After working throughout the summer on a new look and feel for Madison County’s oldest industry, I’m proud to announce in this week’s edition that the Cazenovia Republican and all of Eagle News’ weekly publications are launching redesigned newspapers with a modular advertising grid and expanded space for local content. Eagle is also rebranding itself under the moniker of Eagle News (formerly Eagle Newspapers), to better reflect our product line, which includes six community weekly newspapers, Syracuse Parent, Syracuse Woman Magazine, RealEstateCNY, and 10 web sites.

So … what changes should readers expect? A couple of these changes are noticeable right off the bat.

The new logo, which anchors the flag at the top of page 1, was a cooperative effort of our management team and graphics department. The eagle in the logo is looking to the right over the landscape below. It is intended to symbolize a media company that is watchful over the communities it serves, and forward thinking and looking.

On the front page, we reduced the size of the flag and eliminated the ad position at the top of the page along with the rail down the right side. These changes have the net effect of increasing the amount of space available for front page news by a whopping 41 percent.

Similar changes were made on the inside of the newspaper. With the modular advertising grid, in which all of the ads fit into about a dozen different shapes and sizes, we are better able to plan out the space that is available for news. Rather than having a crazy-quilt pattern of advertising of all shapes and sizes, we selected sizes that fit together to create more functional, rectangular spaces for stories and photos. During this process, our graphic department redesigned well over 100 ads and our business office rescheduled these ads in their new shapes and sizes.

We’ve also added additional guidelines for our editors to follow when designing the papers, so readers know where to turn to find what they’re looking for. And we’re devoting a full color page, with one sponsorship ad at the bottom of the page, for acclaimed sports editor Phil Blackwell’s local sports coverage. That page will routinely fall on the back of the centerfold and will be followed by the remainder of the sports section.

In making our font and style choices, we focused on readability and saving valuable space for additional content. We looked at dozens of newspapers from across the country, emulating those that were stylish and clean. And we reduced the size of our page headers to increase the amount of space available for local news.

We also made improvements to the Penny Saver, which serves as the second section for the Republican and all the other weeklies. The Penny Saver now features an expanded and more attractive regional calendar of entertainment and events, with a focus on family fun. While each of the weeklies has its own datebook for very local community events, the entertainment calendar in the Penny Saver is an additional resource for events that draw a regional audience.

With the print redesign largely behind us, we’re now turning our attention to our websites. Increased demand for digital news, and the migration of readers from desktop computers to smart phones and tablets, necessitates that we invest in a more modern web platform that displays news, photos, videos and other content seamlessly across all platforms. Within the next few months, we will be launching new websites for all six of our publications as well as our flagship site, www.eaglenewsonline.com.

In my 22 years with Eagle Newspapers, this is the fourth major overhaul of our news design. As with the others, there will be tweaks in the weeks ahead. But we think the new styles and the additional news space will make for a better experience for our readers. And we’re excited about making these investments because we have faith in Central New York as a place to continue to grow and develop our media company around these historic and significant newspapers.

As always, I welcome your feedback. I can be reached at [email protected] with any comments or concerns you may have.