Our website gives a clear and comprehensive account of what we do. But under the hood, there’s a lot of discipline in how we put it together. We have developed a set of foundational design rules to ensure that our system for digital communication is interoperable, scalable and adaptable.
PAGE TYPES
Newsfeed
Our home page consists of a menu, an image of a blackboard, and a newsfeed. The newsfeed—a reverse chronological summary of our activity—serves three purposes. It’s a table of contents, a summary of what’s new for returning visitors, and a mirror in which our organisation can see itself. ❧ Every page added to the website is flagged up on the newsfeed. Occasionally we show other things on the newsfeed too, such as improvements to the website. ❧ We tweet all the items on our newsfeed on our Twitter account, a process that is largely automated.
PAGE TYPES
Archive and collection pages
Our website can be thought of as a set of lists of different kinds of content: a list of people, a list of papers, and so on. ❧ A list in which the elements link to more detailed child pages, such as Jobs and Events, is called an archive page. A list in which the elements do not link to more detailed child pages, such as Values and Journals, is called a collection page. ❧ At the top of both kinds of pages is a titlegraph—a few sentences describing the contents of the page. ❧ Guidelines for specific archive, collection and child pages are given below.
LAYOUT
Isography
One of the most distinctive aspects of our site is that we use the same amount of text to describe the same type of content. For example, all of our biographies of people are the same length. We call this isography, from the Greek words for equal and writing. The lengths of our different types of content, in units of 140 characters including spaces, are shown below. ❧ Counterintuitively, constraints—like rhyme and metre in poetry, for example—improve the quality of writing. They also force us, rather than the reader, to figure out what is essential.
LAYOUT
Content lengths
1 unit...135–141 characters
1.5 units...202–210 characters
2 units...270–280 characters
3 units...410–420 characters
4 units...550–560 characters
5 units...690–700 characters
7 units...830–840 characters
8 units...970–980 characters
1 unit...rubric, value, cost
1.5 units...journal
2 units...titlegraph, short bio
3 units...ABT summary
4 units...ritual, design rules
5 units...bio
7 units...event
8 units...building
COMPONENTS
Titlegraph
A titlegraph is a summary of an archive or collection page that is two units long (270–280 characters). The word is a portmanteau of title and paragraph. ❧ The concept came about because the short title, such as rituals or funders, is already indicated by the menu selection and gives too little context. On the other hand, a paragraph of body text gives too much. Our solution is a hybrid: two or three sentences of motivation, set apart in a larger font size. ❧ Titlegraphs can link to relevant pages on our site. They use we instead of London Institute.
COMPONENTS
Brief
Our newsfeed is made out of summaries of content items called briefs. A brief has five parts: a fly title, headline, rubric, pic and date. Acting together, these help the reader decide whether to click to the child page and read more. ❧ The fly title gives the overall content type. The headline may involve a bit of wordplay and is short, at most 14 ems wide. The rubric summarises the content item in a single sentence that is one unit long (135–141 characters). The pic is a square image that is directly related to the content or evocative of it.
COMPONENTS
Fly title
The fly title in the newsfeed indicates the overall type of content. In general it is restricted to papers, people, press, events, website and jobs. ❧ On other pages, the fly title is a more fine-grained indicator. For instance, in our Papers page, it indicates the paper’s main research area, such as gravity, number theory or statistical physics. ❧ In our people page, the fly indicates the principal occupation of the person, such as science writing or software development for staff, and string theory or machine learning for scientists.
COMPONENTS
Headline
The headline is a punchy phrase that grabs the reader’s attention. It’s short—at most 14 ems wide in medium weight Roboto—for two reasons. One is to stand in contrast with the explanatory rubric: the headline is poetry to the rubric’s prose. The other is typographical: it needs to fit across a single column in our newsfeed (on a desktop). ❧ Because it is always paired with the rubric, the headline can be lighthearted and often involves a play on words. Examples of well-written headlines can be found in the tables of contents of Wired and The Economist.
COMPONENTS
Rubric
A rubric is a single sentence that summarises a content item. It is one unit long (135–141 characters). ❧ Rubrics are in the present tense so that they make sense before and after the fact. They do not use name prefixes or suffixes, such as Dr or FRS. ❧ Rubrics are hard to write, especially for papers, but get easier with practice. The effort is worth it—they get recycled for a variety of purposes, such as our twitter feed, posters, annual report and funding applications. Instructions for writing rubrics for different types of content are given below.
COMPONENTS
Blackboards
Blackboards play a central role at the London Institute. For some of our best papers, we illustrate the main idea on a blackboard and photograph it. These blackboard pictures are shown at the top of our home page. Each time the page is loaded, a random picture is chosen, but the other pictures can be accessed through a carousel. ❧ A blackboard consists of an image with a 2:1 aspect ratio and the headline of the paper it describes. The blackboard image links to the paper. ❧ We wrote an article about the art of blackboards in the science magazine Nautilus.
TEMPLATES
Templates
Templates are our standardised web page formats. They are the structural building blocks of our website and are repeatedly used for different kinds of content. Templates help us quickly build new pages without having to reinvent the wheel. ❧ For our archive and collection pages, we have four kinds of template, described below: newsfeed, script, icon and papers. ❧ For our child pages, we have four kinds of template: event, paper, person and long read. ❧ Each template has a number of options which makes it adaptable to different kinds of content.
TEMPLATES
Newsfeed template
Our newsfeed template is a layout for archive pages that shows both text and images. On the desktop it has five columns, each of which is 10 blocks wide (12 including gutters). Named after the newsfeed on our landing page, this template is also used for jobs, press, people, events, funders and building. ❧ Each newsfeed entry shows a fly title, optional date, headline, rubric and pic. The rubric is one unit long (135–141 characters). ❧ Because the columns are narrow, this template automatically applies word breaks at the end of the line, where needed.
TEMPLATES
Script template
Our script template is a layout for collection pages that shows text but no images. On the desktop it has four columns, each of which is 13 blocks wide (15 including gutters). Named after the concept of evolvable scripts introduced in The Imagination Machine by Martin Reeves, this template is used for values, rituals, soft power and design rules. ❧ Each entry shows an optional fly title, title and description. The description length varies from one unit for values to four units for rituals. ❧ Word breaks are automatically applied at the end of the line.
TEMPLATES
Icon template
Our icon template is a layout for collection pages that shows images but no text. On the desktop it has five columns, each of which is 10 blocks wide (12 including gutters). The icon template is used for Partners and Former people. ❧ Each entry shows a fly title, title and pic. Like the headline, the title is at most 14 ems wide. But the title does not involve any word play, because it does not have a rubric to unpack it. ❧ Each entry can link to an external web page. For example, each partner links to the homepage of the university or institute.
PAPERS
Papers archive page
Our papers archive page uses our papers template. Each paper shows the pic, subject, date, headline, authors, Arxiv or journal name, and rubric. ❧ The subject indicates the paper’s broad research area, such as gravity, number theory or statistical physics. The authors are shown as overlapping circular avatars; for London Institute authors the avatars are portraits, whereas for other authors the avatars are their initials. The date is the most recent of the following dates: Arxiv submission, journal submission, journal acceptance and journal publication.
PAPERS
Papers child page
The child page for a paper shows some or all of the following, depending on its publication status: the pic, headline, subject, date, title, journal reference, authors, ABT summary, pdf link, Arxiv link, Altmetric link and Dimensions link. ❧ The journal reference changes with time as follows: Arxiv • Submitted • In press, Physical Review A • Physical Review A 109, 12209 (2024). The last links to the journal’s listing of the paper. On publication, the pdf becomes the pdf generated by the journal. ❧ The date is the same as the one in the archive page.
PAPERS
Papers specification
Headline...14 ems
Rubric...1 unit
Acceptance rubric...1 unit
ABT summary...3 units
Pic...≥ 600 ⨉ 600
Journal Arxiv date
Volume Submission date
Page Acceptance date
Year Publication date
Subject fly Arxiv link
ABT toggle Journal link
Headline break Tint
PAPERS
Papers ABT summary
We used to show a paper’s abstract, but stopped for two reasons. First, abstracts come in different levels of technicality. Second, they tend to focus on resolving tension rather than creating it—even though storytelling needs both. So we began writing our own summaries, which we call ABT summaries. ❧ ABT is scientist-turned-storyteller Randy Olson’s mnemonic for the fundamental building blocks of story: momentum (And), conflict (But) and resolution (Therefore). Our ABT summaries are three units long and are in the present tense and first person plural.
PAPERS
Submitted paper brief
A paper is shown in the newsfeed three times. The first is when it is submitted to Arxiv or a journal and added to our website. ❧ The date for the brief is the date of submission. ❧ The rubric for the brief is one unit long and a single sentence, aimed at an audience at the level of a graduate student. It is in the present tense and does not use a grammatical person, such as we. We try to avoid jargon, but some technical terms may be necessary. If possible, we try to show that tension is resolved, rather than just focusing on the technical achievement.
PAPERS
Sub. paper brief examples
Strange kinks • A new non-linear mechanical metamaterial can sustain topological solitons, robust solitary waves that could have exciting applications.
Elliptical murmurations • Certain properties of the bivariate cubic equations used to prove Fermat’s last theorem exhibit flocking patterns, machine learning reveals.
Recursive counting • Three new closed-form expressions give the number of recursive divisors and ordered factorisations, which were until now hard to compute.
PAPERS
Accepted paper brief
The second time a paper is shown in the newsfeed is when it is accepted. The brief shows the fly, headline, pic, acceptance date and, instead of the submission rubric, text similar to: Journal accepts Title, by Author and coauthors. We mention by name only authors at the London Institute. ❧ To make the rubric one unit long, there are some tricks. The paper can be inserted before the paper title and the journal before the journal name. And coauthors can be replaced with et al. The title can be shortened by replacing some words with ellipsis marks.
PAPERS
Acc. paper brief examples
Critical Kauffman cracked • Physical Review Letters accepts “Number of attractors in the critical Kauffman model is exponential” by Thomas Fink and Forrest Sheldon.
Permuting the roots • Journal of the European Mathematical Society accepts “Permuting the roots of univariate polynomials…” by Alexander Esterov and his coauthor.
Spin-charge separation • Physical Review A accepts “Emergence of anyonic correlations from spin and charge dynamics in one dimension” by Oleksandr Gamayun et al.
PAPERS
Published paper brief
The third time a paper is in the newsfeed is when it is published by the journal. This brief is the same as the one for when the paper was submitted, except the date is now the official publication date and the pic is the journal logotype—the same one used on our journals page, if the journal is included there. ❧ We tweet all three briefs for a paper. When tweeting this third brief, we mention the journal’s handle, such as @PhysRevLett; if that doesn’t exist, we mention the publishing arm, such as @SpringerPhysics for the Journal of High Energy Physics.
JOURNALS
Journal collection page
Our journals collection page gives an overview of our favourite journals. We group them into those we have already published in and those we would like to publish in but haven’t. ❧ Each entry shows the title, description and pic; and, where the fly title would normally be, the SNIP points, number of papers published per year, odds of acceptance (if known) and twitter handle. The description is 1.5 units long and the pic is the journal’s logotype. ❧ The list of journals grows organically. We add to it whenever we come across a new one that we like.
JOURNALS
Journal description
A journal description is 1.5 units long (200–210 characters). It gives the subject area of the journal and describes its quality and reputation. If space permits, it also compares the journal to other journals in the field. The description may include the founding date, the scope of research, the subtitle if there is one, and any length constraints for papers. In describing the quality, groundbreaking beats significant beats notable. To save space, the journal is referred to by it rather than its title, which anyway appears above the description.
JOURNALS
Journal desc. examples
Physical Review Letters • Set up by the APS in 1958, it remained the most prestigious physics journal until Nature Physics and PRX showed up, both of which publish far fewer papers. Papers can be on any topic and up to five pages long.
Nature Communications • Collecting the best of Nature’s spillover since 2010, it publishes significant advances across all of science. It is the analogue of Science Advances. Both are direct competitors of the venerable PNAS.
JOURNALS
Journal title
For each journal, we store three titles. The full title is the official name of the journal. The ISO title is the standard abbreviation used in citations. We do not use full stops, which are optional. The title is usually the same as the full title, but sometimes, if the full title is long or rarely used, the title is different from the full title. ❧ In the paper child page, we use the title. ❧ Here are some examples of a full title, title and ISO title: Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Proceedings of the AMS and P Am Math Soc.
RESEARCH: THEMES
Themes collection
Our research themes describe the four main branches of research that we do. ❧ A theme contains a brief (fly title, headline, rubric, pic and date), a summary and the papers associated with the theme. The summary gives a high level overview of the theme, touching on some of the relevant research that has been done at the London Institute. ❧ Our four themes are: Mathematics that unifies; The elegant universe; Life, learning and emergence; and Theory of human enterprise. ❧ The pics for our themes are from NASA’s Visions of the Future space tourism posters.
EVENTS
Events archive
Our events archive page shows our past and upcoming events. Each entry shows a fly title, headline, rubric, pic and date. ❧ The fly title indicates the kind of event, such as lecture, seminar or dinner. ❧ Before the event, the date of the event is preceded by coming; this is dropped on the day of the event. ❧ The pic can be an image that is evocative of the subject of the event or a portrait of the speaker. After the event, the pic is sometimes replaced with a standout photo of the event itself, which can link to a carousel of more event photos.
EVENTS
Events child page
Our events child page shows the headline, date, rubric, pic and summary, as well as the names, portraits and short bios of any speakers. ❧ The summary is seven units long (970–980 characters). The first paragraph gives background and the second explains what the speaker will talk about, typically starting In this talk or At this event. ❧ Information is at most two units long and tells when it is, where it is, if there’s any food and drink and how to attend. ❧ All of the text is written in the present tense, so that it makes sense before and after the event.
EVENTS
Events brief examples
A monstrous talent • In the inaugural Simon Norton Lecture, Peter Cameron celebrates the mathematician’s life and achievements and talks about Norton algebras.
Launching HoloUK • Experts in holography, gravity and quantum systems discuss advances in our knowledge of conformal field theories and holographic complexity.
Nuclear Now • The UK premiere of Oliver Stone’s new film, Nuclear Now, takes place in the Lecture Theatre, followed by an interview with the director.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Jobs archive
Our Jobs archive page shows our current and recently filled job opportunities. It uses our newsfeed template. Each entry shows a fly title, headline, rubric, pic and date. ❧ The fly title indicates whether the job is open or filled. The headline is the name of the job. The rubric takes on one of two forms, depending on whether the job is open or filled. The pic is of a postage stamp relevant to the job. The date is the most recent of the announcement or selection date. ❧ For jobs that have been filled, we make the text and image semi-transparent.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Jobs child page
Our jobs child page shows the headline, date, rubric, pic and description. ❧ The description has six sections: background, job, candidate, activities, London Institute and apply. All the sections are four units long (550–560 characters) except for the apply section, which is at most two units. The text for the London Institute section is independent of the job. ❧ Once the job is filled, the rubric changes from the posting rubric to the selection rubric and the description becomes semi-transparent. Some examples of job rubrics are shown below.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Jobs specification
Headline...14 ems
Posting rubric...1 unit
Selection rubric...1 unit
Start rubric...1 unit
Pic...≥ 600 ⨉ 600
Background...4 units
Job...4 units
Candidate...4 units
Activities...4 units
London Institute...4 units
Apply...4 units
Status switch Posting date
. Selection date
. Start date
PEOPLE & JOBS
Job briefs
A job is shown in the newsfeed three times, all with the same headline—the job title. The first time is when it is posted and we start looking for candidates. The pic is of a postage stamp relevant to the job. ❧ The second time is when we select a person for the job. The pic remains the stamp. ❧ The third time is when the person starts work. This time, the pic is a portrait of the person and the fly title changes from jobs to people. ❧ The rubrics for the three briefs are shown below. The last rubric becomes the person’s rubric in the people page.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Job posting brief examples
Chief science writer • The London Institute is hiring a full-time science writer to write about the Institute and re-imagine how to communicate physics and maths.
Assistant to the director • The London Institute is hiring an assistant to the director to manage our scientists and staff and coordinate the Institute’s activities.
A&L Junior Fellowships • The London Institute is hiring four outstanding young physicists and mathematicians from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to join us in 2024.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Job selection brief examples
Chief science writer • After an extensive search, the London Institute recruited Ananyo Bhattacharya as the chief science writer. He starts on 29 January 2024.
A&L Junior Fellowships • The London Institute recruited Arman Sarikyan as an Arnold Junior Fellow, one of a few we are recruiting this year. He starts on 1 July 2024.
A&L Junior Fellowships • The London Institute recruited mathematician Arman Sarikyan as an Arnold and Landau Junior Fellow. He starts on 1 July.
PEOPLE & JOBS
People archive
Our people archive page lists our employees, official visitors and trustees. It uses our newsfeed template. Each entry shows a fly title, headline, rubric and pic. ❧ The fly indicates the principal occupation of the person, such as science writing or software development for staff, and string theory or statistical physics for scientists. The headline is the person’s name and does not include prefixes or suffixes, such as Dr or FRS. The rubric is the same as the start rubric for the job of the person. The pic is a black and white portrait of the person.
PEOPLE & JOBS
People child page
Our people child page shows the headline, rubric, pic, bio and, for scientists, research interests and a link to papers. ❧ The bio is five units long (690–700 characters) and gives the person’s position and chronologically highlights their career, optionally ending with interests outside their profession. ❧ The short bio is two units long (270–280 characters). It is not shown in the child page but rather in Events when the person is a speaker. ❧ Scientists have as well a one-unit description of their research interests, examples of which are below.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Former people collection
As well as our current people, we show past London Institute people, too: former employees, official visitors and trustees. It uses our icon template, described above. ❧ Each entry shows the position, name and portrait of the former person, but not their rubrics, and it does not link to their child page. However, their rubric and short bio remains in the newsfeed and in any events at which the person spoke. A former person’s name on a paper does link to their child page. ❧ On request, an entry can link to the former person’s current external web page.
PEOPLE & JOBS
People brief examples
Chief science writer • Ananyo Bhattacharya is the chief science writer at LIMS. He writes about the institute and our research in the science and mainstream press.
Dr Lysov is an Arnold Fellow at LIMS. His research is on tropical mirror symmetry, supersymmetric localisation and asymptotic symmetries.
Assistant to the director • Justine Crean is the assistant to the director at LIMS. She helps manage our scientists and staff and coordinate the Institute’s activities.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Research interests
The research interests of a scientist are not included in the bio, but rather given in a separate single sentence that comes after it. The sentence is one unit long (135–141 characters) and in the present tense. It begins with Dr or Prof. Smith works on…. ❧ Research interests should be broad enough to encompass recent and future research, rather than just focus on a current project. It can be updated at any point by the scientist and may be edited by our science writer. Examples are given below. ❧ We do not show research interests for staff and trustees.
PEOPLE & JOBS
Research interests examples
Dr Ochirov works on the physics of celestial objects and quantum field theory, including the behaviour of elementary and composite particles.
Prof. He works on string theory, geometry and number theory, and how AI can uncover new patterns and conjectures in physics and mathematics.
Dr Burtsev works on the maths behind effective AI, including continual learning and memory-augmented neural networks, and AI-assisted maths.
ABOUT
Opinions child page
Opinions are essays or letters to the editor that express our point of view on an important topic, written by a member of the Institute. ❧ An opinion shows the title, publication name (if the piece is published) and date, rubric, pic, and the essay or letter itself. ❧ The publication name links to the published version. If the piece has been edited for brevity by the publisher, we sometimes show our original version on our site. The first letter of the piece is a drop cap. Opinions tend to be a few hundred to 1,000 words long, but there is no limit.
ABOUT
Building collection
In the building section of our website, we describe each of our main spaces in the Royal Institution. A space may be a single large room or a group of related smaller rooms. ❧ A space consists of a brief (fly title, headline, rubric, pic and date) and a description. The description is eight units long (1110-1120 characters) and outlines the history of the space since the Royal Institution was founded, as well its current use by the London Institute. ❧ The pic is either an historical painting of the space or a recent photograph of it after we moved in.
ABOUT
Rituals collection
Our rituals page is a codification of the routines and traditions of our organisation. On a desktop it uses our script template. Each item shows a fly title, title and description. ❧ The fly title is the ritual type, such as daily rituals, tools of the trade, or food and drink. Rituals are grouped together according to their type. ❧ The title is at most 20 ems long, so that it fits across a single column on a desktop. ❧ The description is four units long (550–560 characters). Paragraphs within it are separated by fleurons rather than line breaks.
ABOUT
Design rules collection
Our design rules page is a collection of guidelines for how we organise and maintain the content on our website. On a desktop it uses our script template. Each item shows a fly title, title and description. ❧ The fly title indicates the type of design rule, such as papers or events. Design rules are grouped together by their type. ❧ The title is at most 20 ems long, so that it fits across a single column on a desktop. ❧ The description is four units long (550–560 characters). Paragraphs within it are separated by fleurons rather than line breaks.
ABOUT
Writing rules collection
Our writing rules page is a collection of rules for how we write and lay out the text in our website, printed material and research papers. ❧ The rules are grouped into five kinds: style, phrases, words, symbols and typesetting. The guide is not exhaustive—it only contains rules of thumb that we have found useful in practice. There is no length limit for rules but we make them as concise as possible. Within each kind of rule, the rules are ordered by length. ❧ Instead of putting quote marks around examples of words and phrases, we italicise them.
ABOUT
Values collection page
Our values are the fundamental organising principles of the London Institute. They are a simplified version of our obsolete principles, which have since been divvied up into values, rituals and design rules. ❧ Our values collection page uses our four-column script template (on a desktop). ❧ A value contains a short title and a description that is one unit long (135–141 characters). The description is a statement about our actions in the present tense. ❧ Some of our values link to longer opinion pieces that we have written on our website or for the press.
ABOUT
Press brief
We add a press brief to our newsfeed any time we say something significant in the press, or when the press reports on us or our work. ❧ The pic is the black and white logotype of the relevant periodical; examples can be seen in our press page. Because of this, in general we don’t mention the periodical in the rubric. An exception is when the piece is in a notable section of the periodical, such as The Thunderer column in The Times. ❧ If one of our research papers is reported on, we refer to the paper using its headline rather than the paper’s full title.
ABOUT
Press brief examples
Science goes pro • Professional sport has a lot to teach scientists about pushing the limits of human achievement—so why are we still content to be amateurs?
A Birch for AI’s back • In Nature correspondence, our scientists argue that, by the terms of “the Birch test”, no AI has yet made a genuine mathematical discovery.
The art of blackboards • In a piece in Nautilus, our scientists talk about why they prefer the 1,000-year-old technology of blackboards to their digital equivalents.
FUNDERS
Funders collection
Our funders collection page lists our major funding sources. It uses our newsfeed template. Each entry shows the name, rubric and pic. ❧ The name can include abbreviations or acronyms if that is how the funder is widely known. With the exception of anonymous funders, the rubric describes the funder, not what the funding is for. The rubric unpacks any acronyms used in the name. The pic is the funder’s logo or logotype. ❧ Funders are ordered alphabetically by name. In 2024, they will have a fly title indicating the type of funding, such as grants or gifts.
FUNDERS
Funder brief examples
DARPA • The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency makes pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies that benefit national security.
Horizon 2020 • Horizon 2020 was created by the European Commission to fund scientific research and innovation across Europe and other member countries.
BCG Henderson Institute • The BCG Henderson Institute applies insights from academic disciplines to the strategic challenges facing business, government and society.
FUNDERS
Partners collection
Our partners collection page lists the universities and research institutes with which we have had joint research grants from one of our funders. It does not include any businesses. The page uses our icon template. ❧ Each entry shows the name, pic and country in which the partner is located. The pic is the organisation’s logo or logotype. ❧ Partners are ordered first by country, in which countries with more partners take precedent (but the UK comes first regardless), then alphabetically within a country. Each entry links to the partner’s website.