You’ve probably seen it before.

You open an agency’s website or a freelancer’s portfolio. At the very top of the homepage, it says:

We design for startups.

You wait 3 seconds. The last word fades out and a new one fades in:

We design for agencies.

Wait 3 more seconds:

We design for founders.

I call this design pattern The Wheel of Nothing: a rotating list of audience segments meant to impress through inclusion and draw attention through motion… for absolutely no reason.

Revered brand studio Pentagram recently launched a new website. To my surprise, the homepage features the Wheel of Nothing front and center, boldly claiming:

We design Everything for Everyone

…before cycling through more specific combinations every few seconds.

But why?

Design is deciding. Strategy is choosing what not to do. A spinning headline that tries to name everyone usually ends up resonating with no one.

I get it. It’s difficult. If Pentagram—arguably the most famous design firm in the world, one I personally have admired for years—can’t commit to a singular message, what chance do the rest of us have?

To be fair, Pentagram might be one of the few companies in the world that can pull this off. Their history and reach are incredibly impressive, so it might be pretty close to true that they have or will design everything for everyone. Maybe companies like McDonald’s or UPS or Meta can get away with saying they’re for everyone and actually mean it.

Digging deeper into Pentagram’s site reveals messages that feel far more aligned with their real only-ness. From their About page:

Our structure is unique. We are the only major design studio where the owners of the business are the creators of the work and serve as the primary contact for every client.

And from their flagship brand identity work page:

If by brand identity we mean the multifaceted ways that an organization is perceived by the public, then nearly everything Pentagram does is related in one way or another to the design of brands.

Sure, they’re a bit wordy for an elevator pitch, but these statements say something. They speak directly to the kind of client who’d be lucky to work with them.

If even Pentagram can’t get away with using The Wheel of Nothing, you and I definitely can’t.

If your homepage cycles through a bunch of interchangeable audiences, it’s not clever.

It’s usually fear. Fear of missing out. Fear of exclusion. Fear of planting a flag and standing by it.

Your homepage is often your first impression. Your opening line. Your elevator pitch. Don’t waste it on a slot machine of maybe-they’ll-see-their-word copywriting.

Instead, start noticing which websites stop you in your tracks because they speak directly to you. I use tools like Mobbin to explore lots of effective examples of marketing landing pages or hero sections at a glance. (Those are affiliate links, by the way. Doesn’t cost you extra but helps support my work if you use them.)

Say who you’re for. Say who you’re not for.

Your clients will thank you. Your conversion rate will too.

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