03 Selected output

Field Notes

Independent journal — Long-form publishing

Scope: Six pages
Built in: One afternoon
Output: Native WordPress

An open hardback journal on a matte black surface, crossed by a single ember-orange shaft of light

The brief

A reading site. No sidebar, no related posts, no popup. Just the essay and a way to get to the next one.

That was the whole brief. Everything below came out of the conversation that followed it.

The direction

Almost every publishing theme optimises for the wrong number. Time on site goes up when you surround an essay with distractions; the essay gets read less. The direction was subtractive — remove the sidebar, the share row, the related grid, the newsletter interstitial, and see what the writing does on its own.

What is left is a measure of about sixty-six characters, generous leading, and a single ember rule marking the reader position. The only navigation at the foot of an essay is the next essay.

Long-exposure ember orange light forming a geometric wireframe structure in a black void — Fig. 03 The ember rule that marks reading position, drawn once and reused across the essay template. It is the only ornament in the entire journal.

What shipped

An essay template with a fixed measure and no sidebar
A reading-position rule instead of a progress bar
An issue archive that reads as a contents page
No popups, no interstitials, no related-content grid

Six: pages, including the essay template
One: afternoon from brief to live
66ch: measure, held at every breakpoint