Do

• Open with a full-width ruled kicker bar: section label left, byline or date right.
• Set the headline in columns 1–8 at step 7, two or three lines.
• Start the story inside the hero: a deck in 1–4 (italic if the body font ships one) and the opening paragraph of the story (a statement, not the deck repeated) with a left column rule in 5–8.
• Place a 3:4 photo with a caption in 9–12, spanning both rows.

Don't

• Don't centre anything; every block is flush left on its column.
• Don't use buttons; the action is a 'Continue reading →' link.
• Don't let body text run wider than 44 characters.

Phone width

• Kicker (label and byline may wrap to two lines), headline (step 6), photo at 4:3 with caption, deck, then body column without the rule.