Welcome back to the somewhat radically altered pages of The Badger Herald.

Thanks to the keen eye of our Design Director Joey Schroeder, we’ve changed nearly everything in our print edition to send a very distinct message to our readers and the people we cover on a daily basis: We mean business.

I’ll be the first to admit there are always mistakes made here. The Badger Herald is a learning space in addition to a full-fledged news source, so there are some things our writers and editors slip up on from time to time.

But that doesn’t mean we treat this as a journalistic sandbox. We’re here from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. (or longer) to make sure we put out the best product possible in a constant news cycle. And while I’m proud of the work our writers do, the medium used to deliver it has been a bit lackluster in its presentation. It’s sort of felt like painting landscapes on the back of a Walmart receipt.

So we stripped away the blocky nameplates, the uniform fonts and random grey shaded boxes and wiped the template clean. It’s my sincere hope this new look makes the paper more appealing, easier to read and cleaner without having to succumb to any of the bizarre design styles of the crisis-addled, insecure newspaper industry.

But the changes don’t end with just our paper design. In addition, we’re looking to redesign our website in the next few weeks to ensure we can adequately highlight our video and slideshow content while eliminating all the clutter that chokes readers of our current site. In addition, we should have an iPhone app available through iTunes and our website soon enough, so you can get up to date news and, of course, shout outs delivered right to your phone.

In addition, we’ve added a position to our newsroom to better serve the campus community and track down stories we never had the time to cover last semester. Decreasing newsrooms may be the trend, but The Badger Herald has never been one for following the mainstream.

Of course, none of our services work without the help of our readers and volunteers. We are always looking for writers for every section — News, Opinion, ArtsEtc. and Sports — and those interested in blogging or getting involved in our expanded video operations should drop a line to Web Director Charlie Gorichanaz. These new writers meetings will take place on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28, both at 5 p.m. Just attend one session and tell us what you’d like to do. We’ll sign you up, show you the ropes and get you well on your way to being part of The Badger Herald team.

And as always, I welcome your criticism. If you have any complaints about coverage, writers, ads or would simply like to make your views heard, send an e-mail to me at [email protected].

I can only hope that with your feedback and suggestions we can keep this paper one of the premier college news sources in the country.