What does Crocstar do?
Crocstar celebrates 15 years in business
this year - so we thought it a good time to refresh your memory on our services.
We work mostly in government and non-profit circles, though we have lots of experience working with commercial organisations.
You’ll find us creating content, working on content strategy, talking to people about content and training them how to do it.
We’re big on mentoring content designers and helping them think through their decisions with care.
Crocstar is headed up by Christine Cawthorne, a former Yahoo homepage editor and BBC journalist. In 2013 she joined the Government Digital Service and trained more than 2,500 people how to understand user needs, content design and write for GOV.UK. Since then she has expanded her team to include content designers, content strategists and trainers so they can help more organisations with their content.
We do three things at Crocstar:
1) We’re a content design agency
We’ve supported hundreds of content design projects in government and non-profit organisations.
Our network of experienced content designers create accessible and user-centric content throughout the discovery, alpha, beta, and live phases of projects. With a deep understanding of the complexities of the public sector and a network of specialist content designers and strategists, we’re able to help with those complicated situations. You know the ones we mean!
Think of us as a matchmaker: bringing together the right content designers and strategists for the project. We’re always on hand to lend support, give advice or talk something through. People like to work with us because we’ve been there and done it, which makes us pragmatic.
Content design services:
• Content audits
• Guidance content
• Policy content
• Services content
• Transaction microcopy
• UX copywriting
• Accessibility
• Pair and trio writing
• Proofreading
Get in touch if you need content design or content strategy support.
2) We have a content training school
We’ve trained more than 5,000 people to become better writers.
Our courses are open to teams and individuals across any sector. We just love training. We tailor our courses to the organisation, so that it’s relevant. As an idea of the range, we’ve trained people in government, arts, transport, health, construction and the armed forces.
All our courses provide practical and applicable skills. We’re not into just talking about theory, we get people on the courses writing and getting feedback so that they can put things into practice straightaway.
Our training courses include:
content design: basic and advanced
how to do content strategy
writing in plain English
pair and trio writing
user needs
user journeys
how to do storytelling
“Thanks for the training. It was a great day. Really good mix of practical exercises and discussion. It re-energised me for some of the challenges we need to work through on my current project.” –Training course attendee
Think you might need some training? Get in touch for a chat.
3) We run a community for content folks
Crocstar's content community is a welcoming space where content professionals from any sector come together to chat, support each other and learn.
We use Slack to chat, ask and answer each other's questions. Because it’s private, the trust levels in the group are high. Our focus is on creating a supportive environment where content professionals can find resources, learn at events and meet each other.
At the heart of Crocstar's community are authentic connections, providing a safe space where questions are encouraged, and problems are solved collaboratively.
The focus on the community to support each other. Here’s a quote from one member: “This is such a lovely and supportive community of real experts. They kindly spent an hour helping me with a gnarly content problem the other week!”
Joining the Crocstar content community opens doors to career growth, peer support, and an inspiring network of fellow content enthusiasts.
