You hold in your hands the newly redesigned Virginia Business. Publisher James A. Bacon concluded some months ago that the magazine needed a more contemporary look — one that still was serious enough but was also fresher and had room for more fun. We contacted Richmond graphics artist Elizabeth B. Coffey, who has spent 15 years in the design field. Within a month, she had come up with a new appearance.

Executing the new look will be Ed Gorham, who has been Virginia Business’ graphics coordinator for the past 10 years. Gorham, who spent 28 years in creative services at mother company Media General, is a whiz at computer-generated design. He keeps us on track at closing time.

Besides the new design we have a new section — Weekend — that will appear at the back of the magazine. Weekend will cover more leisure-related topics, such as golf, fishing and art. Our well-read For the Record will continue to run, of course, just a few pages from Weekend. In coming months we’ll introduce a News section and an Ideas department that will feature commentaries from guests, question-and-answer sections and book reviews.

Meanwhile, we’re still trying to improve the quality of our usual stories by making them more topical, more analytical and more readable. One problem, though: Our letters to the editor mailbox is empty. You can help. Please let us know what you think of the redesign of Virginia Business.