Hello, I’m James Pallister, a writer and content strategist based in London, UK.
My work is either narrative strategy / storytelling or building digital products, user-centred content or copywriting (what I call writing to persuade). Or a mix of everything.
Here’s some of the things I can help you with:
- Ghostwriting for senior leaders
- Creating compelling narrative and purpose for your organisation/product/team
- Content strategy, operations and scaling up agile content teams
- Writing for web: including content design and copywriting
I’ve worked on digital transformation projects in the public and private sector, in retail, fashion and government.
Together with Nicola (she does most the work) I’m a director of the high street pop-up retail and event space Host of Leyton.
Training
I’ve worked in and for digital design teams for over 10 years.
My background is in design journalism and then copywriting. Academic stuff was mainly sociology and political theory.
I studied Art Foundation at New College Durham, and Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge.
Recent projects
Great.gov.uk transformation | Department for International Trade
I was lead content strategist on a ‘green-field’ redevelopment of great.gov.uk Nov 2019 - December 2021. This started with articulating and orienting around a shared vision. From a content/editorial/writing perspective the project encompassed copywriting, content design, taxonomy, content architecture, learning design, team structure & content ops as well as all the usual advocacy, alliance building, and explaining that goes with new product and transformation work.
We created a personalised learning tool (https://www.great.gov.uk/learn/categories/) that aimed to derisk the export efforts of people working in small businesses with a turnover of less than £500k, who hadn’t exported before but were enthusiastic to do so. Historically this group make lots of expensive mistakes, often leading their businesses to go bust.
I was content strategist, starting within a small product team of 3-5 that developed the MVP which then scaled up to a team of approx. 30-50 people creating the alpha. I helped develop the conceptual, design, technical and content structure for a platform based around a mix of componentized content and external data feeds. I worked closely with the content lead, Andrea Leary, and her team to help upscale: identifying and creating process and design patterns.
These blogpost describes some of the work.
‘Great.gov.uk turns four’ https://digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2020/11/23/great-gov-uk-turns-four/
‘Personalisation: how we put the user at the heart of our content on great.gov.uk’ https://digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2021/07/28/personalisation-how-we-put-the-user-at-the-heart-of-our-content-on-great-gov-uk/
Future Tariff finder | Department for International Trade
This tool enabled people to understand what the tariff would be on their products once the new trade deals came into place once the transition period ended and UK had formally left the EU. I led on content, including liaising with GDS on the service launch. We had three weeks from briefing to launch, and were dealing with a very large dataset of sensitive information. One of many ‘Brexit’ projects.
https://tariff-ssp.herokuapp.com/start
Assembling a better future | IKEA / Superflux
Assembling our Future was located in the New York Times Climate Hub, an exclusive area where COP26 VIPs could explore the things IKEA is doing in order to become a climate positive business.
The exhibition was conceived and commissioned in late summer 2021, and I joined the project in mid-September. My role was to help clarify the things they wanted to communicate, nail down a narrative then copywrite the exhibition text and associated collateral. We had to work diplomatically, sensitively and collaboratively. We coaxed out and then articulated a coherent and compelling narrative that the exhibition could be hooked around, and then once we were all in agreement, worked with the team to produce all associated written material.
Pics: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_Ij9WeeE0dRpikm6RSLQq_YszeqzLmGJ?usp=sharing
More writing here http://jamesnotes.blot.im/examples-of-my-work
What people have said about me
“James was a pleasure to work with. Smart, experienced and detail oriented, he helped bring to life the voice of the client in a very short period of time.
Calm under pressure, he jumped straight in and helped us on two large complex pieces of copywriting with totally different audiences.
His ability to respond and adapt quickly was key for us and I hope to work with him again.”
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, on behalf of Superflux
“James was a valued member of the Content Design team at the Department for International Trade where he worked as a Senior Content Strategist from Jan 2019 to Jan 2022.
He was an integral part of a multi-disciplinary team. His input included helping to shape the vision of a complex digital product, taking it to public beta, and then contributing to new features for the site. Along the way he had to get to grips with complicated trade policy surrounding Brexit as well as the technicalities of personalising content and the modelling needed for structured content.
Where James really stands out is his strategic mind. He can get to grips with complex problems and user needs and then work out how content can help solve them. No subject matter phases him, and he embraces new methodologies with ease.
An excellent writer, his range spans from content marketing to content design. He understands whole user journeys/the marketing funnel and can write/direct others at any stage of them.
He is also an engaging presenter and so can easily get audiences up to speed with his clever thinking and ideas. And he breaks down complexity in compelling and memorable ways, taking colleagues and stakeholders on the journey.
Finally, people enjoy working with James. He’s a good colleague, well-liked, and respected.In fact, James has so many strings to his bow that he would be a huge asset in any multi-disciplinary team working on a complex product.
We were sad when his contract came to an end and I have no hesitation in recommending him for senior content roles in the public sector.”
Andrea Leary, Head of Content, Department for International Trade
Interests
A regularly changing list, including: Channel shift, content personalisation, the ups and downsides of digital transformation, UK food culture, Type II diabetes and exercise, regenerative farming, social mobility, changing face of retail and high streets, AI and existential risk, ethnography.
Sectors I’ve worked in
Technology, ‘digital’, central government, local government, fashion/menswear, luxury retail, change & transformation projects, all things trade and Brexit, working with senior leaders
Selected clients I’ve worked with
Superflux, IKEA, Art on the Underground, Coco di Mama,Design Council, Department for International Trade, Department for Education, Dezeen, Ermenegildo Zegna, Essex County Council, Flamingo, Government Digital Service, Hannah Barry Gallery, Hopkins Architects, Olympic Delivery Authority, Shelter, Victoria & Albert Museum
Where you’ll find me
/ Very rarely, on twitter: twitter.com/jamesapallister
/ For the last 8 years I’ve been working for various clients through my micro editorial agency Buchanan Ryan Ltd, AKA Studio Pallister.
/ I also run an events space and small business incubator in East London called Host of Leyton. Together with my wife Nicola Read we renovated the former spare car parts shop and created Host.
I’ve put together this site to host intermittent blogposts and weeknotes. More portfolio-y type stuff is over at Studio Pallister.