Get the headline right, then design around it

Everyone wants the new website to look sharp. The conversation goes to whitespace, gradients, and the exact shade of blue for the button. I like a good-looking site as much as anyone. But then we get to the homepage, and the headline says nothing. Something like “Innovating the solution to whatever.” At that point I have to stop the conversation.

The headline is the first thing a visitor reads. It tells them whether they’re in the right place, whether you understand their problem, and whether you’re worth their time. If it’s generic, they leave. The color of your buttons doesn’t matter if nobody wants to click them.

One client came to me wanting a freshen up: a new look, new energy, something that didn’t sound like every other consultancy. Their homepage headline was along those same lines. I told them we couldn’t design around it. The headline is the most important thing on the page, and everything else hangs off it. The room got quiet. They had expected me to talk about fonts.

So I asked questions instead. What do you do for people? What makes you different from the other companies in your space? What do your customers say when they explain you to a friend? Slowly, the real message came out. It wasn’t clever and it wasn’t full of jargon. It was true.

Once we had that, the design decisions got easy. The copy told us what to highlight, what came first, and what the tone had to be. The headline did the work, and the design supported it.

Words are also quick to change. I can write a strong headline in an afternoon; I can’t redo a design in an afternoon. And when the words are right first, the design goes faster, because every layout decision has something to follow.

That’s why I start with copy, before any mood board, before anyone mentions the logo, before layout. A generic headline holds back even the best-looking site. A clear one can make an average design perform. Say something real, say it clearly, then design around it.