Uncommon Content

Services

Writing

Photography

Design

Video

⌁ Hi, I’m Mike Stevens.

I’ve worked for 20 years in the automotive and technology media space as a reporter, tester, editor, designer, manager and content strategist.

Other tools of creation in my kit include photography and video (presenting and editing), along with my first loves of graphic design and illustration.

I write primarily on family cars and new products in the automotive space, with a particular focus on EVs. In fact, my children have banned me from combustion cars!

(Strangely, neither of them complained about time spent with my old Porsche…)

As a technology-focused writer, I have a keen interest in new consumer tech, from phones to smart watches, earbuds to smart tags, laptops to tablets, and all manner of smart household gadgets.

In service of that work, I also offer my photography, video, design and illustration skills for clients seeking an ‘all-rounder’ agency-style offering.

DC knows what’s up

Dylan Campbell
Journalist & former Wheels editor

“Within Australian automotive publishing, Mike Stevens is regarded as one of the industry’s top authorities with a proven track record in digital publishing. I’ve known and worked with ‘Stevo’ for many years, and his organisational skills especially are next-level.

“If I had a large, complex digital platform to run with many moving parts, many deadlines and lots of stakeholders, Mike would be the guy I’d call first.”

CONTACT

Email me!

I’m also available to chat on WhatsApp and Signal, but please email first for my contact details.

⌁ SERVICES

NEWS & REVIEWS
- With and without AI, the latter being thoroughly coached, checked and edited before publishing.
Editing & sub-editing your contributor/team content to ensure:
- the story makes sense
- facts are accurate and appropriate
- the tone of voice is consistent
- the text adheres to company style
- it contains no awkward phrases or passive voice
- there are no legal issues
Content production, from receipt of raw/edited copy and images to polished and published product:
- CMS management
- story layout and specific graphic/infographic design
- photo grading and manipulation as needed
- back links to and from earlier content

SEO: Best practice in the copy and construction of stories and pages (including URLs and titles)
Social media:
- Posting and scheduling stories to Facebook/Instagram with best practice copy and imagery
- Creating compelling social-specific content such as galleries, infographics, flashbacks, polls, memes and more
- Monitoring trends for new social opportunities
- Reader engagement: Facebook and Instagram comments, messenger and email inboxes
Home & landing page construction and curation
Design: branding, pages, vehicles, collateral for both content and wider business needs
Illustration in support of written content.
Video: Scripting, presenting, editing, publishing
Photography and photo manipulation as needed

Return to top

(IN)FAMOUSLY PROCESS OBSESSED

I can also offer extensive training in production workflow for Trello and Sanity, Google Docs, Gmail, Slack, tips and tricks for Facebook and Instagram, clever and useful extensions for Google Chrome, and so on.

⌁ RECENT CLIENT CONTENT

WORK SAMPLES

I’d love for you to take a look at some of my work below – both in automotive and my own personal projects – and if you’d like to discuss any potential opportunities, please come say hello.

⌁ JUMP AHEAD

WRITING

The below links all point to Google Docs pages, to ensure they’re always accessible in this otherwise ephemeral landscape. An original article link is embedded at the head of each story.

As evidence of my attention to detail, these stories are presented here as filed – checked and edited only by myself.

It’s rare in today’s fast-paced media space to have a second set of eyes on all content before it’s published, so clean and accurate work is prized and prioritised.

Return to top

PHOTOGRAPHY

Below you’ll find a small selection of sample work, with more available at @mikestevens.photos and @yomikestevens.

Motoring

Graphic & composite article images

Some of my favourite ‘furiously fast’ work produced on any of a million hectic days in digital publishing.

Many of the images below use multiple photos to create a hero shot for ‘on paper’ comparison articles (meaning the vehicles weren’t available for a traditional side-by-side photo), while others are graphics over existing group photos. See if you can tell which is which!