Renew/Recycle

There has been such a buildup in this column over the last year, you’d think we’d bind a digital recording, perhaps of a brass band, into this first edition of the really, truly, finally redesigned Bulletin. Some of the sharp-eyed among you have passed me on campus or emailed praise for our new design. But what you were noticing were preliminary tweaks to infuse more white space—breathing space for words and images.

A year ago, we were 18 months into assessing the previous format, seeking to improve the graphic presentation and enliven the editorial content to better meet readers’ needs—a regular process for magazines. The Bulletin had a design facelift in 2008, but a holistic look at editorial strategy had not been undertaken.

The communications world has changed dramatically since then, and achieving synchronicity between digital and print publishing is imperative. That wasn’t happening with our old format. Many of you, surveys told us, were unaware of our magazine website. With the launch of the print edition, we’re simultaneously debuting our new complementary website, bulletin.swarthmore.edu.

You’ll find many new features—in print and on the website—most by reader request. I thank Justin Hall ’98 for his insistence that the new website use responsive design—meaning the site is readable on any device, be it tablet, smartphone, or desktop. And I thank readers—from Minneapolis to New York City—who asked us to feature not just alumni “superstars” but those who are doing interesting things quietly. The Alumni Council coined the title of our new Liberal Arts Lives feature. While we have added several new features like Liberal Arts Lives and Rewind (a reconfigured In My Life) as a way to engage more readers, some favorites—like the Q&A—remain.

We’ve also reorganized the magazine to have a more cohesive flow. The front section, Dialogue, is where conversation, serious and whimsical, occurs. You’ll find book reviews and capsules, the Rewind, editor’s, and Community Voices columns up front. The next section, The Common Good, has campus and institutional news as well as quick reader-oriented features on career trajectories and the aforementioned Liberal Arts Lives.

Class notes is still in the back of the book, but it has been infused with new participatory features, such as Caption This! The alumni news formerly grouped in the Collection section is filtered now throughout the class notes. In the class notes we also alert you to a new online dimension—alumni photo galleries specifically for wedding photos and other photos of two or more alumni mingling. You submit them; we’ll post them.

Finally, we’re now printing this magazine on an uncoated paper that has high postconsumer recycled content. We also have reduced our carbon footprint by bringing our business from New England to nearby Lancaster County—to a printer with a robust in-house recycling program, FSC certification, and that uses agri-based inks made from organic renewable base content, non-UV-based coatings, and acid-free and chlorine-free papers. 

Please share your thoughts on our new look and accept our invitation to connect better with your alma mater by submitting photos, story ideas, cartoon captions—and more.