Designing Headline Variants
Quick start
Collect or infer:
- •Core content or story to headline
- •Primary platform (web, email, social, print)
- •Character/length constraints per platform
- •Purpose (click-through, SEO, brand awareness, engagement)
- •A/B testing requirements if any
Then produce output using TEMPLATES.md. Validate with RUBRIC.md.
Workflow
- •Identify the core value proposition or newsworthy angle.
- •Determine platform constraints (character limits, display context).
- •Generate at least one headline per major pattern (benefit, curiosity, specific, emotional).
- •Check each headline against platform constraints.
- •Ensure headlines are distinct — each variant should appeal to different motivations.
- •Add SEO-focused variant if organic search is a goal.
- •Flag any headline that requires specific context to make sense.
- •Run the rubric check. Revise until it passes.
Degrees of freedom
- •Low freedom: Character limits, factual accuracy, brand guidelines
- •Medium freedom: Emotional tone, specificity level, angle selection
- •High freedom: Creative approach, rhetorical device, hook type
Default: Generate 4-6 headlines minimum, with clear rationale for each variant's use case.
References
- •Templates: TEMPLATES.md
- •Rubric: RUBRIC.md
- •Examples: EXAMPLES.md
- •Headline patterns: reference/headline-patterns.md