Headlines don’t decorate. They detonate.

 

If you’re a copywriter, here’s the hard truth: your headline is the idea.

Seven words or less. That’s the challenge. That’s the knife fight. You strip everything away until what’s left is pure, sharp, undeniable. If you can’t get there, you don’t have an idea yet.

This is the line we walk: art versus artistic expression. Art can wander. It can explore. But we don’t get that luxury. Ours has to land. Has to move. Has to work.

Headlines are where clarity and creativity stop being enemies and start being dance partners. They force you to answer: What’s at the heart of this?

This takes skill and art, but you’re not Van Gogh painting sunflowers. You’re trying to stop a thumb from scrolling. Your brush is clarity. Your canvas is half a second of attention.