Friday afternoon, December 19th. Someone just updated their LinkedIn with a crystal-clear positioning statement: "I'm a full-stack JavaScript developer specializing in React and Node.js." Clean. Clear. Legible. And now they're competing with 50,000 other people with identical profiles. They made themselves easy to understand, which made them easy to filter out.

The Thesis

Being too legible is a trap. When you make yourself easy to understand, categorize, and explain, you become easy to replace. You fit neatly into existing boxes, which means you're competing with everyone else in that box. You're searchable, which means you're commoditized.

The advice "be clear about who you are" sounds wise. But clarity comes with a cost: the clearer you are, the more constrained you become. People know exactly what to expect from you, which means they also know exactly what NOT to expect. You've defined your boundaries so precisely that you've trapped yourself inside them.

The most valuable people are slightly illegible. Hard to pin down. Difficult to explain. Impossible to replace because you can't quite articulate what they do that makes them special. They defy categorization just enough to avoid commoditization.

This doesn't mean being random or inconsistent. It means maintaining strategic ambiguity about your capabilities and potential.

What Legibility Actually Costs You

Cost 1: You Become Replaceable

The pattern:

  • You clearly define your role: "I'm a content marketer"
  • Your employer understands exactly what you do
  • They can now write a job description for your replacement
  • Your skills become a checklist they can hire for
  • You're no longer unique—you're a job title

The dynamic:

When you make your value proposition crystal clear, you enable others to:

  • Compare you to similar people
  • Price shop your services
  • Replace you with someone cheaper who checks the same boxes
  • Know exactly what you're worth (which caps your compensation)

Example:

Legible positioning: "I do SEO optimization for e-commerce sites"

  • Competing with thousands of SEO specialists
  • Clients can compare rates and portfolios
  • Easy to explain, easy to replace
  • Value is clear and therefore limited

Illegible positioning: "I help online stores get found by the right customers"

  • Could be SEO, could be brand strategy, could be positioning
  • Hard to comparison shop
  • Clients don't know exactly what you do differently
  • Must evaluate you as a whole person, not a service category

Cost 2: You Get Filtered Out

The search problem:

Modern opportunity discovery works through filters:

  • Job titles on LinkedIn
  • Skill tags on portfolios
  • Keywords on resumes
  • Category labels on platforms

When you're legible, you pass some filters perfectly—and get eliminated by all the others.

Example:

You label yourself "software engineer" clearly:

  • You appear in software engineer searches (competing with millions)
  • You don't appear in product designer searches (even though you have visual talent)
  • You don't appear in technical writer searches (even though you write well)
  • You don't appear in founder searches (even though you have entrepreneurial instincts)

The illegible approach:

  • Your title is ambiguous: "Builder" or "Product person" or just your name
  • You show up in fewer filtered searches
  • But when someone sees your work directly, they see the full picture
  • The opportunities that find you are better fits

Cost 3: You Box Yourself In

The identity trap:

Once you publicly commit to a clear identity, you face pressure to stay consistent:

  • "I thought you were a designer, why are you writing?"
  • "I hired you as an engineer, stick to engineering"
  • "Your audience expects X, don't confuse them with Y"

The dynamic:

Legible identity:

  • Audience expects consistency
  • Changing direction feels like betrayal or confusion
  • Must maintain brand coherence
  • Growth requires complete reinvention

Illegible identity:

  • Audience expects you to be interesting
  • Changing direction is just evolution
  • Exploration feels natural
  • Growth is gradual addition, not dramatic pivot

Real example:

Person A: "I'm a JavaScript educator who teaches React"

  • Audience expects React tutorials
  • Trying to teach Python feels off-brand
  • Exploring design feels like losing focus
  • Trapped in React-teacher box

Person B: "I make things on the internet and teach what I learn"

  • Audience expects learning in public
  • React to Python? That's just learning something new
  • Engineering to design? More things to learn
  • Freedom to explore

The Strategic Value of Illegibility

Benefit 1: Capture Unique Opportunities

The mechanism:

Filtered searches find legible candidates. But many valuable opportunities don't use filters—they rely on:

  • Personal recommendations ("I need someone who can...")
  • Direct observation ("I saw your work and...")
  • Network connections ("You might be perfect for...")
  • Gut instinct ("There's something about you...")

When you're illegible:

  • You don't fit standard search criteria
  • But you stick in people's memories
  • They remember you as "that person who..." not "the X specialist"
  • When weird opportunities arise, you come to mind

Real pattern:

Legible: Gets 100 filtered job matches, all commodity positions Illegible: Gets 5 personal referrals, each one unique and high-value

Benefit 2: Command Premium Pricing

The comparison problem:

When clients can clearly understand what you do, they can:

  • Compare you to alternatives
  • Price shop
  • Negotiate based on market rates
  • Commoditize your value

When you're illegible:

  • Clients can't quite explain what you do differently
  • No obvious comparison points
  • Value is felt, not calculated
  • Must pay your rate or lose something they can't replicate

The consulting example:

Clear positioning: "I'm a React consultant. $150/hour."

  • Client: "I found another React consultant for $120/hour"
  • You: "My rate is firm"
  • Client: "But you do the same thing"
  • Race to the bottom

Illegible positioning: "I help teams build better products. $5000/week."

  • Client: "That's expensive"
  • You: "Yes"
  • Client: "But what exactly do you do?"
  • You: "Whatever your product needs. Sometimes code, sometimes strategy, sometimes team dynamics. You hire me for judgment, not tasks."
  • No comparison shopping possible

Benefit 3: Navigate Multiple Domains

The specialization trap:

Standard advice: Pick a niche and own it. Become the go-to expert in one clear thing.

The reality: Many valuable opportunities exist at intersections:

  • Tech + design
  • Business + psychology
  • Engineering + communication
  • Science + art

When you're legible in one domain:

  • Other domains reject you as outsider
  • "You're an engineer, what do you know about design?"
  • Must prove legitimacy in each new area

When you're illegible:

  • No clear domain ownership
  • Easier to operate at intersections
  • Less resistance: "What do they know about?" "Not sure, but they figure things out"
  • Permission to be multidisciplinary

What Healthy Illegibility Looks Like

1. Be Clear About Outcomes, Vague About Methods

Instead of: "I'm a content marketer who does SEO and email campaigns"

Try: "I help companies get attention from the right people"

The difference:

  • Outcome is clear (attention from right people)
  • Method is unspecified (could be SEO, could be partnerships, could be brand work)
  • Client hires you for results, not tactics
  • You're free to use whatever methods fit

2. Show Work That Defies Categories

Portfolio strategy:

Legible portfolio:

  • 12 similar examples
  • All same format
  • Clear pattern
  • Message: "This is exactly what I do"

Illegible portfolio:

  • 6-8 diverse examples
  • Different formats
  • Surprising range
  • Message: "I do things that need doing"

The effect: Viewers can't pigeonhole you. When they have a weird project, you come to mind because you've demonstrated range.

3. Resist Premature Categorization

When networking:

Person: "What do you do?"

Legible answer: "I'm a UX designer"

  • Conversation follows standard pattern
  • They now know exactly where you fit
  • Limited opportunities emerge

Illegible answer: "I work on making complex things simple" or "I solve problems with technology" or "Depends on the day"

  • Invites follow-up questions
  • Conversation goes interesting directions
  • More opportunities to connect on unexpected dimensions

Not being deliberately obscure—being genuinely multidimensional.

4. Develop Skills at Intersections

Instead of: Mastering one clear domain deeply

Also do: Combine two unrelated skills

  • Engineering + writing
  • Design + statistics
  • Sales + psychology
  • Finance + storytelling

The value: Intersections are less crowded. When someone needs both skills, you're rare. When someone needs one skill plus adaptability, you're valuable.

5. Use Ambiguous Titles

Job titles that maintain illegibility:

  • "Maker"
  • "Builder"
  • "Product person"
  • "Strategist"
  • "Consultant"
  • Or just your name

Why these work:

  • Don't trigger automatic categorization
  • Invite curiosity instead of assumption
  • Leave room for multidimensional work
  • Don't trap you in one role

The cost: Lose some filtered searches. The benefit: Win the opportunities that matter.

The Hard Part

Being illegible feels risky because:

  1. You don't appear in filtered searches

    • But filtered searches lead to commodity positions
    • The best opportunities don't come from searches
    • Personal connections beat algorithms

  2. People can't quickly understand what you do

    • But quick understanding leads to quick dismissal
    • Making people curious is more valuable than making them certain
    • Confusion creates conversation

  3. You seem unfocused

    • To people who think in boxes
    • But multidimensional is different from scattered
    • Range is an asset when wielded intentionally

  4. You can't use standard positioning frameworks

    • Marketing advice assumes legible categories
    • But category leaders compete in red oceans
    • Illegibility is blue ocean strategy

The uncomfortable truth: The business advice industry needs you to be legible so they can sell you positioning frameworks. But being legible makes you easier to market and harder to differentiate.

Takeaways

Core insight: Making yourself easy to understand makes you easy to replace. Strategic illegibility—being hard to categorize—creates unique value.

What's actually true:

  1. Legible positioning helps you pass filters but traps you in commodity competition
  2. When people can clearly understand what you do, they can easily replace you
  3. The most valuable opportunities come through personal connections, not filtered searches
  4. Being multidimensional at intersections creates rarity
  5. Illegibility requires confidence—you must trust your value without external validation

What to do:

  1. Be clear about outcomes you deliver, vague about methods you use
  2. Show work that defies easy categorization—demonstrate range
  3. Resist labeling yourself with standard job titles or categories
  4. Develop skills at intersections between domains
  5. Use ambiguous positioning that invites curiosity rather than assumption

The strategic move:

Don't make it easy for people to understand you. Make it easy for them to be intrigued by you. When someone encounters your work, they should think "I'm not quite sure what they do, but it's impressive" rather than "Oh, another X."

Legibility serves commoditization. Illegibility serves differentiation.

The clearest positioning gets the most filtered matches. The most illegible positioning gets the most valuable direct connections.

Stop trying to fit in existing boxes. Start making people curious about what box you'd even go in.

Today's Sketch

December 19, 2025