Orbis Futura is an existing research institute with a Wordpress website at orbisfutura.com. We are launching Orbis Futura Review — an editorial publication focused on defence technology and strategic futures — as a dedicated section of the existing site. The Review requires its own visual identity, templates, and editorial infrastructure within Wordpress. It must feel like a distinct publication while remaining integrated with the parent site's masthead, footer, and CMS login. Think of the relationship as analogous to Foreign Affairs within the Council on Foreign Relations' web presence, or Lawfare within Brookings. 2. Scope of work 2.1 Templates to be built Review landing page — to live at /review/ (replacing the current /orbis-futura-review/ URL, with redirects). Homepage-style layout featuring a lead essay, recent pieces grid, signals list, podcast block, newsletter signup. See the accompanying HTML sample for the exact design intent. Review article template — a dedicated single-post template for Review pieces, distinct from the existing institute article/post template. Key requirements: Narrow measure body copy (65–75 characters per line) Featured image above the body, not as a background or full-bleed Author byline with link to author page, affiliation, and estimated reading time Dropcap or stylised first paragraph option Footnote / endnote support with backlinks Pull quote component End-of-article author bio Two or three "further reading" pieces at the foot of the article, manually curated or auto-populated by tag No sidebar, no social share clutter, no related-posts injection mid-article Clean print stylesheet Section landing pages — three template variants for the Review's internal sections (Research, Essays, Signals). Each is a typographic listing page with a section title, a one-paragraph section description, and a reverse-chronological list of pieces. No hero image. See sample HTML for visual treatment. Issue page — template for displaying a curated issue (e.g., "Issue I"). Includes an editorial introduction from the editor, issue cover illustration, and a curated list of the pieces in the issue, grouped by section. Author / contributor page — template for individual contributors showing biographical information, photo, affiliation, and a list of their published pieces. Review About page — static page template with the Review's editorial statement. Pitch / Contribute page — static page template with submission guidelines and a pitch submission form. Podcast page — template listing episodes with embedded players, guest names, and episode descriptions. 2.2 Content architecture Custom post type: Register a new custom post type called review_article (or equivalent) so Review content is cleanly separated from the institute's existing White Papers, Research Areas, and general posts. This keeps the editorial workflow distinct and makes listing pages reliable. Custom taxonomies: review_section — with three terms: Research, Essays, Signals (used to route pieces to the correct section template) review_issue — with terms like "Issue I", "Issue II" (used for the issue page) review_topic — free-form topic tagging (e.g., Autonomy, Space, Undersea, Industrial Base, Cyber, Biosecurity) Custom fields (ACF or equivalent): Standfirst / deck (separate from the WP excerpt) Estimated reading time (or auto-calculated from word count) Peer reviewer credit (for Research track pieces) Piece kicker (short topic label shown above the headline) Featured illustration alt text and credit line Word count (optional display) Migration of existing content: The existing institute articles (currently at root URL slugs like /from-droplets-to-defence-...) include pieces that fit the Review's editorial scope — specifically the hydrodynamic quantum analogues piece, the polymath power piece, and the quantum realism piece. These should be optionally migratable into the new review_article post type with appropriate redirects from their current URLs. Include this as an optional line item in the quote. 2.3 Editorial and subscriber plugins to configure Newsletter: Newsletter Glue or MailPoet, configured for weekly sends with a custom branded template matching the Review's visual identity. Or integration with an external ESP (ConvertKit, Mailchimp, Buttondown) if preferred — please advise on tradeoffs. Podcast: Seriously Simple Podcasting or Blubrry PowerPress, configured to generate the RSS feed required for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms. Podcast audio hosting will be external (Transistor / Captivate); Wordpress only handles the feed and on-site player. Editorial workflow: PublishPress or an equivalent plugin providing editorial calendar, custom post statuses (Pitch Received, Commissioned, In Draft, In Edit, In Peer Review, Ready to Publish, Scheduled), and editorial notes on posts. Pitch submission form: a form on the Pitch page (WPForms, Fluent Forms, or Gravity Forms) that routes to the editor's inbox with a structured payload (contributor name, affiliation, pitch subject, 150-word pitch, relevant prior work). 2.4 Design system implementation Implement the design system established in the accompanying HTML sample. Key elements: Typography: Display: Fraunces (Google Fonts, variable font with SOFT and WONK axes enabled) Body: Source Serif 4 (Google Fonts, variable) UI/metadata: Archivo (Google Fonts) Palette: Paper: #F4EFE4 Deeper paper: #EBE5D6 Ink: #14213D Accent: #8B2635 Rule: #14213D22 Layout principles: One-column body copy at 65–75 characters per line Generous whitespace, hairline rules, no shadows or gradients Italic display type used meaningfully (on specific words within headlines) Metadata in tracked uppercase Archivo No rounded corners on primary UI 2.5 Integration with the parent site The Review's top masthead and bottom footer should match the parent institute site's masthead and footer for navigation consistency, but within the Review section the internal navigation and visual treatment match the Review's own design. A secondary strip below the main masthead, visible on Review pages only, surfaces the Review's own navigation (Research / Essays / Signals / Podcast / About / Pitch). Clear visual cue that the user is in the Review section (possibly a "Review" wordmark in the secondary masthead, as in the sample). 2.6 Technical requirements Must work with the existing Wordpress installation and hosting; please audit the current theme and flag any conflicts. Page speed: target Lighthouse performance score 90+. Fonts loaded with font-display: swap. Images lazy-loaded. Minimal JavaScript. Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. Semantic HTML, correct heading hierarchy, alt text fields for all imagery, keyboard navigation. Responsive: designs work cleanly from 360px mobile up to 1600px desktop. SEO: schema markup for articles (Article, Author, Publisher), Open Graph and Twitter Card tags, automatically generated SEO titles and descriptions with editor override. Analytics: Plausible or Fathom integration preferred over Google Analytics. 2.7 Out of scope (for this phase) Paid subscriptions and membership (to be added in a later phase once the Review has traction) Multilingual (the Review launches English-only) Comments (the Review does not plan to host comments) Forum or community features 3. Deliverables Custom Wordpress theme or child theme implementing all templates above Configured plugins: newsletter, podcast, editorial workflow, pitch form Custom post type and taxonomies registered Migration of three existing articles into the new structure, with URL redirects (optional line item) Admin documentation: a short Loom video or PDF walking the editor through publishing a piece, assigning it to a section and issue, and scheduling it Handover of theme source code via Git repository Thirty days of post-launch bug fix support 4. Timeline Target launch: eight weeks from project start. Suggested milestones: Week 1: Discovery, audit of existing theme, design system setup Weeks 2–3: Review landing page and article template built Week 4: Section landing pages, issue page, author page Week 5: About, Pitch, Podcast pages; plugin configuration Week 6: Content migration, admin documentation, QA Week 7: Client review, revisions, soft launch to staging Week 8: Production launch 5. What we are looking for in your proposal A fixed-price quote for the core scope, with optional line items priced separately (content migration, podcast plugin configuration, advanced editorial workflow) Proposed technology choices with reasoning (which plugins you recommend, whether you would extend the existing theme or build a new parent theme) Two or three portfolio pieces of comparable editorial Wordpress work Estimated timeline How you propose to handle ongoing maintenance after the 30-day warranty period (monthly retainer options welcome) 6. Reference publications for the editorial experience When designing the reading experience and interaction patterns, please reference: Foreign Affairs (foreignaffairs.com) — article template, typography The New Atlantis (thenewatlantis.com) — restraint, editorial tone in layout Works in Progress (worksinprogress.co) — contemporary editorial publication Asterisk (asteriskmag.com) — issue-based structure Lawfare (lawfaremedia.org) — institute-hosted editorial publication