Reference: Dark Mountain Project
Reference: Dark Mountain Project
- URL: https://dark-mountain.net
- Studied: 2026-10-01 (home page, desktop and narrow widths)
- Status: liked by the team. The strongest website reference so far.
Summary
A literary, handmade, almost monochrome site. Texture and printmaking carry the feel. Dark and light sections meet at torn ink edges. Grounded and serious, but about endings, with little warmth.
Observed details
Type
- One serif for nearly everything: Libre Baskerville (body 18px; h1 39px; h2 31px; h3 20px; all weight 400, never bold).
- A small sans for details: Libre Franklin (meta, dates, small labels).
- Headings are large and light; hierarchy comes from size and space, not weight.
Colour
| Use | Value |
|---|---|
| Ink (text, dark sections) | #262623 |
| Dark section variant | #2e2e2d |
| Paper (light sections) | #f4f3f0 |
| Text on dark | #f3f1ee |
| Muted links and meta | #aba8a4 |
| Hero quote | warm amber/orange, overlaid on the illustration |
Colour almost entirely comes from images. The interface itself is ink and paper.
Texture and material
- The body background is a paper-grain texture image (
[email protected], WordPress theme "molecular"). - The sticky dark header ends in a torn, brushed ink edge rather than a straight line. The same edge separates dark and light sections further down.
- The logo is an ink blot or torn-paper shape with the name set in serif beside it.
Imagery
- Hero: a full-bleed black-and-white engraving of a black-tailed jackrabbit (by Briony Morrow-Cribbs), with a literary quote from the magazine set over it.
- Throughout: woodcuts, linocuts, papercuts (two boars in an arch), and raw, slightly strange photography (a person at a table underwater; a body with fur growing from it).
- Nothing glowing, polished or "spiritual-looking". The strangeness is graphic and literary.
Structure and details
- Navigation items carry small superscript numbers (01 About, 02 Books, 03 Events, 04 Shop, 05 Get Involved), then Subscribe, a basket and a menu.
- Section titles are rotated vertically in the left margin, with a small hand-drawn icon (a feather, a book).
- Sections: Latest news, From Our Latest Books, Featured Mountaineer, Featured Section, Dark Kitchen.
- Cards alternate between dark ink fills and paper fills in the same row.
- Numbered lists (02, 03) in dark sections; a thin outlined "See all" button sitting on a horizontal rule.
- A long home page (about 8,800px at desktop width).
What works for Seeds
- The hand as texture: paper grain, ink, printmaking. This is a strong model for "a bit muddy" and "imperfection".
- Material thresholds: dark and light meet at a torn or brushed edge. This is the version of the Night to Dawn idea that works; a digital gradient does not.
- Handmade imagery avoids woo-woo: engraving and printmaking can carry myth and depth without glowing.
- Restraint in colour: ink and paper, with colour coming from the images.
- Literary seriousness: one serif, light weights, generous size.
- Quirky structural details (rotated labels, small hand-drawn icons) give it character without chaos.
What doesn't fit
- Its subject is an ending ("uncivilisation"). The mood is heavy and lacks the hope and community Seeds needs.
- Some parts feel dated and busy (the amber quote over the hero, dense card rows).
- Little sense of people gathering, joy or warmth.