posters

It’s OK to do what you need to do

Co-op14 Comments

Right now, things are difficult. We’re all working from home and will be for the foreseeable. Last week Co-op Digital compiled a list of acceptable behaviour and ways of working to keep in mind over the coming weeks. It’s particularly important for us to be kind, compassionate and understanding right now so we can carry on as best we can.

We’ve had the GDS ‘It’s OK’ posters up in Federation for as long as Fed has existed. With a huge hat tip to the GDS Creative team (especially Giles and Sonia), we’ve used the same format.

Unprecedented times call for new rules. The list is purposefully long and in parts it’s contradictory. What works for one person may work terribly for another. We’re all experimenting.

The list is a reminder to do what you need to do to get through this.

Co-op Digital team
❤️

We’re in lockdown. We’re working from home. It’s ok to:

  • take time to find your new routine
  • start earlier, start later, finish earlier, finish later, work in short blasts, or longer stints
  • plan your day around food
  • juggle home-working and homeschooling
  • block out ‘caring for kids/elders’ in your calendar
  • feel less productive
  • take a break
  • take annual leave
  • put your home life first
  • prioritise your mental health
  • take another break and s-t-r-e-t-c-h…
  • have days when you enjoy it, and days when you don’t
  • read the news, talk about the news, try to make sense of the news
  • ignore the news completely
  • feel overwhelmed
  • go for a walk
  • cuddle your kids, pet your pets
  • create a new playlist. Share it, blast it
  • take your time to reply
  • pause notifications – hell, turn them off altogether
  • limit yourself to a few Slack channels
  • block out time to concentrate
  • set your boundaries and stick to them
  • say: “I’ll think about it later”
  • say: “I don’t know”
  • say: “NO.”
  • tell people when you’re not ok
  • ask for help
  • have time alone, ignore everyone
  • meditate
  • take calls with your camera off
  • get cross with technology. Also, marvel at technology
  • ditch calls and try something different
  • stay in your comfy clothes, or wear your best threads
  • be business up top and comfort down below
  • make meetings shorter
  • communicate differently – remember to show and not just tell
  • push gently to get stuff done
  • take the water cooler chit-chat online
  • talk home décor, talk plants, talk tea types and top 10 biscuit lists
  • meet online for lunch or a coffee
  • be the Queen of Memes, the King of Gifs, the Slack Jester
  • share moments that made you smile
  • 😊 be kind to yourself, as well as everyone else.

 

Charles Burdett created a site which includes a way you can add what’s been helpful for you and your team during these strange times. itsok.to

Our writing guidelines (they’re for everyone, not just for writers)

Co-op

Words matter. The words we choose and the way we present them is vitally important to how users interact with our services, our products, our brand.

And although most of us create, use or interact with content on a daily basis, the words and the content design is hard to get right.

Most people are time-poor and have a lot of things competing for their attention. So if we want our content to be effective, we need to get it to them:

  • quickly
  • in a way they understand
  • through the most effective or expected channel
  • at the time that’s best for them

Doing the above helps us meets the needs of the people who are interacting with us, shows respect for their time, and makes our messages, services and brand more successful.  

Working with words at the Co-op

Co-op has a community of content designers, creative writers, editors, social media experts and copywriters who are making interacting with the Co-op more straightforward and effective. We work across a range of services, departments and channels to create content that puts the user first.

But absolutely everyone across the Co-op, no matter what their job role, communicates to different audiences, for different purposes. This makes it hard for our approach and our messages to be consistent.

We’ve written guidelines to help

We hope these pointers will help people put the needs of the people they’re communicating with first. Each tip is based on things we’ve learnt about how people read, how they speak, their motivations, anxieties and their priorities.

Of course, the guidelines will evolve based on feedback. We’d love to know what you think so let us know in the comments or email content@coopdigital.co.uk

Co-op Digital writing guidelines

Be respectful
People talk about things in different ways.
Use words your audience understands.

Be clear
People don’t know what you know.
Don’t make assumptions about people’s knowledge.

Be considered
Too much content complicates your message.
Use the right words, not more words.

Be sensitive
People arrive at your content with different experiences, insecurities and struggles.
Put yourself in their shoes.

Be inclusive
Jargon and acronyms confuse and alienate people.
If you have to use them, explain what they mean.

Be purposeful
People are busy.
Find out what they need to know and give it to them quickly.

Writing’s on the wall

We’ve made a set of posters on the guidelines and they’re starting to appear on various walls around Federation House and Angel Square. We’re hoping they’ll remind people to be mindful when they’re communicating – to help them make each word count.

You can download our writing guidelines now.

Thank you to Jack Fletcher for designing these posters.

Jo Schofield
Content designer

 

Making the General Data Protection Regulation easier to understand

Co-op7 Comments

gdpr-rights-posters (1)

The Co-op Data team has been preparing Co-op Digital for the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will come into law next year. But we’re aware that the rules it sets out can appear complicated.

Too often, data can seem like a complex and distant subject, but it’s part of everything we do and it’s important to us that the whole business can see what we’re doing. GDPR puts consumers’ rights at the centre of data protection. As we work towards a Co-op that’s trusted with data, we believe this is exactly where they should be. And we will continue to focus on that as we build and develop our data programme.

Making GDPR more accessible

To make colleagues in Digital aware that the regulation is coming, we created posters to explain what it means in plain language. We think they’re a good way to make sure everybody knows about the rules and understands what they mean.

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So far we’ve had a lot of feedback which shows there’s a great deal of interest ahead of GDPR coming in and real appetite to understand it better. The work that Digital has done in this area will help to inform the Co-op’s communications.

We’ve learnt a lot from the comments we received, and wanted to make sure that anyone and everyone can download our GDPR ‘rights’ posters.

It would be great to hear what you think in the comments. Or tell us how you’re making GDPR more accessible to colleagues in your organisation.

Posters: words by Rachel Murray and design by Jack Fletcher

Posters. They’re part of our culture

Co-op2 Comments

Arch_Principle_4

Our workspace in Federation House is shiny and new, open-plan and airy, and best of all it reflects our teams’ progress. Whiteboards show what we’re working on now and what’s coming next – they’re chocker with post-its.

But we’re also beginning to fill our walls with posters. Instead of showing work in progress, our posters show off overarching ideas, ones that don’t change from sprint to sprint.

We posted about our 10 Architecture Principles back in April. We’ve since made them into a series of posters. Putting them up reminds us how we’ve agreed to work and makes our workspace ours.  

Posters: words by Ella Fitzsimmons, design by Gail Mellows.

Co-op Digital team