It’s time for a change at The Georgia Bulletin.

I’m happy to announce that with the July 4 issue, we’ll unveil the latest version of The Georgia Bulletin: a fresh, new print edition and the launch of a matching website.

This is a project that has been in the works for some time. The last time the newspaper had a design change was some 16 years ago, in 1997.

This year we’ve been commemorating our 50th anniversary as a newspaper. Over the years, The Georgia Bulletin’s look and style have changed to fit the times and the needs of the local Catholic community, going from a broadsheet (big) to a tabloid (smaller), with the masthead gracing the front page in various iterations, growing from a small weekly newspaper to a 40- to 48-page bi-weekly with a robust website and online presence.

For our golden jubilee, we believe it’s the right time to make a change to a more innovative, original design.

We enlisted the help of many during this process of redesigning. The redesign itself was a close collaboration among editors, staff and media design consultant Jennifer George-Palilonis. A distinguished professor of multimedia at Ball State University in Indiana, she brought a world of experience and knowledge to our efforts. She has redesigned about 15 Catholic publications and is well versed in the mission and goals of the Catholic press.

A task force consisting of priests, deacons and laypeople provided focus and feedback during the process. For their comments and perseverance, we are very grateful, and with their help, we are making an even better newspaper.

The redesign process has not just been an exercise in improving the look of the paper. Although we spent a great deal of time exploring new design elements, typographic palettes, page structures and other aesthetic elements, we also explored ways to make The Georgia Bulletin content more engaging and relevant to our diverse audiences.

Along with new typography and page architecture, the print redesign symbolizes the transition to a more contemporary look for The Georgia Bulletin. Quick reads and navigational aids will work together with comprehensive story packages to provide readers with a complete and reliable reading experience.

The website redesign represents an effort to update content more frequently online, offering readers more opportunities to follow news related to the Catholic Church in between newspaper production cycles.

Finally, the changes we are making will allow us to be more nimble in providing access to the news of the Catholic Church, both here in our local churches as well as worldwide.

We believe that this redesign will help us better serve you, our readers—the Catholic community in north and middle Georgia.

Back in 1997, editor Gretchen Keiser introduced the then-new design by sharing the vision that The Georgia Bulletin serves the archdiocese in many ways: “through evangelization, as a teaching tool, by reporting fairly and accurately news of the Catholic Church locally, nationally and internationally, by finding ways to respond to the growing presence of Spanish-speaking Catholics in our archdiocese.”

Still true today. Maybe even more so.

We hope you will look forward to our new Georgia Bulletin as much as we do. We are proud to reflect your faith, your work, your ministries, your spirituality, your liturgies and your prayers on our pages.