PowerAdvice · What changed

The site is moving from source list to editorial product.

Pascal's decisions make PowerAdvice easier to scan, easier to sponsor, and safer to finish before Doug shows it in the July sponsor cycle.

Whatmagazine-like front

Whydemo and sponsor clarity

Black Flag Design

Doug / Suzanne brief · June 24, 2026

Why · System before polish

The first decision was consistency, not decoration.

Pascal's merged PRs turned repeated page styling into a shared system so visible changes stop drifting from surface to surface.

Type role

Avenir is the product voice.

Chrome, labels, metadata, navigation, channel framing, and utility UI stay quiet and consistent.

Editorial role

Editorial New is for story titles.

The display face is reserved for published article titles, where it adds magazine character without confusing the UI.

Result

Doug gets a defensible answer.

If a font looks different, the answer is role clarity: title, chrome, metadata, and action each have a job.

Black Flag Design

Pascal decisions · Typography and components

What · The visible product

The important change is hierarchy.

Readers see editorial order.Lead stories, channels, articles, and rails have clearer relative importance.

Sponsors see inventory in context.Native cards, Centers, and ad units can be explained as product placements, not random boxes.

Doug gets a simpler demo.The story becomes: this is where advice lives, this is how people scan it, and this is where sponsors fit.

Black Flag Design

PowerAdvice · Reader and sponsor hierarchy

Why · Sponsor inventory

Ad placement is a business tradeoff, not just a layout bug.

Pascal's structure gives the team a way to decide placements deliberately: visibility for sponsors versus article density for readers.

Default

Above the fold sells inventory.

It proves sponsorship has real placement and makes the offer easier to discuss.

Tradeoff

It can reduce article count.

Doug is right that smaller screens can show fewer stories when ad weight moves high.

Decision

Lock placement by viewport.

The answer should be explicit: what stays high, what moves lower, and what is sponsor-specific.

Black Flag Design

Doug concern · Article density versus sponsor visibility

Now · What to lock before demos

The foundation is decided. The demo polish is the open work.

Before sponsor demos, the team should mark each visible concern as intentional, changed, or still in Phase 3.

Lock

Type hierarchy

Sweep font mismatches against Pascal's roles.

Tune

White space

Keep hierarchy, recover wasted density.

Decide

Ad defaults

Set placement rules by screen size.

Confirm

Click cues

Make Ask and article actions obvious.

Give Doug

The why sheet

One page of answers he can use with sponsors.

Black Flag Design

Phase 3 · Visual design pass