New year, new content

So, here we are again. The first week of January and the majority of us have returned to work to clear away the remains of the mince pies and banish the boxes of chocolates from the office. It’s New Year’s resolution time, which means diets, exercise and giving up various temptations.

I started my diet early (last August) so I need to find a new resolution for this year. This morning whilst contemplating cleaning my dusty desk I began thinking about what resolutions I wanted to make about my work for 2012.

1. Be open to new content ideas

It’s hard when you work for the same client each day to not get used to writing in the same way, or using the same kind of content or layout for all the pages you work on. Formulaic content has to be the worst thing in the world. It’s easy to be lazy, but instead I want to spend time thinking about different ways in which I can get my message across, or present information in a better way for users. Currently we’ve been talking about info-graphics quite alot and I’ve seen some great examples. I love Apple’s pages about their environmental footprint.

2. Read more

I try to keep up to date with industry blogs and books but I know I’ve been slacking in the last few months. It’s so important to find out what other people are doing and thinking. I can’t profess to know everything – so how else will I learn? Will tidy up my Google reader and make an effort to read at least one blog article a day.

3. Engage with the community more

This year I’d like our team to be more involved with social media output. We’ve had some good successes in 2011 but it would be great to push that further. As a university it’s important that we communicate on common ground with all of our audiences. I think it’s time we explore further what that means for us. We need strategy and measurable goals, and to examine how we go about connecting our community.

I’m hoping that by starting small and giving myself a few achievable goals that I’ll get back into the January swing of things with a spring in my step and a glint in my eye. After all, it’s enjoying what we do that makes us all so passionate about doing it well.