Octavo

Email design, newsletter · Literary quarterly

A newsletter for a literary quarterly: a masthead, a contents page with dot leaders, and the editor's note in the margin.

The brief

Send the new issue the way a printed quarterly opens: masthead, letter, contents.

What we designed

The headline thickens letter by letter on the word long, from light to black, and turns cobalt. The editor's letter carries a handwritten note in the margin and a footnote that pays off at the bottom.

The contents run with dot leaders and page numbers, and the button is the quarterly's circular badge.

How it is built

• Five weights of one variable font in the headline, each letter its own weight
• 600 px wide, built in tables with inline styles
• A phone layout that stacks below 600 px
• The brand's fonts, with web safe fallbacks for clients that block them
• Images at twice their size for sharp screens, alt text on every one
• Preheader, preferences and unsubscribe in place

Typefaces: Literata, Kalam. Palette: Paper #fbfbf8, Cobalt #2137c9, Ink #1a1916, Margin #6f6b62.

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