Linkswitch #66, Crafting Headlines, Saying No, Start a Conversation

No amount of effort put into a pixel-perfect design, with eye-pleasing typography, and heart-warming content can ever offset the importance of an incredible headline. Without it, your efforts will go unnoticed.

Yet some of the ugliest websites can get all of the attention and recognition that yours deserved. A shame, isn’t it? But it is probably because you forgot to work on the most important part of any piece of online content: the headline (or title).

Even though we can work from anywhere and can dictate our own schedules, it’s not often that we allow ourselves to take non-working holidays, especially ones where we’ll be completely off the grid with no phone or internet access at all.

I never thought about this issue until about eight months ago when I got engaged. In another month, we’re going on a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon, and I have no idea if I’ll even have a phone, much less internet access. But then again, do I really want to?

A good friend of mine recently shared a secret with me. When I asked her how she managed to stay so calm, cool and collected, she told me it was something she learned years ago that has helped her both professionally and personally.

She learned to say “NO”.

Information architecture is a big component of web design. What order should elements go in? Is there a visual hierarchy that must be followed? What should go where? Is the current navigational structure the most efficient? These are just some questions that a designer faces.

As freelancers, we tend to want to keep the number of tools we’re using to a minimum. We’ll set up some sort of accounting tool, maybe something to help us handle project management and not much more. But there are reasons that finding a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that you’re comfortable using is worth the added hassle.

I’m an introvert. Let there be no doubt about it.

I often feel innerly awkward around people I don’t know, and I tend to clam up and not speak. At times, I even do this around people I do know.

Yet, I also know how incredibly valuable human relationships can be. Close friends and close family relationships add a ton of value to life. They’re constantly there for you at every stage in your life, providing the help you need when the chips are down and providing a real boost to you when things are going well.

In the architectural arena, bridges not only symbolize the progress of our world but also represent the development in the field of technology. By combining the technology and designing, engineers and architects are now capable of creating bridges that are not only bigger and better but visually more magnificent than ever before.

Ever wonder why you can have 548 friends on Facebook, yet only 15-20 show up in your news feed? It’s not that those other friends have stopped using Facebook; chances are they’re still there. It’s just that they aren’t showing up in your news feed.

Did you know you can rent movies on YouTube? It’s true, the video giant has been providing movie rentals for some time now. However, its library has been quite dismal, providing older and less popular titles than pretty much every other video on demand provider. That’s about to change now that they’ve finally secured all the major studios such as Warner, Universal, Sony, Lionsgate and others.