief AI for content using the three layers of context it genuinely needs to get it right.
Content modelling, explained for non-technical content teams
A plain-language guide to content modelling for content teams. Six steps to lead the model that decides whether your CMS and AI strategy actually works in 2026.
How to write for the web for Australian government: a practical guide for content teams
A practical guide to writing for the web for Australian government. Seven steps, from defining the user task to publishing a page that works.
Year 7 reading level isn't a target. It's a constraint that should change how you write everything.
The Style Manual sets the year 7 reading level for Australian government content. Most agencies miss this target because they edit the words, not the structure.
How to measure the impact of content design in Australian government
How to measure content design impact in Australian government: four practical metrics that match how agencies fund the work and report on its delivery outcomes.
Web content governance for Australian government websites
The minimum viable governance model for an Australian government website: three roles, six decisions, a review cadence, and an escalation path. Free download.
PDF/UA (ISO 14289) is the standard for accessible PDFs. Most government PDFs do not meet it.
PDF/UA (ISO 14289) is the international standard for accessible PDFs. Most Australian government PDFs do not meet it. The fix is governance, not better tooling.
AI prompt pack for government content teams
Eight working prompts for Australian government content design tasks: plain language rewrites, error messages, alt text, and skim-readability. Free download.
AS ISO 24495 plain language is now an Australian Standard. Use it as a governance lever.
AS ISO 24495.1:2024 makes plain language a citable Australian Standard. Use it in your content governance framework, your next tender, or in your audit reports.
A content audit is not your first step
A content audit is the third step. Before you review a single page, you need both a content inventory and an impact assessment. Here is what all three steps do.
Evaluation is a practice. Treat it like one.
Evaluation is a practice, not a report. Like content design, it fails when bolted on at the end. Design for evaluation from day one. Methodology cannot save it.
Content engineering: the discipline content designers should know about
Content engineering is the discipline that sits between content design and software engineering. Most Australian government CMS and AI projects fail without it.
AI-Era Content Strategy: How search and AI consume government information
AI assistants now sit between government and the public. A white-label strategy template for designing content that AI can cite accurately for service delivery.
Taxonomy for content designers: what to know before tagging a single page
Taxonomy on Australian government websites is a content design decision, not a records job. Content designers must own the words users search and filter by.