Giles Turnbull's website

gilest.org

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Work • Photos • Notes & updates

I’m a writer and editor; I help organisations communicate more like humans do
I enjoy doing creative things, and I’m trying to do more of them away from the internet
Here’s a list of some of the things I’ve made and done

Photo of the front cover of OLD HAT, my book of silly things I wrote in the past

🆕 Old Hat

A book made of old bits of internet.

the front cover of the agile comms handbook - it's pale green with the title printed in bold, a beautiful design by sonia turcotte

The agile comms handbook

How to clearly, creatively work in the open.

A blurry photo of part of a typewritten letter

How to write a letter

It's not very different to texting. A small collaboration with Russell Davies.

A photo of the how to grow pototoes book, published by Haudoo

How to grow potatoes

Lift them gently. A Haudoo book.

A screenshot of Doing open, it's a pale purple web page

Doing open

Curated examples of good institutional openness.

A screenshot of Doing weeknotes, it's a pale yellow webpage

Doing weeknotes

A brief introduction and guide to weeknoting.

A screenshot of the page, it's just a page of text nothing special

What it's like working with an editor

Notes for the previously not-edited writer.

A screenshot of a list of items from this web page

Blogging for teams

Why your team should have a blog, and how to write it well. Includes Blog post formats.

A screenshot of the doing presentations home page

Doing presentations

A guide to writing and delivering your presentations well. Collated advice from me, Ella Fitzsimmons, Matthew Sheret and Russell Davies.

A photo from one of the unreel radio shows - it's an abstract black and white image with the word UNREEL running across in large blocky sans serif lettering, from bottom left to top right

Unreel

A year's worth of so-so community radio.

A screenshot of a notification from the @not_ifications twitter bot, as was (RIP)

Not_ifications

Not_ificiations was a Twitter bot that sent the opposite of notifications. Now defunct.

a photo of a postcard featuring three overlapping hearts in yellow, red and blue

Good postcard club

Postcards are cool! Send me a postcard! I'll send you one back!

A photo of a printed out bad poem, printed from a Little Printer (RIP)

Bad transport poetry

Terrible poems about magnificent infrastructure.

A photo of an iphone help over an open toilet. Large text on the phone says YOUR MUM LIKING IT DOESNT MEAN ITS ANY GOOD

Blockbox / Antiblockbox

Blockbox was a set of cards to inspire writers like me. Antiblockbox was the Mirror Universe opposite.

The front cover of Dad in your pocket, a blue book with white text

Dad in your pocket

A book I made for my son for his 18th birthday.

The front cover of Luvly, a rich shade of green; it's actually the inside of a toilet door in a motorway service station

Luvly

Quite good for reading on the loo.

2026

24 September: Bucolic minimalism, a photography project
10 September: A new book of Old Hat
30 August: Shadow people
06 August: This is a reminder
26 July: How to write a letter
24 July: Some sort of normal
13 July: Dr Margaret Turnbull
18 June: Chock full of good info
06 June: An opinion about lists
05 June: Your friendly local particle accelerator
25 May: Ten years of ok
23 May: Smile at everyone you know
22 May: Working in the open ≠ comms
09 May: For us, by us
08 May: We put on a show
28 April: Allotment engineering
27 April: A museum about museums
11 April: Iterating the potatoes
10 April: Seemingly in cahoots
27 March: AI and the human voice
19 March: Know where your codes are
27 February: Make things OpenSAFELY, it makes things better
15 February: We need to continue to sing this song
30 January: Talking of quizzes
23 January: Not moaning about AI
16 January: The dot becomes a bullet
09 January: Hanging with my DPSPeople
04 January: Mooching in Oxford
02 January: How to write more postcards

2025

15 December: Projects 145-156
04 December: Questions to ask at the start of any comms project
01 December: How about some Haudoo?
07 November: How to use Pooh case
19 October: The horror of YouTube
17 October: Doing Presentations en español
23 September: 30 minutes of /random
22 September: A chat with 19-year-old me
11 September: The strategy is enquiry
27 August: Everything I've written about working in the open
26 August: Free comms handbooks for charities
11 August: Postcard from Iceland
24 July: Doing open
17 July: How to be open while you test and learn
30 May: Print in Antwerp
30 May: What Czechia looks like
30 May: Things you should know about the European Sleeper from Brussels to Prague
30 May: Cake in Prague
19 May: Dial my number, I'm in the Internet Phone Book
09 April: A bit of housekeeping
06 February: Notes from Paris
07 January: Seasonal sounds

2024

12 December: Projects 121-144
23 November: How to grow potatoes
10 November: If you want to ask me security questions, I might want to ask you security questions
04 November: Keep an 'ask' note
24 September: The symbol of Siena
21 September: Italian skies
20 September: Internet inspirations
16 September: Know how you’ll end your presentation
15 September: Notes from The Netherlands, with photos from Rotterdam and Keukenhof
14 September: Again, notes from Tuscany
27 August: Photos from Giant’s Causeway
26 August: Plan for presentation disasters
20 August: Clarity hacks
18 August: Notes from Northern Ireland
25 July: Applauding pixels
02 July: My shoulder will let me type this
25 April: Notes from Tuscany
21 April: Work has picked up
19 April: Notes from Canada
16 April: Frink in Dorchester
23 March: Presentations as HTML
22 March: Lecturing at UCL
11 March: Doing weeknotes
09 March: Happy 25th birthday, gilest.org
07 March: How to communicate with busy stakeholders
18 February: Palm makes easy web pages
06 February: Me talking in BC
23 January: Corporate training needs content design, not cartoons
12 January: See my shoebox
09 January: More on the easier indie web
08 January: Let’s make the indie web easier
05 January: Flooding in Bradford on Avon
04 January: All we can do is type good words in the bad boxes
03 January: Lights in Rome

2023

22 December: Pro EU in Roma
15 December: Ruins in Rome
14 December: Stuff of the year
13 December: Projects 95-120
28 September: Weeknotes rules, and the superpowers they enable
21 September: The agile comms handbook - revised edition
13 September: Hello Southend
12 September: A dissertation about garden festivals
07 September: De-enshittifying digital photos
05 July: How teams remember
23 June: Three reasons why government should hire more writers
02 June: RSI notes
29 May: Lovely Llyn
26 March: Slide inertia
25 March: First drafts are good for clichés
23 March: Three good presentations
02 March: Detached from reality
28 February: A simple portfolio HTML template
28 February: Opinionhavers are the new stakeholders
17 February: Your new stuff is better than your old stuff
13 February: Sometimes you need an editor more than you need a writer

2022

14 December: Projects 66–94
12 December: Some great feeds
25 November: Our poor cat
24 November: How will your words exist in the world?
18 November: The beginning and the end of Twitter
12 November: iA Presenter connects your slides to the web
11 November: The rich moron
9 November: Sarum Lights 2022
6 November: How Mastodon is different
28 October: People are great, generally
13 October: That's 1031 albums listened to
7 October: Some ups and some downs
6 October: Happy birthday, book!
4 October: A Swiss masterclass
30 September: There was a medical emergency
24 September: My plan for Parliament
23 September: We went away
5 September: What it's like working with an editor
29 August: The old bonds
26 August: Playing with Polygon Camera
25 August: A middle-aged man goes paddling
8 August: A new Working in the open training course
14 July: Hello from Studio Galen
6 July: Welcome to Humdon
2 July: Lights on the Elizabeth Line
1 July: UX London 2022
19 May: Daydreaming is better than doomscrolling
18 May: Encounter in Moscow
17 May: Sponsoring the Low Carbon Design Institute
5 May: Speaking at UX London
30 April: If you love the web, you should help Noah Grey
21 April: Improv our time
13 April: Come to Beyond Curious
10 March: Why these Welsh weeknotes are so good
9 March: On the Leanpub podcast
17 February: Talking about agile comms at DigiShift
15 February: The agile comms ebook
13 February: What using RSS feeds feels like
12 February: Write slides that help you say “This is…”
17 January: Splish splosh

2021

28 December: The 'How to make a video' video
23 December: When 'website' means different things to different people
16 December: Projects 45-65
1 December: How we made the book
26 November: Talks links for the talks I did this week
15 November: Light show at Salisbury Cathedral
23 October: The agile comms handbook alphabetically
19 October: The agile comms handbook punctuation
6 October: The agile comms handbook
26 September: Yorkshire rocks
23 September: Ending Monochrome
1 September: Ending Unreel
25 August: 309 albums short
4 August: Taking back control
3 August: Over in Osea
2 August: Farewell Frank
15 July: Asking for paper that people no longer possess
14 July: Many browsers make light work
13 July: Living with covid means living with inconvenience
29 June: The contexts, they switch
1 June: Photos from May
29 May: CD of the day
15 May: Is it bluebells?
5 May: Photos from April
27 March: Let teams talk to other teams
26 March: Some videos about content design
24 March: A bank with a human voice
1 March: Photos from February
5 February: Sometimes, conversation is the best kind of editing
4 February: Writing for the web by drafting with the web
31 January: Photos from January
27 January: All first drafts are bad drafts
27 January: How to be clear
26 January: How to write like you speak
6 January: Where the light is falling

2020

31 December: Still European
18 December: Projects 25-44
7 December: Publish well, don't send
5 December: A birthday walk on Gare Hill
13 November: Week 1 in my new office
22 October: Burrington Combe on a wet Thursday
14 October: 10 years of revolution
10 October: The splinter
6 October: Taking my pink socks for a walk
28 September: Sitting on Charmouth beach
2 September: Tips for writing good weeknotes
18 August: Rules for swearing in client meetings
13 August: 18
13 May: An idea for self-service checkouts
7 May: Many things are ok
20 February: Stickers for the RSS massive
6 February: The Tellisford loop
10 January: Giles on the radio

2019

29 December: Walking in 2019: done
20 December: Long weekend in Sicily
20 December: Projects 19-24
7 November: Remembering the TRS-80
9 October: An Instagram experiment
12 September: A newsletter called “monochrome”
11 September: Turn question slides into statements
31 August: Tides in Tenby
22 August: A quick photo alphabet
18 August: Visiting the New Art Centre
12 August: Listening to 1001 albums
26 July: Mooching around Munich
25 July: Jony Ive video outtakes
4 July: bwrss wrap-up
3 July: Garden update
30 June: Walking in 2019 update
27 June: Walking from Teignmouth to Dawlish
1 June: Black and white and RSS
29 May: Monknash in the mizzle
22 May: A middle-aged man goes running
15 May: Driving through Tywi Forest
18 April: Tulips in the city
17 April: Perpignan, etc
24 March: I went marching
27 February: Improving doingpresentations.com
22 January: Walking in 2019
20 January: Things 0004
15 January: Dead Christmas trees
5 January: Projects 13-18

2018

17 December: 31 albums
9 November: Things 0003
31 October: Photos from October
22 October: Storyboarding on stickies
21 October: Things 0002
19 October: Plan comms, not too much, mostly blogging
5 October: Things 0001
28 September: Photos from September
10 September: 4AD and floppy hair
7 September: Last day in Plymouth
6 September: Not looking at Twitter
30 August: Photos from August
28 July: A modern library
27 July: Photos from July (inc Ireland and Antibes)
28 June: Photos from June
28 June: Photos from my trip to Boston
31 May: NOT_ifications
30 May: Photos from May
30 May: Agile communication tips
30 May: Moments from pop music history
1 May: Photos from April
23 April: Making better corporate video
19 April: Scapple and OutlineEdit
15 April: Repetitive endings
30 March: Photos from March
13 March: Collecting things
7 March: Strategic thinking with blogging and stickers
28 February: Photos from February
20 February: My favourite government posters
29 January: Photos from January
12 January: A shower’s worth of radio

2017

31 December: Misc images, December 2017
30 December: Projects 6-12
30 December: A walk from Tisbury
25 October: Autumn colour at Stourhead
15 October: A stone in my wallet
14 October: Being John Appleseed
3 October: A week in Greece
2 October: Very Vienna
24 September: Thoughts about permission
7 September: Exactly 500 words on falling over
3 September: I ❤️ Pembrokeshire
21 July: A bit of a week
3 July: Projects 1-5
29 June: Kilve and St Audrie’s
15 June: Stickers tell tiny stories,
11 May: Digital is something you are
3 May: Colours in Copenhagen
7 April: Don't say you're a “thought leader”, just show you can think
3 March: Pick a domain that’s easy to say
3 March: About doingpresentations.com
30 January: Blockbox and Antiblockbox
26 January: Mostly up, then mostly down
19 January: Project 0
18 January: Thinking out loud about internal communication

2016

11 November: GDS blog posts this year
9 November: One day of happy things
15 August: Party in Cove
24 July: Upfest in Bristol
31 May: Quick break in Menton
14 March: Presenting is performance, so rehearse like you’re doing a show
8 March: #seeingthings
18 February: Visiting the Doctor Who exhibition
15 January: Start in the middle when you get stuck writing

→ There's more stuff going back to the late 1990s, in the archive.