13. Ellie Dix - Writing by hand shows that you care. A carefully handwritten & beautifully presented note means so much more than a generic line typed on a piece of paper.

Handwriting & You!

Ellie Dix
Owner
The Dark Imp

Ellie Dix has been obsessed with board games from an early age. Not only playing them, but tweaking the rules for fun and designing her own. She firmly believes that board games have positively influenced her ability to interact with others, manage failure, work creatively with available resources, experiment with multiple paths to success, solve interesting problems, adapt to changing situations and make decisions quickly.

A teacher and educationalist, Ellie was previously owner and Director of Pivotal Education, the UK’s largest team of school behaviour specialists. Pivotal has helped thousands of teachers transform their classrooms and improve outcomes for learners. A mother of two teenage boys, Ellie is now putting all her understanding of behaviour, experience with gamification, teaching skills and game-playing history to use, by helping other parents to introduce board games to family life. She believes they are a sure-fire antidote to unhealthy online distractions, and a means to a happier, more social family unit.

Ellie is author of the book, The Board Game Family: Reclaim your children from the screen, and designer of all Dark Imp games. In her spare time, she’ll usually be found playing a board game (unsurprisingly). But also loves singing and acting. Ellie has recently completed an OU maths degree… for fun.
​Speaks About

• Writing by hand shows that you care. A carefully handwritten & beautifully presented note means so much more than a generic line typed on a piece of paper. I create and sell board games and include a handwritten note with every order I send out. It helps me to connect to my customers and let them know that they are important to me. I write a lot in my work. I've written a book, many articles and I blog regularly. Ideas come to me at funny times and in funny places, so I always have a notebook to hand. I get ideas for new board games - disjointed ideas that need to be captured. I often sketch drawings for game components alongside the notes I'm writing. Writing by hand allows me to quickly label my diagrams before I lose my train of thought. Even when I'm writing my own notes, I try to do it neatly so that I can come back and remember what I wrote about. Sometimes I'll come back months later to an idea, which I need to understand again so I can take it forward and develop it. The ability to communicate through writing has been a huge help to me in my career - creating persuasive messages which have helped me to attract a following and keep them engaged. When I was at school I found writing really hard. But it gets easier with practise and I still practise every single day.