Social Preview Image & Newsletter

Two things today: social preview images and newsletter subscriptions.

OG image iteration

Spent hours dialing in the OG image. The kind of work that looks like nothing changed but takes a dozen commits.

Started with a watercolor background. Looked flat. Tried Apple-style frosted glass — too busy. Added scattered code elements for texture — worse. Tried different blur levels, overlay opacities, text shadows.

The problem: making something look good at 1200x630 pixels that also reads well as a tiny thumbnail in a Twitter feed or iMessage preview.

Where it landed: blurred background image with a dark overlay (35% opacity) and a subtle diagonal glass sheen. White text with soft shadows. The site name in Cormorant Garamond, tagline in italic below. When there's a page title, it takes center stage with the site name as a small label underneath.

Simple. Legible. Warm.

Newsletter setup

Wired up Buttondown for email subscriptions. Server-side API route handles the integration — no client-side API key exposure.

Built a /subscribe page with a simple form. Enter email, hit subscribe, get a confirmation message prompting you to check your inbox. The double opt-in flow lives on Buttondown's side.

Handles edge cases: already subscribed, invalid email, server errors. Loading states on the button. Clean confirmation screen when it works.