UI Craft — Editorial

Pre-committed editorial style: magazine, long-form, content-first. Typography carries the hierarchy; layout serves the reading experience.

Knobs (locked)

• CRAFT_LEVEL = 9 — editorial typography only works at high refinement; Polish Pass mandatory.
• MOTION_INTENSITY = 4 — reading-aware: fade on reveal, link hovers, no entrance stagger.
• VISUAL_DENSITY = 3 — wide reading column, generous vertical rhythm, 1 item per row for features.

Do not re-ask these in Discovery. Confirm accent + serif/sans pairing only.

Style anchors

• Serif display for headings + humanist body sans/serif for reading.
• Baseline grid feel. leading-relaxed (1.7) on body.
• Wide reading column max-w-[65ch]. Generous vertical rhythm.
• Accent used for emphasis — pull quotes, drop caps, link underlines — not decoration.
• OpenType features ON: small caps, ligatures, stylistic sets, tabular figures where relevant.
• Asymmetric, text-heavy heroes. Featured image large.
• Motion respects reading: fades only, never pulls the eye away.
• Black text, warm/ivory canvas, one accent. Color is a voice, not a decoration.

Base rules (inherited)

All rules in ../ui-craft/SKILL.md apply. This file overrides knob defaults and adds style-specific guidance below. The anti-slop and craft tests still apply in full.

Style-specific overrides

Typography (the whole point)

• Display: Playfair Display, Fraunces, Lora, or Source Serif 4 for headings and pull quotes.
• Body: Alegreya, Source Sans 3, ITC Charter, or a humanist pairing. Do NOT use Inter as primary body — it reads as product UI, not editorial.
• Max two families: one display + one body.
• Headings: text-wrap: balance, font-optical-sizing: auto, tracking near 0 or slightly negative on large sizes.
• Body: text-wrap: pretty, line-height: 1.7, font-feature-settings: "liga", "kern".
• Drop caps via p:first-of-type::first-letter { float: left; font-size: 4.5em; line-height: 0.85; padding: 6px 10px 0 0; font-family: <display>; }.
• Small caps via font-variant-caps: small-caps for section labels, bylines.
• Opt-in OpenType: font-feature-settings: "ss01", "cv11" when the chosen font supports them.
• Pull quotes: serif, large (1.75-2.25em), one accent color, short rule above.

Color

• Canvas: ivory or warm white — oklch(98% 0.01 85) — not pure #fff.
• Text: oklch(18% 0.01 40) warm near-black.
• Restricted palette: black, ivory/warm white, ONE accent. That's it.
• Accent applied to: drop cap, pull quote, inline link underline, section rule. Not buttons that don't need it.

Spacing & layout

• Reading column: max-w-[65ch] for body; hero and featured image can break out to max-w-5xl.
• Vertical rhythm on body: paragraph spacing = line-height × 0.6 minimum.
• Asymmetric heroes: left-aligned display headline + byline + featured image below or offset.
• Section breaks: centered ornament or a short rule, not a full-width divider.

Motion

• Fade on scroll reveal for hero/featured image only, 300-400ms ease-out.
• Inline link hover: underline-offset grows 1px, color shifts to accent, 120ms.
• No entrance stagger, no parallax, no page transitions that fight the reading flow.
• Honor prefers-reduced-motion — cut all reveals.

Content components

• Byline: small caps, tracking-wide, secondary text color.
• Dateline + read time: tabular-nums, separated by a bullet ·.
• Inline images: full-width or breakout beyond column, with italic serif caption underneath.
• Blockquote: left border in accent, serif italic, max-w-[55ch].

Reference files to read first

Load these from ../ui-craft/references/:

• typography.md — the primary reference for this style
• layout.md — reading column, rhythm, hierarchy
• color.md — warm palette, accent discipline
• copy.md — editorial voice, headings, empty states

Skip dashboard.md, sound.md unless relevant.

Anti-patterns for THIS style

• Inter, Geist, DM Sans as primary body. They signal product UI, not editorial.
• Three font families. Always one display + one body.
• Pure #fff canvas. Warm it.
• Tight leading-tight on body copy. Reading needs 1.6-1.8.
• Colored pull quote backgrounds, gradient text on headlines, emoji in section rules.
• Scroll-triggered stagger or parallax — breaks reading flow.
• Card grids for articles — use stacked list with thumbnail + dek.
• Sans-serif display headlines by default. If you need sans display, the user probably wants minimal variant.
• Uppercase headlines. Sentence case, always (small caps for bylines is the exception).
• CTAs with heavy pill backgrounds — prefer inline underlined links in the serif voice.