4Columns is an online arts criticism site which, as the name implies, publishes four columns on a weekly basis. Our guidelines from the client were to design a site in which images were secondary to texts. The founder, Margaret Sundell, had a vision of a homepage with four simple headlines and no competing visuals. It was a pure and minimal brief which we found exciting.

Our pitch was to design the site identity based on fields of muted colors. Graphic design is so often about the punch of poppy color schemes, but in this project we wanted to go in a less expected direction. At the back of our minds were the paintings of Agnes Martin, or possibly the off-white swatches one places next to each other when deciding which wall paint to use. It sounds oxymoronic, but to us, a delicate color scheme can possess a form of poise or hardness in its expression. Like a man wearing a peach shirt, it requires confidence.