Coming Tuesday: Your new Bee

For the past several months, we have been working on redesigned print and digital editions of The Bee that meet the needs of readers who consume news much differently than they did a decade ago. On Tuesday, we are transforming The Bee both in print and online to meet the needs of our readers.

These changes have come after months of reader interviews and testing of prototypes to determine how best to present our award-winning journalism. We teamed with our sister McClatchy newspapers to determine how readers wanted their newspaper designed both in print and online.

Our launch on Tuesday comes a week after The Sacramento Bee, The Modesto Bee and the Merced Sun-Star presented their new formats to readers. The remaining McClatchy newspapers will move to similar designs over the next year.

We know that our readers have a deep connection to The Bee, both in print and online, and changing the look will be unsettling to many. But readers have told us in interviews that they like the new design, and we urge you to give it a chance as you get accustomed to the changes in design and organization.

In our early testing, readers have told us they want a new kind of newspaper that is organized to meet the needs of their busy days. That is at the heart of how the new print product will be organized. Our digital products will follow the new design and have the latest features that you have come to rely on in the online world.

Our redesigned newspaper will offer smartly edited news of the day in the main section and in-depth stories in our second section, which will be called Insight. Sports and Life will be in our third section. We have added a Food & Drink section on Wednesdays, a Home & Garden section on Thursdays, and we will continue to have our entertainment section on Fridays. Our Sunday paper will have the same great content you currently get, but with the new design and typography.

Each day this week, we will explain the changes and have easy guides to where news and features are located in that day’s paper. Because the organization of news content has changed, we know that readers will be looking for this guidance.

We continue to be committed to providing you with the latest breaking news, as well as our award-winning investigative and enterprise journalism. Our work this year on the California drought, health care, education and other public policy issues has been recognized for its excellence. Last weekend, the California Newspaper Publishers Association named www.fresnobee.com as California’s best newspaper website in its circulation division.

Our commitment to quality won’t change as we use our newsroom resources to help you navigate through the important issues of the day.

This story was originally published May 17, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Coming Tuesday: Your new Bee."