Resetting The Margin Review

The Margin Review had grown the way many small journals do: a new widget every issue, a sidebar that nobody remembered adding, and body text squeezed to make room for both.

The brief

Make the essays easier to read without losing the journal’s voice. No new features, and nothing the three-person staff would have to maintain.

What changed

• The measure came down to about 65 characters, and the leading went up.
• Pull quotes replaced the sidebar. They carry the same weight with none of the clutter.
• Footnotes moved back to the foot of the essay, where readers expect them.

The complaint we heard most was that the site felt quieter. Nobody meant it as a complaint.

Results

Time on page roughly doubled over the first two issues, and the editors stopped receiving emails asking where the article had gone.