Why Laurel Fork looks the way it does
Laurel Fork is for a country Baptist church of about seventy people in the hills outside Hindman. Most of its readers are older, many read on a phone a grandchild set up, and the site has to feel as plain and trustworthy as the church itself.
- Built for
- Members and their scattered families, people moving back to Knott County, and anyone looking for a Sunday service, a funeral time or help with a heating bill.
- Navigation
- Centred masthead. The name sits centred like a printed masthead; pages run underneath. Signals heritage and calm.
- Pages
- Home, Sunday Morning, Homecoming, Sermons, Our History, Need a Hand
- Hero
- A full-bleed photograph left completely free of words, with the headline set underneath it like a museum caption and a small column of place, date and photo credit. Variants: a = catalogue entry (plate number, headline, details column); b = the details run as a ruled strip above one wide headline; c = the photo bleeds off the left edge and the details hang in the right-hand margin beside it
Typography
Headings are in Sorts Mill Goudy, a revival of the old-style roman you see in hymnals and county histories, with old-style figures so the dates sit in the line like they do in print. Reading text is Public Sans at 19 pixels, a sturdy face drawn for government forms that have to work for every reader, set large because half this congregation is past seventy. We tried Atkinson Hyperlegible first, but its slashed zeros made '10:00' look like a typo on a church sign.
Color
The green is the dark leaf of the mountain laurel the creek is named for, and the rose is its bloom in May. The background is the gray-green of the ridges on a hazy morning. In the dark theme the green lightens toward the leaf's underside so it still reads on a phone at night.
Layout and navigation
The name sits centred at the top like a church sign, with plain words under it: Sunday Morning, Homecoming, Need a Hand. Everything is centred and generous, with no menus to hunt through and no animations to wait for.
The hero
The opening photograph has no words on it, just the white church across the field, with the caption set beneath it like a photograph in a family album. The details strip says where it is and when to come before anything else.
Calls to action
The main button gives directions, because the church is three miles up a hollow road and GPS sends people the wrong way at the fork. The second most important action is 'Ask for a hand', for heating, groceries and rides to Hazard.
Photography
Country churches, hazy ridges, covered-dish tables and older faces. No stage lights or big crowds, because there are none here.
Accessibility
Large type, high contrast, every phone number tappable and every time written out in full. The church phone number appears on every page because many members will call before they will fill in a form.
Type system
- DisplaySorts Mill GoudyA revival of Frederic Goudy's old-style roman, the same family of letters found in the hymnals and county histories on the back pew.
- TextPublic SansA plain, wide-open sans drawn for US government forms that everybody has to read, set large because many of the people who read this site are past seventy.
Colour and contrast
Every text pairing is checked against WCAG 2.2 in both themes.
Light theme
| Pairing | Sample | Ratio | WCAG |
|---|
| Body text on page | Aa | 13.65:1 | AAA |
| Body text on cards | Aa | 15.7:1 | AAA |
| Secondary text | Aa | 5.8:1 | AA |
| Links | Aa | 7.02:1 | AAA |
| Button text | Aa | 8.08:1 | AAA |
| Accent label text | Aa | 5.7:1 | AA |
| Text on dark bands | Aa | 13.65:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on dark bands | Aa | 7.39:1 | AAA |
| Text on brand bands | Aa | 8.08:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on brand bands | Aa | 5.38:1 | AA |
Dark theme
| Pairing | Sample | Ratio | WCAG |
|---|
| Body text on page | Aa | 14.86:1 | AAA |
| Body text on cards | Aa | 13.4:1 | AAA |
| Secondary text | Aa | 6.7:1 | AA |
| Links | Aa | 9.25:1 | AAA |
| Button text | Aa | 9.81:1 | AAA |
| Accent label text | Aa | 8.73:1 | AAA |
| Text on dark bands | Aa | 15.99:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on dark bands | Aa | 8.11:1 | AAA |
| Text on brand bands | Aa | 9.81:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on brand bands | Aa | 5.8:1 | AA |