Brevity ensures that a reader gets the message. This trend is taking hold at companies large and small. On the website of Kraft Foods a five word headline, five short sentences each with a link, and a six-topic menu bar introduces the viewer to the company.
At the Pepper Construction Group, a general contracting construction management firm, the Home page contains a four-word headline and triple menu bars: one at the top by location, near the bottom by topic, and at the bottom with subject icons. News links are included. This information design is ingenious.
Emphasis Gets Lost When Overstated
On these sites nothing is overstated. It appears glamorous in its constraint compared with the glut of information most people see each day. Sensibilities are soothed rather than taxed. Information designed in small chunks like this is functional. A practical reason to limit word count is the click through. When introductory words are of interest to readers they act. Their click through is measurable.
When a not so prominent lawyer’s bio runs 851 words, perspective is needed. MicroSoft’s chairman of legal affairs wrote his bio using 421 words and Chicago’s largest and most prestigious law firm’s chairman uses only 326 words. It is a conversation. Don’t go on and on. Stop.
