Every so often, a newspaper looks in the mirror and decides it could use a makeover. For the last several months, the staff of The Catholic Spirit and the Communications Office of the archdiocese have been working on a redesign to better serve readers.
The new look will debut with the Sept. 12 issue.
It’s been seven years since the last time we assessed the layout, content and readability of the newspaper, and we had three goals this time around:
- First, we wanted to make it easier for readers to find what they’re looking for and include more of what they have told us really matters to them, especially local stories and inspirational stories of our faith being lived out here in our archdiocese.
- Second, we wanted the design and new content to increasingly appeal to youth and young adults. The redesign includes a page designated specifically for young readers and topics of interest to them.
- Finally, we really wanted to use this opportunity to ramp up the ways we integrate what we do in the newspaper with our online presence on TheCatholicSpirit.com, our CatholicHotdish.com blog and social media. That also will assist us in more successfully reaching younger audiences that get nearly all of their news and information online.
To this end, TheCatholicSpirit.com is undergoing a redesign that also will launch Sept. 12.
Currently, the newspaper and website don’t tightly align visually or from a content flow perspective. In addition, the website is a bit cluttered and busy. We want to make it crisper, easier to navigate and align much more clearly with how we’re covering content in the print newspaper.
That said, because we have greater space opportunities online, website visitors will be able to find even more information and news. One aspect of that will be moving all of our parish calendar items online so that we have much greater capacity to promote their events, such as parish festivals, pancake breakfasts, fish fries, etc.
The new, cleaner look is integral to the change, but the larger value will be in the news and information we will include going forward. We will continue to include our new Rediscover: center section and increase our focus on assisting Catholics of this local Church in understanding the faith more deeply and to go out and share the faith with others who are so in need of the Gospel message.
Watch for a more detailed explanation of the changes in the next issue of The Catholic Spirit.
— Sarah Mealey,
associate publisher
Joe Towalski, editor
