Listen to our new podcast, Communication Untangled

Our new Communication Untangled explores the tiny facets of communication that often go unnoticed…but which influence our behaviour. Like menu design. Online reviews. Motorway signage!

Host Sue Keogh explains the thinking behind the podcast and tells you about the guests and topics for series one.

Many years ago, I was invited to write the copy for a new sausage restaurant that was going to open off Spitalfields Market in London’s East End. What a fun job! To write the menus, the signage, the email copy, the flyers... I was really looking forward to tucking into this one, ho ho.

But as everyone knows, the restaurant trade can be brutal, and the owner did her due diligence first and decided there wasn’t enough of a commercially robust case to go ahead.

So no tongue-in-cheek salami puns for me.

But it DID leave me with a fascination for menu copy that I’ve never been able to shake. How do the fonts, the descriptions, the layout affect what we order…and whether we chose to go there in the first place

I’ve always been interested in how these tiny facets of communication can influence our behaviour.

Working at Yahoo and AOL, for example - covering breaking news stories including the London 7/7 bombings, racism in the Big Brother house, and the World Cup - I could see how one small tweak to a headline had a massive impact on how many people clicked through. Millions more impressions.

And I just think about this stuff all the time.

I can’t open a packet of aspirin without thinking about the instructions or go to an exhibition without wondering how they write the descriptions to suit both the pretentious art lover and the first-time gallery-goer.

Introducing…Communication Untangled

Years of quiet mulling has culminated in our new podcast, Communication Untangled, hosted by me and produced by the most-excellent Rob Birnie from Made by DBM.

We have a shared background in radio (BBC Radio 2, Planet Rock, Magic FM) and because of this, we’re a bit old-school and wanted to do it properly.

Who’ll be listening to Communication Untangled?

What we had in mind for this communications podcast was the sort of thing you’d hear on Radio 4 – interesting to an audience already into marketing, branding and design, but enjoyable to the casual listener too.

I want people to come away thinking, “Oh, I’ve never noticed this before!” and pick up new approaches they can apply to their business or brand.

Who are the guests for series one?

Untangling Brand: Designer Harry Pearce (John Lewis, V&A, Liberty LBTY) talks brand guidelines, plus NASA’s evolution from a meatball…to a worm.

Untangling Menus: Sean Willard from the Menu Engineers gives the expert view on the psychology of menu design. And how does Netflix use idleness aversion in its menu to keep you watching?

Untangling Forms: Iain Boyd and Adam Robertson from Government Digital Services on how you gather information fairly and transparently. In contrast with dark patterns on the web which set out to trick us into doing what we don’t want to do.

Untangling Colour: With Webs of Influence author Nathalie Nahai, plus a spotlight on the colour red (a personal favourite, as you’ll see from Sookio branding!)

Untangling Reviews: Trustist founder Nigel Apperley explains the power of online reviews to influence consumer behaviour. Plus, the reviews from pop culture which turned out to be very, very wrong.

Untangling Signs: Talking motorway typography and Tube tunnel tiling with transport expert Mark Ovenden. Plus why the city of Sydney is leading the way with braille and tactile signage.

A big thank you to all our guests and to Rob for putting it all together. I hope you enjoy the series! Do subscribe, share with friends, like, comment, engage….all the good stuff!