Way Into AI

Brand, narrative and offer. Agreed 2026-09-25 (bead wayintoai-bnd). Full brief with mood board and visual directions: https://claude.ai/artifact/DLpmX593GvBX214vHLxCb9

Narrative

You can't make sense of AI without using it, and you can't use it well without making sense of it.

The site had three competing identities: a tutorial (how to use AI), an on-ramp (a way into AI for non-insiders), and a sensemaking project (what AI is doing to work, power and society). They are one practice: someone who uses these tools every day, watches the frontier closely, and reports back with an opinion. That someone is Rufus Pollock, named on the landing page and at /about: the author is the reason to subscribe. The site is the open notebook; the weekly email is the edit.

Promise and offer

Promise: What mattered in AI this week, and what to do about it.
Offer: a free weekly email, sent on Tuesdays, Rufus's opinionated selection. The email signup is the primary call to action everywhere.
Each issue: three to five developments with my take on why they matter; one thing to try (a tool, workflow, guide or reference for people using AI); the bigger picture (work, power, policy, safety); smaller finds from the log, one line each. Everything links back to the site.
Issue format: sender Way Into AI, subject is the lead item's hook, preheader starts Week N. (ISO week of the Tuesday send date), site title What mattered · week N; one markdown file per issue in weekly/ serves as both the site page and the email body. Drafted by the weekly-roundup skill (.agents/skills/weekly-roundup/SKILL.md).

Audience

Capable generalists who use AI at work and care where it is going. Not insiders; not beginners.

Voice

First person singular: it is Rufus's personal take. Says "I think" and "I don't know yet", never an institutional "we". Colleagues (Life Itself, Datopian) who contribute get credited by name. Opinionated, specific. Concrete examples and honest uncertainty over hype, doom or jargon. No sponsored picks, no firehose, no AI-generated digest.

Name

Site and email are both Way Into AI; the email is "Way Into AI Weekly". "AI Learned Today" (old Substack name and logo) is retired: "today" promises daily and "learned" covers only half the offer. Revisit after eight issues if the name still gets in the way. Final sign-off tracked in wayintoai-bnd.3.

Structure

Use AI (/use): guides, workflows, tools, agentic coding.
Understand AI (/understand): capability, governance, work, power, safety, consequences.
Posts and Log are the chronological record. The two routes are ways into the archive, below the email offer.

Visual identity: "blue pencil"

Built on top of the Flowershow Monospace theme. Selection is the product, so the motif is the editor's blue pencil: things are marked, ticked, chosen.

Type: IBM Plex Mono for structure (navigation, labels, lists, literal #/## heading markers); Newsreader serif for voice (headlines, titles, prose).
Colour: paper #fbfbf9, ink #1b1b1d, muted #5f5f66, rule #e2e2de, one accent, editor's blue #2140c4 (wash #e8ecfd). Dark: paper #0e0e10, ink #e9e9e6, blue #93a6ff.
Logo: the text A→] in IBM Plex Mono semibold, white on editor's blue. The arrow is "a way into"; the bracket closes on AI. Files: assets/logo.png (512px), assets/logo-160.png (nav), assets/favicon.png.
Form: hairline rules, no cards, no shadows, no rounded corners, no generic AI imagery.

Implementation notes live in DESIGN.md.