As we all know, in the current system, when you go to an issue, you're first greeted by something almost exactly like this:
It's not ugly, and it serves it's purpose, but after seeing the same picture time and again, it simply becomes a fact of life. From the perspective of a player, this makes sense: it's just a game anyway. But from the perspective of @@LEADER@@, it makes no sense: Why is there only one picture for every edition of the newspaper? Nationstates is supposed to feel as if you're in charge of a nation, but seeing the same image under a different headline every time you go to an issue just seems wrong.
Ever since the Febuarary 2016 Issue Revamp, a different, more colorful array of newspapers have greeted us when we answer issues:
These newspapers feature images randomly selected from the banners the nation has unlocked. While they can get wacky at times--I once had a newspaper that stated "Drayxaso gets international attention, the good kind," but displayed the "Atomic Age" banner (a nuclear explosion)--for the most part, they make the game feel a bit more like you really are in charge of a nation.
What I propose is that we have the newspaper at the start of the issue also use banners as images. I'm not suggesting we get rid of the existing picture entirely, just add it to the list of images that can be shown. I can see three ways to do this:
Assign specific images to specific issues. For example, you could make sure the Star Trek issue has a space banner. In my opinion, this option isn't the best idea. While it would certainly add immersion, it wouldn't be worth the work. Issue editors (or other NS staff members) would have to assign an image to literally every single issue, which would take an excessive amount of time and slow down the process of issue acceptance, if it's possible at all.
Use the same system used to pick banners for the "issue effects" newspapers. This would certainly add variety to the images, but not necessarily immersion: seeing a picture of a nuclear explosion when you're given an issue about homeless puppies doesn't make much sense, perhaps less sense than the newspapers as they are today. On the other hand--bear in mind, I'm no master of code--I'm pretty sure this would be the easiest to implement.
Use specific banners if the issue involves certain flags (the things which keep track of the characteristics of your nation). For example, issues regarding space exploration could use the banner "The Worlds Above Us." More unique issues could even be assigned banners of their own: the issue "World Assembly Woes" (The issue that can kick you from the world assembly) could use the banner "A Voice at the Table." And for issues that don't involve flags which are reflected by banners and/or are available to all nations, the newspaper can be as it is today. With this system, you could know what the general premise of an issue was without even reading it. Personally, I think this would be the best option, but I have no idea if this would be possible or not.
I know this isn't the most useful suggestion, but it really seems to fit with the ongoing style changes to Nationstates' interface and provides just a tiny bit more immersion to the game. It would also get more use out of the pretty banners, which is always nice.
Thank you so much! You're amazing, Violet! 
