Newsletter Writer · Landing page concept
The Margin
A newspaper-inspired front page for an independent essay newsletter.
- CREATOR
- Sam Reyes
- CATEGORY
- Newsletter Writer
- DELIVERABLE
- Landing page UI
- YEAR
- 2026
Overview
“One good essay, every Tuesday.”
A concept homepage for a writer whose product is a weekly essay. Instead of a typical SaaS-style landing page, it reads like the front page of a small, thoughtful paper, with the latest essay and the subscribe box getting equal weight.
Design direction
Newsprint off-white, black ink and a single editorial red. A big serif masthead, double rules, columns with vertical dividers, a drop cap and monospace metadata give it the craft of print. A reversed black subscribe box is the one loud element on the page.
The problem
An essay newsletter has no product shot and no feature list. A standard landing page had nothing to show.
What we did
The homepage became the paper: latest essay in full column, archive as back issues, subscription in the masthead. Readers sample before they subscribe.
Key sections
- 01Dateline top bar
- 02Masthead with reader count
- 03Lead essay with drop cap and byline
- 04Reversed subscribe box
- 05Captioned photo
- 06Archive list
- 07Open-rate and rating stats
Style guide
Palette
- Newsprint#f3efe6
- Ink#161412
- Editorial Red#c2361f
- Salmon#f0a48f
- Pencil#6d665c
Typefaces
- NewsreaderMasthead & body
- IBM Plex MonoMetadata & UI