We need you to grill us

Back in 2016, the Silhouette had a campaign called “Silvision”. It was cheesy in its execution and salty in its referencing of negative subtweets and pseudo-insults.

The paper’s approach to arts and opinions completely changed as a result of this feedback. The successes of this were discussed in the editorial on June 1, 2017, which also highlighted what we would be taking the initiative on in the future.

In particular, these initiatives detailed were to add a second Production Coordinator position, hire the Digital Media Specialist position and attempt to not be as bound by the weekly schedule have all progressed and been successes throughout the year. Award-winning design, memorable videos and more consistent coverage on the website and on all forms of social media were just a few of the direct results of these early plans.

These, in addition to the ambitions of each print section, have made this year a success. The passion for breaking news, intriguing angles and possibilities out of any feature, finding a balance of perspectives and issues in opinions provided, the increased diversity of forms of arts covered and the humanization of sports and willingness to break away from the usual weekly tendencies surpassed my high expectations for the staff.

We definitely do appreciate your praise when it comes to your favourite parts and changes to the paper. It warms the hearts of the Silhouette’s staff to know our work is appreciated and respected, and we cannot thank you enough for your willingness to reach out and let us know.

As we look to the future, there have been a few things that we have left behind that have resurfaced as requests. Sex and the Steel City came back after a hiatus because of the staff’s aspirations for it and the positive reception from readers. Things like a few pages dedicated to business-specific content, an advice column and more coverage of McMaster events from certain clubs and services have all come up at some point this year.

While we do get a decent amount of praise for the decisions made in the past, it is time to look towards the future and transitioning into Volume 89. A few of these requests are already in progress, e.g., we are hoping to collaborate with a contributor for business content starting on the last issue of Volume 88 on April 5 and see the viability of continuing this into the Volume 89 summer issues.

However, what we really want is more feedback to work with. Though this has been a great year for the Silhouette, we want to know how we can continue to best serve you.

We have a Google form available. This will have a few questions related to where you like to read your content, how you feel about sections and aspects of the paper, what you like in terms of designs and layout, social media considerations, volunteering improvements, special issues and so much more.

You do not need to fill everything out, but every single response will be read and considered and we have continuously demonstrated the willingness to adapt to help provide you the highest quality content possible in what you want to see. We look forward to working with you to make the Silhouette even better.

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