I spent just over five years at Skills Active, working across print, web, video and marketing. A lot of the early work was print-based — textbooks, worksheets and learning guides used by trainees in sports, fitness and the outdoor industries. It was practical work. These weren’t polished brochure pieces, they were things people actually used, carried around, and came back to.

Over time I started pushing more of the organisation’s work into digital. We got approval to build an in-house video setup from scratch, then travelled around New Zealand filming trainees, instructors, gym managers and outdoor guides. We turned those into social clips and short videos that made the marketing feel more real and gave the organisation a better way to tell those stories.

The move into digital wasn’t especially tidy. Some of the early web work still felt like print layouts pushed onto a screen. Working with internal subject matter experts, I helped shape better layouts for phones and tablets by simplifying the content, adding video where it made sense, and making navigation easier for people using the material out in the field or on the gym floor.

Skills Active was a good early lesson in range and adaptability. I started in print, but the role gradually stretched into web, video and digital content. The common thread through all of it was making information clearer, more usable, and better suited to the people actually using it.