The Brown Shoe Problem

Well, I always have to explain this one. It kind of follows the theme lately--under the category of phoning it in. The Brown Shoe Problem refers to something that is barely adequate and doing the least that is necessary to get by. In this instance I'm referring to the art of writing headlines.

Brown shoes are just that. Not all that interesting but they are shoes. Simple, plain, sturdy and kind of uninteresting. A Brown Shoe Headline Problem is also all of that. Favorite examples are things like: "City Council Meets" and "Legislature Considers Budget." There are many other headlines like that. Well, you know, they are accurate. The city council meets most all the time and the function of most legislatures is to consider a budget. But those headlines aren't all that interesting are they. They pretty much scream out "Don't Read Me!" or perhaps "Really Boring Article Under Here!"

Deadlines are wicked things. They force us to often do work that is good enough and to just get it out. On the Internet this is more true than ever, I suppose. But if you're writing something that is as interesting and compelling as a brown shoe, why bother? If the City Council met and spent three hours doing nothing but talk why not a headline that says so. I bet one headline that says: "City Council Talks Much, Does Little Tuesday Night" will see some more action on future agendas. Or, how about, "Legislature Talks Much; Plans to Spend More and Can't Say Why." Now that's a headline. Ultimate headline? "Read This or Die Now."

I think when it comes to writing and just facing those production pressures it's always easy to fall into the Brown Shoe Problem. And I fully understand those pressures. Believe me, I've written many headlines that just didn't sing. But it wouldn't hurt if, just every once in awhile, we all sat down and spent just a few minutes on those headlines. And, I'll bet, a few minutes on headlines would result in some rewriting of ledes and top grafs in our copy. And that is a nice Italian loafer.