A Landmark Moment for The Lawrentian

The spring issue of The Lawrentian, Lawrenceville’s quarterly magazine, will land in mailboxes shortly, and with a fresh new look after a full redesign. For the first time, the publication will also be complemented by a digital edition, which can now be accessed on your desktop, laptop, table, or smartphone, at thelawrentian.lawrenceville.org.

“What began as a way to refresh the look of The Lawrentian became an opportunity to put everything under the microscope and take a closer look at what was working well and what wasn’t, and to learn as much as we could from readers about what they wanted to see in the pages of the magazine,” said editor Sean Ramsden, who has managed The Lawrentian since 2015.

The quest began a year ago with the CASE Magazine Readership Survey, which was developed by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and has been used by more than 300 institutions since its inception in 2009. The results provided valuable insights into ways the Office of Communications and the editorial staff of the magazine could focus its efforts. Ramsden said that even as the survey returned many outstanding individual suggestions, certain themes also developed that informed the Lawrentian editorial strategy.

“Along with our creative partner, Landesberg Design, we also conducted a number of focus groups with several members of our community – alumni, School administrators, and parents – to ask what was working and what wasn’t,” he explained. “What emerged was that The Lawrentian already had some good bones, so in some ways, we just honed what we already had. It’ll be very recognizable to our readers.”

The redesigned Lawrentian features updated typefaces, reconsidered editorial departments, and a greater variety of voices, including those of students, from Lawrenceville’s campus and beyond. Readers will be presented a more intimate and personal look inside the School, hear more from students, and learn more about what’s happening in the classroom.

“Paired with the launch of the digital edition,” Ramsden said, “it represents a landmark moment in the publication’s 87-year history.”

For additional information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.