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Branding · Web

Editorial Refresh

Repositioning a regional publisher around a sharper editorial voice — and a new web frame to carry it.

Sardonic Press has been an authoritative independent voice in cultural and investigative journalism for over a decade. However, their legacy digital platform suffered from severe performance bottlenecks, accumulated technical debt, and a rigid layout that struggled to do justice to comprehensive long-form reportage. Our mission was to lead a holistic digital rebirth — honoring their established journalistic credibility while crafting a lightning-fast, reader-first publishing experience.

We collaborated directly with senior editors in Glasgow to re-engineer their entire typographic rhythm, establish high-contrast reading themes, and introduce a flexible modular grid capable of fluidly balancing breaking headlines, photo essays, and subscriber-exclusive investigative reports.

Editorial Authority & Legibility — High-contrast typography paired with calibrated line-lengths and responsive type scales for optimal long-form focus.
Extreme Performance — Lightweight semantic HTML and vanilla CSS tokens delivering sub-second First Contentful Paint across mobile and desktop.
Reader Conversion & Retention — Frictionless newsletter signups and subscriber onboarding seamlessly woven into article footers.
Brand Identity Design Tokens Semantic HTML5 Responsive CSS Grid Editorial Strategy Accessibility (WCAG AA) Performance Tuning

Brief

Three core pillars that framed the project before we put pen to paper.

What We Heard

The publisher needed to eliminate heavy technical debt and slow mobile loading speeds without compromising the established authority and editorial weight earned over a decade of investigative publishing.

What We Proposed

Retain the signature byline-led front page while modernizing the core infrastructure — introducing modular CSS Grid templates, fluid typography scales, and a distraction-free reader mode.

What We Measured

We set verifiable engagement benchmarks: average time spent on investigative pieces, reduction in mobile bounce rate, and conversion rates for dedicated newsletter subscriptions.

Process

Four stages, fourteen weeks.

  1. Week 1–2 · Discovery — editorial workshop, archive review and a written content map.
  2. Week 3–5 · Brand — identity refresh: wordmark, color, type, small editorial palette.
  3. Week 6–10 · Design — page-by-page design starting with the front page and article template.
  4. Week 11–14 · Build & Launch — static build, editorial onboarding and a quiet soft launch.

Selected Screens

Six pages that show the system at work.

+32%Time on page
-18%Bounce rate
+47%Email signups
14Weeks
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