Faint Signals is a slow journal about doing the web carefully.
I’m Mara Voss, a designer and engineer in Lisbon, Portugal. Faint Signals is where I write down the things I keep relearning — about type, layout, motion, and the unglamorous craft of making pages that feel considered.
There’s no content calendar and no growth strategy. Essays land when an idea has finished arguing with itself, which is every few weeks, more or less. If you care about the parts of the web that users feel but can’t name, you’re in the right place.
Everything here is written in public and revised in public. When I change my mind — and I do — the old posts stay up, dated, so you can watch the thinking move.
Typography
How letters carry voice, and why choosing a typeface is really choosing a posture.
Layout & space
Grids, rhythm, and the quiet power of the room you leave around things.
Motion
Animation that explains change instead of demanding applause — and knows when to stop.
Performance
The ethics of weight: building for the slow connection and the old device.
The fastest way to follow is RSS — no algorithm, no inbox clutter, just new essays when they’re ready. Or write to me; I read everything, even if I’m slow to reply.