Little Words, Big Meaning

Photography: Small Bee-Eater 01 by Enigmatic-Halcyon

There’s a segregation between two types of content across the web. Content with lasting value, enduring use, and lots of meaning, tends to come in big packages. Its opposite — content which is disposable, easily consumed and discarded, entertaining once and not again — is often bite-sized.

This binary is founded on a misguided assumption. The success of Seth Godin’s blog is proof that length is not a prerequisite for usefulness, that less words does not equal more disposability. A Brief Message — a blog containing meaningful design articles under 200 words — is founded on the same principle.

Often, the less words we have to work with, the better the result. Every single word is made to count. In a Web 2.0 world, where all of us have too many choices and not enough time, this is more important than ever.

There are many occasions for length, but the ability to write short articles packed with meaning is a valuable one.

Here are some things to try, to help develop this skill:

• Can you say something meaningful in under 200 words?
• Can you boil your next article down to half its size without losing any meaning?