05 // Editorial / Web

Foldline

A paper-inspired reading platform for independent magazines.

Open magazine with crisp typography resting on a bright white table

Client: Foldline Press
Role: Designer and front-end developer
Duration: 7 months
Year: 2024

01 // The brief

Independent magazines publish beautiful print issues, then squeeze the same stories into generic blog templates online. Readers notice, and subscriptions follow the quality of the reading experience.

Foldline is a publishing platform that gives small magazines a paper-inspired reading experience without a design team of their own.

02 // Process

How it came together

Step 01

Study the printed page

I measured line lengths, margins and type scales from twenty printed magazines to find proportions that survive on a screen.

Step 02

Templates with real variety

Instead of one article layout, editors pick from a set of spreads: pull quotes, full-bleed images, and side notes, all driven by simple content fields.

Step 03

Calm reading mode

A distraction-free mode with adjustable type size and a paper-warm background, tuned for long reads at night.

03 // Gallery

Stack of printed magazines and books on a pale wooden table — Print references collected for the typography study.

Open book on a library shelf with warm natural light — Long-form reading mode in the warm paper theme.

Close-up of an open notebook with handwritten notes and a pen — Editorial layout sketches before moving into code.

04 // Results

Fourteen independent titles now publish on Foldline. Readers spend an average of six and a half minutes per article, and migrating publishers saw subscriptions rise by 37%.

Magazines publishing on Foldline

6m 40s

Average read time per article

+37%

Subscriber sign-ups after migration