Patrick Towell

Patrick’s a mapmaker at heart. Mapping how an organisation interacts with its customers and staff is a messy business. But it’s even harder to turn it into something as classic and simple as the tube map. You’ve got to start your map somewhere, though. And Patrick says it’s always with a person. Put a person in the middle and let the planets align themselves around them.

What’s all this got to do with language? Well, writing and editing won’t paper over the cracks of a broken process or muddled ideas. So we turn to Patrick for the thinking behind the words.

Patrick’s projects have included:

• £500mn Curriculum Online digital learning initiative in schools
• £60mn Parent Know How programme
• chairs UNESCO’s UK group looking at governance of the Internet