Gifts for content strategists
Laura Robertson, December 2017Ampersand cookie cutter
I can’t decide if this is a cookie cutter or a biscuit cutter. Either way, it makes ampersand-shaped sweet treats. Which definitely taste better than round ones.
Articulate
Content strategists like words. Describing words with other words is bound to make them happy.
A Book Apart gift card
Score major brownie points for combining gift flexibility and choice with thoughtfulness and appreciation of the inner workings of the content strategist mind.
BrandSort Cards
Margot Bloomstein’s BrandSort cards are useful and fun. Your beloved content strategist can define organisations’ personality with them, use them to pin down a message architecture, or play drinking games. Maybe.
The cards and their lovely green case are sustainably produced and biodegradable, and Appropriate Ink will ship them to anywhere in the world.
The Content Modelling Game
Jeff Eaton’s collaborative content modelling game is made up of archetypes that anyone working on digital projects will recognise and love (or loathe).
It doesn’t come with rules; you make up your own. Who gets to be The Visionary? Who will save The Load-Bearing Intern? Find some friends, pick a card and start arguing.
Content Strategy for the Web
Otherwise known as The Bible of Content Strategy, Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach’s seminal book is a great gift for fledgling content strategists (established content strategists probably have this one already).
It’s full of great stuff guaranteed to make anyone who works with content smile, nod and exclaim out loud.
Eats, shoots and leaves
As all good content strategists know, commas matter. And used properly, semicolons are beautiful things. Lynne Truss’s book has vindication and giggles for all grammar enthusiasts.
Fridge poetry
Wordy, literary fun every time your content strategist puts the milk away, gets a beer or wonders about what cheese goes best with message architecture.
Nicely Said
Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee write beautifully about how to write beautifully. A useful guide to writing clearly and concisely, and a joy to read.
A subscription to Positive News
In bad times you need good journalism about good things. This beautiful magazine is full of inspiring content to remind us that there are hopeful things happening in the world.
Post-its
As a content strategist, you can never have too many post-it notes. This bumper pack should see them through January workshops. And they come in pretty colours.
A UX myth poster
These posters, inspired by Zoltán Gócza and Zoltán Kollin’s UX Myths project are free to download. Send one digitally or print one out and frame it for their wall.
Apart from myth 01. Which is not a myth. Don’t give them that one.
The Visual History of Type
Few things are as beautiful to a content strategist as perfectly formed letters. This stunning new book by Paul McNeil takes you on a tour of type.
If someone gave this to me, I’d let out a squeal of excitement.
Words birds bunting
What happens to printed words once they’re done with? If they’re lucky they get turned into birds. And if they’re really lucky, they get to hang out in content strategists’ houses.
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