BroadsheetLegacy format

Broadsheet is a design system for news sites, longform investigative journalism, and editorial publications. The aesthetic is rooted directly in print broadsheet typography — heavy display serifs that announce, a precise text serif that holds long-form weight, multi-column flow on desktop, and a masthead red used with strict restraint for breaking news and section bylines. Above-the-fold rhythm matters: hero stories anchor with oversized headlines, a deck (subtitle), reporter byline, and dateline before the body even starts. Density is high but legibility is uncompromised — leading is generous, columns are narrow enough to read fluidly, and rules between columns echo a printed front page. Broadsheet rejects the modern news-blog convention of card-card-card grids in favor of a layered editorial hierarchy where some stories are louder, some are quieter, and the page itself communicates editorial judgment.

Link#1E40AF
Background#FAF7F2
Surface#FFFFFF
Surface Sunken#F1ECE3
Headline
Aa
Search
Body
Aa
Label
Aa
Label

Color Palette

Typography

bannerDisplay Serif · 88px · Extra Bold

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

headlineDisplay Serif · 56px · Bold

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

sub-headlineDisplay Serif · 36px · none

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

h3Display Serif · 24px · SemiBold

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

deckText Serif · 21px · none

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

bodyText Serif · 18px · none

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

captionText Serif · 14px · none

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

bylineSans · 13px · none

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

datelineSans · 12px · none

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

pull quoteText Serif · 40px · none

Every letter tells a story worth reading, and every typeface gives that story a new voice waiting to be heard.

Spacing

Base: 4px
4px
8px
12px
16px
24px
32px
48px
64px
96px
128px
192px

Broadsheet is a design system for news sites, longform investigative journalism, and editorial publications. The aesthetic is rooted directly in print broadsheet typography — heavy display serifs that announce, a precise text serif that holds long-form weight, multi-column flow on desktop, and a masthead red used with strict restraint for breaking news and section bylines. Above-the-fold rhythm matters: hero stories anchor with oversized headlines, a deck (subtitle), reporter byline, and dateline before the body even starts. Density is high but legibility is uncompromised — leading is generous, columns are narrow enough to read fluidly, and rules between columns echo a printed front page. Broadsheet rejects the modern news-blog convention of card-card-card grids in favor of a layered editorial hierarchy where some stories are louder, some are quieter, and the page itself communicates editorial judgment.

Components

Masthead

default

Lead Story Block

default

default

default

Breaking News Strip

default

breaking

opinion

analysis

correction

Pull Quote

default

Drop Cap

default

default

Byline Block

default

Newsletter Signup

default

Subscribe Wall

default

Live Updates Feed

default

Election/Sports Ticker

default

Do's & Don'ts

Do

use display serif for headlines — heavy weight, large size, the system's signature
enforce a strong above-the-fold hierarchy — one banner headline, then sub-stories diminishing in weight
use multi-column body flow on desktop for long-form articles
reserve masthead red strictly — never for decoration, only for masthead, breaking news, section labels, pull quote rules
use sans uppercase caption for all bylines, datelines, and metadata
support reader mode and print stylesheet — long-form readers expect both

Don't

use card grids as the primary article layout — layered editorial hierarchy is the point
add red gradient banners, 'Hurry!' CTAs, or any urgency UI outside of legitimate breaking news
use modern blue link colors — the journalism convention is the deep blue (#1E40AF) used here
introduce decorative icons inside article body — pull quotes, photographs, and charts carry visual weight
round corners on photographs — sharp editorial crops only
reduce body text below 17px — readability is non-negotiable in long-form
autoplay video or audio without explicit user action

Icons

Font Awesome
check
?
bell
?
camera

Library: Font Awesome · Style: outline · Size: 18px

Motion

Motion is minimal — Broadsheet behaves like paper that occasionally updates. Standard duration is 160ms with cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) easing. Article navigation uses fade-only transitions over 200ms. Live update entries fade in with a 320ms masthead-red flash on the new timestamp before settling to neutral. Breaking-news strips slide down from the top edge over 240ms. The system intentionally avoids parallax, scroll-triggered animations, and any decorative motion in body content.

Voice and Tone

Journalistic. Subject-verb-object. Active voice.

Headlines are written for clarity, not curiosity gap. Lead with the news.

Use journalism idiom: "according to," "officials said," "the bureau reported," "—," (em dash) for parenthetical attribution.

Dates spell the month: "March 5, 2026" — not "3/5/26."

Pull quotes are short and load-bearing. Never decorative filler.

Corrections are explicit and prominent: "A previous version of this article incorrectly stated…"

Empty states keep the journalistic tone: "No articles in this section today."

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