The Lost Art of Bodysurfing: five directions

These are visual sketches, not designs. The words are placeholder text and the photos are stand-ins, so judge the feel: the type, colour, mood and how the site presents itself. Each has a home page and an article page.

Mixing is fine. “The masthead from one with the article page from another” is a useful answer.

  1. Still Water home page
    Direction 1 · the early idea

    Still Water

    Quiet and contemplative. Pale morning light, generous space, writing that sits like a poem on the page.

    Feels like
    A literary journal, a slow morning at the beach
    Type
    Cormorant Garamond with a blue italic accent; DM Sans for reading
    Colour

    Home pageArticle

  2. The Almanac home page
    Direction 2

    The Almanac

    Leans into “lost art”: a heritage field guide on aged paper, with numbered field notes, photo plates and a tide table.

    Feels like
    An old naturalist’s journal, a 1960s surf annual
    Type
    Fraunces (soft old-style serif), Newsreader, small caps labels
    Colour

    Home pageArticle

  3. Salt home page
    Direction 3

    Salt

    A modern photo-led magazine. Full-bleed pictures, a big confident wordmark, lots of white and one saturated ocean blue.

    Feels like
    A contemporary print magazine, a gallery catalogue
    Type
    Inter Tight (Swiss grotesk) with Instrument Serif italics
    Colour

    Home pageArticle

  4. Surf Club Zine home page
    Direction 4

    Surf Club Zine

    Loud, friendly and homemade. Two-ink riso printing, poster type, stickers, tape and handwritten notes. Plays up the family and the fun.

    Feels like
    A photocopied surf-club newsletter, a gig poster
    Type
    Anton (condensed poster), Work Sans, DM Mono, Caveat Brush
    Colour

    Home pageArticle

  5. Night Swim home page
    Direction 5

    Night Swim

    Dark and cinematic. Deep-water blues, a fine light serif and instrument-style captions. Photos glow out of the dark.

    Feels like
    A surf film’s title sequence, being underwater
    Type
    Cormorant (light), Manrope, JetBrains Mono
    Colour

    Home pageArticle

Things to react to

  1. Which one feels most like us? Which one feels least like us?
  2. Should the site feel old (a lost art, rediscovered) or new (bodysurfing, now)?
  3. Quiet and literary, or loud and fun?
  4. Which article page would you most want to read a long piece on?
  5. Anything you’d steal from one and put in another?