Graphite Newsletter: publish your arguments as correspondence

The home page opens with a wide banner closed by a heavy rule. On the left sit her role and location in small type, then the words Letters from Meera Kapoor in the display serif, and beneath them her one-sentence headline. On the right a circular portrait is circled by a thin sage ring, set off from the photograph by a band of the page colour, so it reads like a seal on letterhead rather than a corporate headshot. On a phone the circle shrinks but keeps its place beside the name.

Below the banner the page divides into a narrow archive column and a wide reading column. The reading column carries this letter: an eyebrow giving its number, a line with topic, date and reading time, and the title at full headline size. For Meera that is her letter on why a renewable tariff means little until the distribution company pays it. The standfirst and opening paragraph follow in a serif with generous leading, held to about sixty characters a line, then her name as an italic sign-off and a link to read on.

Because the home page shows only the summary and first paragraph, both must work as an argument on their own. Meera's opening concedes that everyone reports the auction tariff, then calls it the second most important number.

The left column, headed The letter archive, lists every letter with its number and date above the title. Three letters spread over ten months show a steady practice rather than a single burst. On a phone the order reverses: the current letter comes first and the archive sits below it in two short columns, so nobody scrolls through a list before reaching the argument.

After the desk, a tinted panel headed Continue the correspondence carries her philosophy, preferring a smaller number a utility has paid to a larger one it has merely signed, with a link to her contact page. Her headline figures, thesis, proof points and an endorsement follow.

Graphite sets warm off-white text on a charcoal ground, with raised panels in lighter greys and a pale sage accent for eyebrows, links and the portrait ring. It avoids the greens and golds that energy companies use for their own branding, which keeps the site personal rather than corporate. The composition loads Libre Baskerville for headlines and letter text, and DM Sans for labels, dates and navigation. Baskerville gives long paragraphs the steadiness of printed correspondence; DM Sans keeps figures such as receivable days and gigawatts crisp at small sizes. For readers who sit on credit committees, the pairing signals care without ornament.

The career page is headed Letters from my career. Each of her six roles sits between double rules under a tinted dateline band showing a record number and the period, followed by scope and narrative: from appraising power loans in Mumbai to taking Tejovan to listing. The Board Readiness page, headed A board appointment correspondence, reads her contribution, first-year approach and judgement examples as one continuous letter, then sets committee preferences, available days, exposure and governance learning in two enclosure columns. Both pages have a print treatment. The journal index features the latest letter and groups the rest by topic; each essay page adds a pull quote and links to neighbouring letters.

The Newsletter composition rewards leaders who think in instalments: a chief risk officer who writes to the board each quarter, an infrastructure CEO explaining a long programme to investors, a general counsel who publishes on regulation, or an economist turned executive. It suits less well someone whose evidence is mainly visual, or who has not yet written two developed pieces. Every designation can use it, and the charcoal palette gives leaders outside finance the same quiet, serious register.