New look for a new century

Welcome to the U of A's centenary year, and welcome to a new look for Folio. Folio's last graphic redesign took place in 1997 - we're confident the changes will make our newspaper easier to read and more engaging.

The new design was undertaken by Tim Garvie and Dennis Weber in the university's Creative Services unit. Among his many other duties, Garvie is responsible for Folio layout and design. We're also turning to Creative Services for more photography (as our point-and-shoot skills attest, we're reporters, not photographers) in order to better illustrate stories and bring you a stronger sense of campus goings-on.

The most dramatic change is to our front page. Until now, the top third of the front page was taken up by the Folio flag and teasers to let readers know what's inside the newspaper. The new look is cleaner and allows us to print more news on the front page while still offering a glimpse of what's inside.

Our headline style has changed, and the size and font of our news-story text has been changed to make it easier to read.

Editorially, we've made some important changes. In every issue you'll find a new feature called Past, Present, Future, which gives you an overview of historic events and discoveries at the U of A. Once a month you'll find a Centenary Calendar alerting you to upcoming centenary events. You'll also notice a fresher look in our Talks and Events section: athletics and fine arts events have been singled out and are now easier to find. A Laurels section in Talks and Events will pay tribute to faculty members and staff who have earned noteworthy honours. And in every issue you'll find a contest. That's right - we're giving away free stuff!

We're also working to bring readers more exclusive news content. Folio readership surveys have shown that roughly half of our newspaper's readers also read ExpressNews, our daily online news service. Many of the stories appearing on ExpressNews also end up in Folio - but you've already seen them. So we're making use of university stories from other campus publications, such as faculty newsletters and alumni magazines. Since the achievements of our professors are partly reflected in the success of their students and former students, Folio will begin to spotlight notable alumni.

We hope you will agree that the newspaper has improved - we're always happy to hear from you. Feel free to send comments, questions or suggestions to richard.cairney@ualberta.ca.