You may notice that this edition looks a little different. Well, dear reader, the times are changing and so are we.

The Sullivan County Democrat has been in print since 1891, and continues to be New York’s only twice-weekly local newspaper. It’s a time-honored tradition that we are proud to uphold today.

In the past few months we have undergone a redesign and are happy to present it today. We worked with “news guru” Kevin Slimp, a newspaper consultant, writer, and design expert.

Redesigning a newspaper is a major undertaking. The process began months in advance with meetings among Democrat staff and Slimp.

Everything is taken into consideration. Things like making text more easy on the eyes, cropping photos to make them more inviting, the length of stories and headlines, and even the space between characters (letters) is discussed and studied in detail to create a more appealing newspaper.

“We’re excited for our readers to see the new and improved Sullivan County Democrat,” said Publisher Fred Stabbert III. “We made it more personal by adding the columnist’s photos and changing the font to make it easier to read. We look forward to your feedback.”

We want to continue to grow as a newspaper and so we had to not be afraid to change. Newspapers that evolve tend to be more popular among readers.

“It’s no surprise that newspapers that make the effort to create publications to meet the wants and needs of their communities are the newspapers that thrive,” Slimp said.

Our content will remain the same–upholding journalistic standards with our news stories, printing community events and information, sports, and so much more. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever put this much effort into a redesign,” said Slimp. “Reading issues of the paper, knowing the history of the newspaper and meeting the publisher drove me to attempt to create a design that was as good as the newspaper.”

Please let us know your thoughts on our new look; email editor@sc-democrat.com.