When the page format was close to final, we sat down and tackled the actual story from both ends: content first AND structure first
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(I realize that's not what "first" means but trust me, that's what happened)
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Ryan broke the story down into key topics, and we retrofit them into the hero sentence that anchors, headlines, and arts the story
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Then it was just business as usual: edits edits edits. Which for some reason I decided to do on paper?!
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(We were so cautious with this exclusive that we wouldn't even put the real sentence in the header)
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(A few well-meaning folks involved pointed out that maybe we should say "he" instead of "their" and we were like YES WELL IT IS A DECOY)
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In the end, well — holy moly, it worked. Ryan's major exclusive got to both be a bombshell drop AND a nuanced longview analysis.
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It's interactive but it doesn't make you want to smash your internet-enabled device on a table!
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It is, to be immodest, one of the best cases of content and structure integrated together I can think of. The form and the function are one.
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Props for investing in a bold concept like this. Execution is great. Think progressive disclosure in prose holds much promise.