Hearth Families

Why it looks this way.

Typography

Rufina carries the headlines, old-style figures and all, so the big numbers sit like handwriting in a ledger. Its pointed serifs and calligraphic contrast feel like the inscription page of a family Bible, which is the right register for a ministry about who belongs to whom. Nunito Sans does the work underneath: rounded, open and calm at 17px, because many readers are on a phone in a hospital corridor or a caseworker's waiting room.

• Rufina headlines
• Nunito Sans body text

Color

The palette comes from Delft tiles, the blue-and-white tiles that lined fireplaces in the Dutch homes of Holland, Zeeland and Grand Rapids. Cobalt does the structural work, porcelain blue-white is the page, and a single ember orange marks the hearth: needs, highlights and the placement line. The dark theme moves to night-tile navy, with the cobalt softened so it doesn't buzz against the dark.

• Page #F1F3F7
• Cards #FFFFFF
• Text #1A2236
• Brand #2C4A8E
• Accent #C9661F

Layout

A classic top bar with six plain page names, because the two audiences arrive with very different questions and both need to see their door immediately. 'Thinking of fostering' and 'For parents' sit side by side so a curious church member and a licensed parent never wander into each other's pages.

Pages: Home, Care teams, Thinking of fostering, The Closet, For parents, Our story

Hero

The opening number is 86, the families who have a care team around them right now. We chose it over children served because the ask is for neighbors, and the number shows the ask working. The supporting ledger turns the abstract into casseroles, babysitting hours and churches.

Calls to action

The main button is 'Join a care team', since that is what the ministry most needs and the smallest real step most people can take. Fostering itself is approached through 'Come to a First Questions night', a no-commitment evening, because nobody licenses from a website. Parents get 'Ask for a care team', worded as a request they are entitled to make.

Photography

Children in foster care cannot be shown on a public website, so every photograph is of adoptive families who consented, volunteers, or the Closet itself. Where a child appears, they are with a parent and mid-moment. We avoided sad-child imagery entirely: the families on this site are tired and busy, not tragic.

Accessibility

Body text runs at 17px with generous line height, and every color pairing passes WCAG AA in both themes. The Closet's 'open now' status is written out in words as well as color, and the placement line number appears as text in the footer on every page so it can be read aloud by a screen reader or copied in one tap.