The Oregon Daily Emerald is a student newspaper…let’s get creative! So what have we been thinking about? A new slogan, more videos, and schwag (merchandise). Today in our meeting we were talking about amplifying the SCENE section and providing news that we think students and the community want. Specifically, a calendar located in a “community” section where people can post events not only on campus but in the surrounding city of Eugene.
What would this entail? Possibly a PR intern working on the SCENE desk. This person would be in charge of going out into the community, searching for events and posting them on a calendar where readers can easily track events that they are interested in. Ideally, this PR person would be approachable and allow their position to be known. It’s important for Emerald reporters, photographers and designers to create an identity for themselves and be known to readers, that way, when students have a story that they would like covered or an event they would like to post they know who to contact.
It’s just an idea, but we are getting excited about it.
We also think it is important to create a strong image for the Emerald. So we are open to an overall redesign of the paper. Currently, depending on the day of the week or the section, the paper is color coded. We think this is good, but it is not enough. Something that the Evolve team is struggling with is where we draw the line between professionalism and creativity. We encourage the paper to be experimental because it is a student publication and it should be. But how we go about redesigning our image so that it is recognizable, unique and professional is still in the works. Opinions, in-put and ideas are strongly encouraged! Approach us and tell us what you think!