There are two types of economies I want to talk to you about, the Link Economy (online) and Ink Economy (print).

In the Ink Economy the only patronage you might give tabloid journalism is perusing through a copy of The National Enquirer at the supermarket check out counter. You wouldn’t buy the magazine, because you wouldn’t want to give the magazine your money.

In the Link Economy people give patronage without even thinking about it. When you click on a link of a headline that is too good to be true (most like a tabloid link), you give that website a pageview. Pageviews in turn are used to measure the success which is used to attract advertisers. The more pageviews, the more ad revenue.

In the Ink Economy it was harder to get your message out the door. In the Link Economy
it’s not hard to get your message out the door, it’s just hard to get it noticed. It’s why tabloid journalism will flourish in Link Economy. If you don’t think this is true, just look at one of the top online news sites Huffington Post and read some of their tabloid-like headlines.

What’s this mean for you? It means that temptation to go the easy route and create
tabloid like links and content will be even stronger than before. It will be easy, cheap and more than likely in passed on to you via email from co-worker with the word viral somewhere in the subject line. However, the enjoyment will be shortlived and an empty creation the long run.

It also means that originality will be in even more greater demand and harder to find. However originality can provide true fans, long shelf life and other avenues of long term growth. Then again one would hope it would provide all that, given all the work that goes in it.

Making a design pitch can be the most nerve racking thing in the world. I don’t care who you are. If you have put your heart and soul into a design, there is nothing more emotionally dangerous than throwing that idea out in front of a group of people and hoping they don’t kill it right before your eyes.

I have come to realize that when pitching a design, it sometimes does not matter how much market research I have done or how much I have studied the customers needs. What seems to matter most is how the pitch is done. I am referring to everything from what I am wearing to where we are meeting. If I looked lost or too corporate it won’t matter what I am saying (even if I am smooth as Don Draper). If we are meeting a cramped space with florescent lighting, everything else will feel and look like junk.

Think about it, we are in an increasing image driven world and how you deliver a design pitch is just as important as the design itself. That’s a hard truth, an ugly truth at that.