What Makes a Great Tack?

A great Tack makes you stop for a second.

Maybe it’s a clever idea. A beautiful room. An unusual object. A recipe you actually want to make. A person doing something extraordinarily well. Whatever it is, the image catches your attention — and the link takes you somewhere worth going.

Here are five things that make a Tack especially good.

1. The image tells you something

The best Tacks start with a strong image.

It should show the thing you’re actually saving: the finished project, the room, the garment, the recipe, the person, the place or the idea in action.

A good Tack shouldn’t make you wonder why that picture is attached to that page.

2. There’s something worth discovering on the other side

A Tack is more than a picture.

It should lead somewhere useful, interesting, entertaining or inspiring: an article, tutorial, interview, recipe, shop, maker, story, review or other original source.

That destination is part of the Tack.

3. It feels specific

“Pretty living room” is easy to forget.

“A tiny English kitchen with red cabinets and a checkerboard floor” is much more memorable.

The strongest Tacks usually have something distinctive about them — an idea, detail, person, technique, point of view or story that makes them worth coming back to.

4. The image and the source belong together

The picture should accurately represent what you’ll find when you follow the Tack.

If the Tack shows a quilt, the link shouldn’t lead to an unrelated advertisement. If it shows an artist’s work, the source should help you learn more about that artist or the work itself.

No bait and switch.

5. You’d be happy to find it again six months from now

This may be the easiest test of all.

Would Future You be glad you saved it?

If the answer is yes, Tack it.

Five Things That Usually Don’t Make a Great Tack

Some pages may be useful without making particularly good Tacks.

We generally avoid:

1. Generic stock photography

A decorative image that could belong to almost any article usually isn’t very useful later.

2. Ads and promotional graphics

If the image is selling the publication rather than showing the subject of the page, it probably isn’t the image you want to remember.

3. Author headshots when the article is about something else

We like authors. But if an article is about a spectacular miniature house, the miniature house is probably the better Tack.

4. Images that don’t match the destination

A beautiful image isn’t enough if it sends you somewhere unrelated.

5. Things that are only mildly interesting right now

You don’t have to save everything.

Tackologie is better when your Tacks are things you genuinely want to keep.

A simple rule:
Great image. Great destination. Something worth remembering.