TIL that carrying a sign with too much text actually hurts your message more than helps

Had a chat with a guy at a rally last weekend in Portland. He told me he walked right past my sign because it had a whole paragraph on it and he said he only reads signs with 5 words max. Honestly that hit different because I spent 2 hours on that sign with markers and stencils making it look perfect. Now I'm wondering if any of my other signs got ignored for the same reason. Anybody else ever get feedback like this at a protest?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannah3201mo ago

True, maybe the real point isn't the word count but having one single short line that makes you curious enough to stop and want the full story.

christopherw341mo ago

How many words did you end up putting on that sign? Because I've noticed the signs that actually stop me have like one strong phrase that hits you right away, not a whole argument laid out.

finleyl391mo ago

Oh come ON, hard disagree there. I've almost VERTICALLY read some signs that had way too many words because I got HOOKED by the setup. Like there's this one near my buddy's old shop that says "My dog died because of a driver like you" then in tiny text underneath it explains the whole story about a distracted driver. I STOPPED and read every dang word because the first part made me feel something. Short slogans are fine for bumper stickers but if you want me to actually change my behavior you gotta hit me with a real reason not just a catchy tagline. The ones that work on me build up a little argument, not just a one-liner.