The big Inkcap relaunch – coming soon!

Here's the plan.

Hello everyone. Thanks for your patience – switching over the website has been more difficult than I anticipated, and taken much longer than I thought it would.

But I’m excited to announce that Inkcap is officially relaunching next Wednesday.

I’ve been working hard over the past couple of weeks to get the new website up and running; I’ve even reluctantly learned to code a bit. This stuff is not my forte – but it’s starting to come together, and I think what I’ve created better reflects my ambitions for the future of Inkcap.

Next week, Inkcap will officially be ONE YEAR OLD, which seems like a perfect time to refresh the publication based upon what I’ve learned so far. When not despairing over web design, I’ve been reflecting on what Inkcap is and what I want it to be, assisted by the comments and suggestions I received in response to my last email.

So I want to outline some of the changes I’ve decided to make.

First of all, I’m having a bit of a rebrand. Readers have always seemed a bit uncertain whether this publication is called Inkcap or Inkcap Journal, and I confess to having been a bit uncertain about it myself. From now on, it’s officially called Inkcap Journal – for the fairly ignoble reason that it’s easier to find on Google.

These changes meant that I’ve had to rethink the logo. I’m thrilled that Amy-Jean Porter, a wonderful wildlife artist, has agreed to design some new images to go on the website and newsletter. To get a taste of her work, check out her own newsletter, Wild Life.

On a more boring note, emails will now come from the address editor@inkcap.co.uk – make sure to put it in your contacts so that it doesn’t go into your spam folder.

I was touched and relieved to receive so many lovely comments about the writing that I publish here – it’s always a bit nerve-wracking to ask people for an honest appraisal of what you’re doing, so it was wonderful to receive such a positive response. While I’m not planning on making any major changes to the content, there were a few helpful suggestions which I’m going to take on board. 

By far the most frequent request was that I publish more stories focusing on Wales. As a Welsh person, this was already on my mind. While I use the tagline “nature and conservation in the UK” to describe what I do, I’m aware that coverage to date has focused largely on England and Scotland. 

The difficulty is that I’m just one person: I have limited time and not much money. I’ve decided that – for now – I will focus on the island of Britain, rather than the whole of the UK, so that I can commit to covering England, Scotland and Wales with equal care and attention, reflecting Inkcap’s commitment to depth rather than superficiality. I’m hoping this will be an impermanent change; if I ever have enough money, I would love to hire someone to help me provide longform environmental journalism about the entire British Isles. But I’m not there yet.

Meanwhile, if you’re a journalist in Wales, please pitch me your stories about the environment. If you live in Wales and you have a tip or an idea, I also want to hear from you. You can contact me at editor@inkcap.co.uk.

Here were some of the other things you requested or wanted more of:

• In-depth articles exploring new science and research

• Coverage of grassroots campaigns and inspirational local initiatives

• Articles on oceans and freshwater

• More on insects and pollinators

• Analysis of the wider picture and the “nitty-gritty” of a greener future

I was encouraged to receive so many messages from people who valued the longform approach of Inkcap’s journalism, and I was delighted that so many of you value the Friday digest. Furthermore, it was clear that many people appreciated the balanced tone that I try to strike. Depth and nuance are at the heart of what I’m attempting to achieve in Inkcap – and the last year has shown me that these elements are both needed and valued. I remain totally committed to this mission.

That’s it for now. Thanks for the feedback. And thanks again for being patient while I get the new website up and running; I look forward to launching it officially next Wednesday. (And please forgive any temporary glitches!)