A post title that promises one specific takeaway.
One or two sentences naming what the reader will learn, why it matters, and the angle that makes this post worth reading versus the dozen others on the same topic.
• Lead bullet — the headline argument in one
phrase, the way you'd tell it to a friend over coffee.
• Supporting bullet — the second point that
backs it up, ideally with a number or concrete reference.
• Counter-bullet — the trade-off or "but"
that keeps the take honest.
• Action bullet — what the reader should
do or think about next.
Table of contents.
Why this post exists.
One paragraph naming the situation that prompted the writing: the question that kept coming up, the conversation you wish you could send a link to, the gap in the discourse you keep bumping into. Establish the "why now."
Second paragraph (optional) — who this post is for. Naming the audience explicitly (e.g. "If you're a solo designer embedded in a product team without a design-systems lead, this is for you") helps the right readers stay and the wrong readers leave without resentment.
A one-sentence thesis the rest of the post defends.
Open with the take. Don't bury it. The reader gave you their attention on the promise of the title — pay it back in the first paragraph of the body.
A supporting sub-point
One or two paragraphs developing the sub-point. Use concrete examples, not abstractions. "Our token file lived in three places" beats "we had token-management challenges."
A second supporting sub-point
Paragraph. Vary sentence length aggressively — long, layered sentences in front of short punchy ones make the rhythm readable on a phone. Three short sentences in a row works. Three long sentences in a row does not.
“The most quotable sentence from the body, lifted and re-emphasized so a skimmer who reads nothing else still gets the spine of the argument.”
From principle to practice.
Brief framing paragraph that names the steps and explains why they're in this order. Don't make the reader infer the structure — show it.
-
01
Name the first step
One short paragraph explaining what this step looks like, who does it, and what comes out of it. Avoid process-speak ("we synthesized") — describe the actual action ("we wrote one sentence on the wall").
-
02
Name the second step
Paragraph. Each step's text should be roughly the same length — readers feel uneven steps as a sign that one matters more, even when it doesn't.
-
03
Name the third step
Paragraph. End the last step with the outcome the whole sequence produces. That outcome bridges into the next H2 section.
Caption that names the specific thing the image shows and why it's there. Avoid restating the surrounding paragraph; the caption should add information.
What this approach gives up.
Name the limitation up front. The reader trusts the post more when they read a sentence like "this falls apart on teams of more than thirty designers" or "we paid for this speed with weeks of token-rename churn six months later."
One or two paragraphs of nuance — when to use this approach, when not to, what to do if your situation is closer to the edge case than the headline.
Caption A — what this side is showing.
Caption B — what the contrast makes visible.
The single sentence you want the reader to remember a week from now — the one that survives the rest of the post fading from memory.
“A direct, unedited quote from a reader, teammate, or someone respected in this field. Keep it short and specific — paraphrased quotes read like marketing copy and undercut the rest of the post.”
What I want you to take away.
Closing paragraph. The point isn't to summarize the post — it's to hand the reader the next move. What should they try in their own work this week? What follow-up post are you hoping to write next that they could co-shape by replying to this one?
Optional final paragraph — a personal note, a contradiction with how you used to think about this, the honest admission that you're still working it out.
“The closing line — what you want the reader to repeat to someone tomorrow when they're describing what they just read.”