Contents of the issue
Eight essays, one specimen, one errata
Numerals, set large,
as structural elements
Tabular figures · weight 700 · tracking −0.05em
Columns
The full field. Nothing in this issue spans a fractional column.
Gutter, px
Constant at every breakpoint above 1024px; contracts to 12px on handheld.
Baseline, px
Every vertical measurement in the stylesheet is a multiple of eight.
Accent
A single red, #E2231A, budgeted at under four percent of inked area.
Measure, ch
Maximum body measure. Longer lines were tested and rejected in proof.
Pages
Sixteen signatures of nine leaves, sewn, uncoated 120gsm.
Max width, px
Beyond this the margins grow and the field stops stretching.
Type sizes
Four sizes carry ninety percent of the issue. The rest are ornament.
Setting instructions
The following table is the whole specification. A compositor who follows it exactly will produce a page indistinguishable from ours; a compositor who improvises will not, and that is the point of writing it down.
Table 03.1 — Master setting
| Ref | Element | Size | Weight | Leading | Tracking | Columns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Display headline | 5.500 | 700 | 1.04 | −0.035 | 3–8 |
| A2 | Section title | 3.000 | 700 | 1.04 | −0.030 | 3–8 |
| B1 | Standfirst / lede | 1.500 | 400 | 1.32 | −0.018 | 3–8 |
| B2 | Running text | 1.063 | 400 | 1.50 | −0.005 | 4–9 |
| C1 | Caption / annotation | 0.875 | 400 | 1.45 | 0.000 | 9–12 |
| C2 | Label, uppercase | 0.688 | 700 | 1.20 | +0.140 | 1–2 |
| D1 | Ornamental numeral | 13.000 | 700 | 0.88 | −0.030 | 9–12 |
| D2 | Folio numeral | 0.688 | 700 | 1.00 | +0.100 | 1 |
Six working rules
Adopted by the editorial board, March 2026
-
Decide the field before the content
Columns, gutter and margin are settled in the first hour and are not renegotiated to rescue a headline that runs long. Rewrite the headline.
-
One accent, budgeted
Red marks position and sequence. It never fills a large area, never carries body copy, and never appears twice for the same reason on one spread.
-
Flush left, always
The rag is information: it tells the reader that the words were not stretched to fit. Hyphenation is permitted only in narrow columns below four units.
-
Whitespace is allocated, not left over
Empty columns are specified in the layout with the same precision as filled ones. An unassigned column is an error, not a breathing space.
-
Numerals do the pointing
Sequence markers replace decorative rules and icons. When a number must be found from across a room, set it at display size and let it become the composition.
-
Every vertical is a multiple of eight
Margins, leading, rule offsets and image heights snap to the baseline. Optical corrections are documented in the errata, never made silently.