Policy
Papers, briefs, cases
Paper and lavender. Article numbers, dates and sources first. Pink appears only to carry a number at poster size.
Approach
How to design anything for Marta: who the work serves, the principles behind every page, and the visual rules that make a layout hers.
Who the work serves
Six kinds of readers, from a parliament office to a phone on a night bus. Design for the one in front of you, and the system keeps the rest in tune. Turn a card to see what each one needs.
Policymakers and their staff
Read between meetings. Need the ask, the legal basis and a citation they can paste.
Give them
- The point first, in one screen.
- The legal basis with article and date.
- A citation to copy in one tap.
Design moves
- Policy register: paper and lavender.
- Short summary, then the full text.
- Sources sit next to the claim, not at the end.
Journalists
On deadline, often in Dutch or French. Need verified facts, a clear quote and context.
Give them
- Dated facts they can check.
- Quotable lines in her own words.
- The angle in one sentence.
Design moves
- Quotes in her voice style, with the source under them.
- Key numbers at headline size.
- Portrait and short bio easy to download.
NGOs and lawyers
Work case by case. Need procedures, templates and arguments they can reuse.
Give them
- Steps in the right order.
- Templates and letters to reuse.
- What worked in real cases.
Design moves
- Numbered steps only where the order matters.
- A download at the end of every tool.
- Timelines drawn as one thread with knots.
Ukrainians in Europe
Mostly on a phone, often in Ukrainian, often worried. Need to know what applies to them and what to do next.
Give them
- Plain words, Ukrainian first.
- The next step, clearly.
- Privacy: nothing leaves the phone.
Design moves
- Design at 360 px first, with big tap targets.
- Calm screens: one question at a time.
- No account, no sign-up, no tracking.
Women in public life
Want to be seen at full size without apologising for it.
Give them
- Courage, with examples.
- Practice they can try today.
- Something to keep.
Design moves
- Poster register: loud fields, big type.
- Ask before telling: a choice, then the insight.
- End with a card or sentence to share.
Organisers and publishers
Decide in minutes whether to invite, book or publish her.
Give them
- Proof: roles, stages, publications.
- Her topics at a glance.
- One clear way to reach her.
Design moves
- Stage register for event material.
- Topics as short chips, not paragraphs.
- One contact button, the same on every page.
Eight principles
Every page, post and tool answers to these. Turn a card to see how to check it.
The point fits on the first screen.
A question as the headline, the claim in forty words or fewer, the ask, and how long it takes.
Check: a stranger can say the main point after five seconds.
Do something within a minute.
The first choice, slider or question sits in the first screen. A plain reading version is always one tap away.
Check: no scroll is needed to start.
Every claim shows its kind and its source.
Fact, interpretation or hypothesis, labelled. Every number linked, every legal rule dated.
Check: nothing unsourced goes out.
Every visit ends with something to keep.
A citation to copy, a letter to send, a card or PDF to download.
Check: the last screen has a take-away.
Strong and open in the same frame.
No "serious" section and "soft" section. Hard content sits on the feminine colour, at poster size.
Check: remove the colour and the argument still stands; remove the argument and the colour has nothing to say.
Ukrainian and English first, written for their readers.
Dutch and French where a case lives. Never publish word-for-word or unchecked machine output.
Check: a native speaker reads every language version, before or soon after it goes live.
Private and calm by default.
No account, answers stay in the browser, no comment walls, no trackers.
Check: a tool works fully offline after it loads.
Light, accessible, phone-first.
Built for a mid-range phone on a slow connection, WCAG 2.2 AA, a reduced-motion version of every animation.
Check: keyboard only, then a phone at 360 px.
The visual approach
Twelve rules, drawn as plans. Turn a card for how to do it and what to avoid. Filter to see one idea at a time.
- Poster type
Type is the image
When there is one message, the words are the picture. No photo, no icon, no decoration.
Type is the image
- Fixel Display Black, two to five words, set tight.
- Fill the canvas edge to edge; a line may change colour to carry the turn.
- One field colour behind it. Plum ink, or paper on magenta.
Avoid: adding a photo or an icon "to help".
- Poster type
Stack, then crop
Stack the words one per line and let the last line run off the edge. The crop says the idea is bigger than the frame.
Stack, then crop
- One word or phrase per line.
- Crop only the last line, and only while it can still be read.
- Vertical type for spines, edges and stage banners. Best on covers, banners and first screens.
Avoid: cropping a name or the first line.
- Loud fields
Two fields, one counter-colour
Split the canvas into two flat colour fields. The headline crosses the border and swaps colour as it does.
Two fields, one counter-colour
- Pairs: candy and thread red, lavender and plum, paper and magenta.
- The split sits low (about 55/45), never in the middle.
- Nothing else on the border: let the type do the crossing.
Avoid: a third colour, or a 50/50 split.
- Loud fields
Colour fills the field
Use colour as a whole surface, not as a tint on white. Proportion keeps it calm: lots of paper, a strong plum, a few loud notes.
Colour fills the field
- Roughly: paper 46, plum 18, candy 14, lavender 10, magenta 6, gold 3, red 2, acid 1.
- Choose the register first (below), then the field.
- Acid yellow is a sticker, never a background.
Avoid: pale tints on white.
- Data as art
One number, one sentence
A fact gets the size of a headline. One number, one plain sentence that says why it matters, and the source underneath.
One number, one sentence
- Fixel Display Black for the number; Fixel Text for the sentence.
- No decimals unless the decimal is the story.
- On screen, the number counts up once as it comes into view.
Avoid: a table or chart where one number would do.
- Data as art
Pills, not columns
Bars are pills that grow like strips of fabric. The value sits inside the pill, at the end, so the reader never looks for an axis.
Pills, not columns
- Up to five bars; sort them by value.
- The value sits inside the pill, at its end.
- Colours cycle lavender, candy, orchid, violet, magenta.
Avoid: axes, grid lines and 3D.
- Data as art
Bubbles for shares
When the parts of a whole matter more than exact values, size circles by area and connect them like cells. The biggest share sits in the middle.
Bubbles for shares
- Area, not diameter, carries the value.
- Label the three largest; list the rest underneath.
- One colour for the bubbles, grey for the connections.
Avoid: pie charts.
- Soft, sharp shapes
Every shape has one job
Shapes are soft at the edge and sharp in meaning. Each one is used for one thing only, so people learn to read them.
Every shape has one job
- Arch frames a person: portraits and the illustration.
- Rosette marks news or a date, one per layout.
- Hem closes a section, like the edge of a dress. Pill holds actions and data.
Avoid: using a shape for a job that belongs to another.
- Halftone
Dots around a strong subject
Halftone dots give print texture and pulse. Use them behind or over a subject with presence: a portrait, the gown, a headline with teeth.
Dots around a strong subject
- Magenta dots, fading out toward the edges.
- Never behind body text; keep reading areas plain.
- Fine dots for portraits and screens; large dots for posters seen from afar.
Avoid: dots over a face or over text people need to read.
- Line over type
The thread crosses the headline
One red line runs through or under the main words, with a loose end. Where it ties a knot, that is the decision or the turn in the story.
The thread crosses the headline
- One thread per view, in thread red (#D0021B), with round ends.
- It enters from an edge and leaves free; it never boxes anything in.
- On screen it draws itself as the reader arrives.
Avoid: a second thread, or the thread as a plain underline.
- Line over type
Italic red is her voice
Italic in thread red means one thing: Marta is speaking. It turns a page into a conversation with her.
Italic red is her voice
- Whole sentences or clauses only, never a single word for emphasis.
- Only her exact words, with a source line underneath.
- At most one voice line per screen.
Avoid: italic red for anyone else, or for emphasis.
- Loud fields
One sharp note
Acid yellow is the one sharp accent in a pastel system. Like a sticker on a poster, it says "new" or "now" and nothing else.
One sharp note
- One sticker per layout, tilted a few degrees.
- Two or three words, plum on acid.
- Never a background, never body text.
Avoid: two stickers, or acid as a field.
Quiet by design
Marta's work is worth finding, so nothing here chases anyone. People come for the content and leave with what they made. Turn a card for the reason.
Nothing to accept.
No analytics, no ad pixels, no social trackers, no fonts or scripts from other companies. So there is no cookie banner to design.
Check: the page loads only from martabarandiy.com.
Answers stay with the person.
Quizzes, exercises and cards run in the browser. Saving is the reader's choice, and every tool has a "forget" button.
Check: say it in one quiet line where people type something personal.
No "follow", no "subscribe", no pop-ups.
Channels are listed, not pushed. No countdowns, no "don't miss out", no sign-up walls, no exit pop-ups. If people like the work, they know where to find it.
Check: no line on the page asks for anything the content hasn't earned.
A message is a message, not a lead.
Forms send an email and keep nothing: no list, no database, no follow-up campaign. The form says so before people press send.
Check: the reply is the only email anyone gets.
Choose the register before the colour
Pink is never decoration here. The register follows the content, so the same system speaks to a parliament office and to a stage.
Poster
Personal, Unbound, news
Candy and magenta fields, poster type, the gold gown. Loud on purpose.
Stage
Talks and events
Deep plum with pink and gold. Built for screens in dark rooms.
Ukraine
Ukrainian themes
Warm paper with butter and blue, used sparingly and with intent.
Before anything goes out
Six questions. If one answer is no, it isn't ready.
- Is there exactly one red thread, and does it mean something?
- Is everything set in Fixel, with nothing else?
- Does every number and quote carry its source?
- Does it pass contrast (4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for large type)?
- Does it read on a phone at 360 px?
- Would Marta say these words herself?