Clarity

Clarity isn’t just about making things simpler. It’s about making them truer. A lot of work that looks like design, strategy, or communication is really about closing the gap between what something is and how it comes across. When that gap narrows, things start to work. These posts are about that process. Seeing properly, explaining properly, and shaping things so they make sense, both to the people building them and the people using them.

A decade of Bold Wise 22^nd of April 2026 Bold Wise passed the ten-year mark this month, which felt worth stopping for. Looking back, the work has taken different forms, but the thread through it has stayed pretty consistent: helping businesses make sense of complexity and come across more clearly.
Make it professional, make it pop 20^th of April 2026 “Make it look professional.” “Make it look good.” “Make it pop.” None of these are especially clear design instructions. But they are often useful all the same.
Obvious in hindsight 11^th of September 2025 Good design often disappears into the background, leaving outcomes that feel obvious only in hindsight, even when the path there was anything but simple.
Launching Bold Wise Studio 29^th of August 2025 I’ve split my practice into two clear parts: Bold Wise for direction and strategy, and Bold Wise Studio for delivery, design, and making ideas real.
Refocusing 4^th of February 2025 Fifteen years in, I’m reflecting on the work I do best: untangling complexity, shaping ideas, and helping teams find clearer direction.
Writing to think 27^th of May 2022 I've been thinking a lot about why I write here, and what I get out of it, and I’ve realised it’s a handful of things.
Repositioning Bold Wise 23^rd of May 2022 My work had shifted from hands-on design toward consultancy, strategy, and shaping bigger, more ambitious projects, so Bold Wise needed to change too.
What is its job? 20^th of May 2022 When a project gets stuck at the level of deliverables, asking ‘what is its job?’ shifts the conversation back to value, purpose, and outcomes.
On asking why, copying, and outcome bias 12^th of May 2022 I seem to go through a cycle of thinking I ask ‘why’ way too much, and then, shortly after, that I don’t ask ‘why’ nearly enough.
Bug fix 17^th of February 2021 Today, in a handful of lines of pretty much copied and pasted code, I solved a bug that’s been plaguing a client site for months - if not years.
Branding success 14^th of July 2020 My first experience of running a branding project happened in my teens, before I was even aware of branding as a thing. What's more, it was a measurably successful project in its own right – though not in any way I could have expected.
The unknown knowns 9^th of July 2020 Last month I suddenly realised I knew far more about a topic than I'd previously thought. This got me thinking about those unknown knowns — the things we don't realise we already know or understand.
Cost, price, value 14^th of April 2020 I find myself scribbling this diagram — Cost | Price | Value — and working through these ideas with people, frequently so I thought I’d write it up and share some brief notes here. I'm writing this as much for myself — to clarify my thoughts and have something to point people to — as to share.