OurHealth is a family of consumer healthcare magazines published in four separate markets throughout Virginia. Each edition of OurHealth includes the region as a part of it, i.e., OurHealth Magazine for Charlottesville and Shenandoah Valley; OurHealth Magazine for Lynchburg and Southside; OurHealth Magazine for Richmond; and OurHealth Magazine for Roanoke and New River Valleys. OurHealth serves as the voice of local healthcare that is trustworthy and credible, with each edition focusing exclusively on the healthcare and healthcare-related experts, services and resources available in the community in which it is published. Our tagline is "Connecting You to Trustworthy Care Close to Home."
Another defining aspect of OurHealth is the way in which its content is developed. Unlike many healthcare and wellness focused resources that use scare tactics to convey the importance of taking care of your health, OurHealth takes a different approach - one that delivers health information and perspective in a way that doesn't dismiss the impact of poor lifestyle choices and the impact it has on overall health. But instead of making this the only focus, OurHealth gives readers insight and perspective on the resources and experts available who can help them overcome long standing patterns of behavior on their way to finding a new lease on life through improved health and wellness that scare tactics alone often fail to do. OurHealth's tone is one that is supportive, relatable and compassionate, and it reinforces a message of hope to its readers during a time when many need it the absolute most.
The target audience for OurHealth is women ages 25-65 across four different life stages: 25-35; 36-45; 46-55; and 56-65. Each life stage is represented by women first beginning a family to having more children and raising them through their childhood, adolescent, teenage years and beyond and eventually having to assume responsibility for their elderly parents and/or other relatives during their advancing years. Women are predominantly considered the health managers for themselves and their family, including their significant other, children and parents and/or other relatives in their advanced years. They recognize the highly emotional nature of health and how decisions made can have a profound impact on establishing behavioral patterns early on that could very likely be the difference in realizing overall good health and wellness later in life. Bearing the responsibility of managing the care of one or several children, their significant other and oftentimes their elderly relatives in addition to themselves is quite an undertaking, regardless if they stay at home or are balancing a full- or part-time job on top of their many other responsibilities. It requires them to stay abreast of the latest healthcare trends, including breakthroughs and discoveries that are advancing the field of medicine and the treatment of diseases and conditions that are either temporarily or chronic. They understand the importance of being able to recognize when to administer care at home and when to schedule an appointment with a medical professional when the need is apparent. Our readers take their responsibility very personally and know there's never a day of from ensuring their loved are keeping healthy and happy from a physical, mental and spiritual standpoint.
OurHealth is a glossy cover, glossy text weight paper and perfect bound magazine. It's revenue comes from display advertising, sponsored content and other partnership programs available through print and online advertising packages and through paid subscriptions. OurHealth is a free pick-up magazine that, until COVID, was predominantly made available in the waiting rooms of healthcare practices for patients to access during a downtime period of waiting when health was at the top of mind, allowing them to discover more about the local healthcare and wellness services and experts available in the community at the ideal time, right before being seen by their medical provider who can answer any questions they may have. With COVID requiring most healthcare practices to have patients wait in their vehicles in the parking lot and be called in individually and taken directly to the exam room to see their medical provider, access to OurHealth became limited and required us to adapt our distribution method, with home delivery through subscriptions serving as a welcomed alternative for loyal readers who depend on the local, trustworthy content about medical providers and services available in their community.
IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU THOROUGHLY READ AND FULLY UNDERSTAND EVERY ASPECT OF WHAT I AM ASKING FOR IN THE DESIGN OF MY MAGAZINE COVER. IF YOU CHOOSE TO DISMISS ANY ONE OF THESE EXPECTATIONS, YOU ENTRY WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
The cover of OurHealth magazines is like any publication in that it must offer a compelling, quick reading message that entices the reader to pick up a copy and read more. The OurHealth magazine cover needs to reinforce to readers that they will always find information that is trustworthy and reliable. As a local publication owned and operated by people living and working in the same communities and who the medical community has long entrusted as its partner and voice to deliver information about its services, resources and experts, OurHealth staff are not only visible in the community, they are also held accountable for the content they published, making their understanding of and reporting on related health topics with accuracy and detail all the more important. During a time when so much of the health information found online and through social media channels is either misleading or entirely untrue, when manipulative tactics are used that are intended to drive agendas unrelated to the benefits of those who read it, and when so much of the healthcare content is written by individuals who may appear to be a voice of authority, but actually have little to no experience or understanding of healthcare as a whole, the need for access to trustworthy, reliable and local health and wellness information couldn't be greater.
Taking into consideration all that I've stated above, I am looking for a standard and consistent format in look and feel intended to establish the brand. This includes:
1) Use of an illustrated image representing the cover story article in a way that reads quickly and effectively entices readers to want to pick up the magazine. The rule of thumb to use is the message must resonate from 5-6 feet away while sitting on a display with other magazines, understanding that the first glance can be a second or less. The style used for this illustration must be one that can be carried over from one issue to the next to help establish brand consistency. The artistic style needs to be warm, compassionate, empathic and supportive - never scary, or intending to evoke fear. The colors used must be ones that complement the warm, compassionate look - colors that resonate with the female demographic, based on the findings of reputable studies.
2) The OurHealth logo will need to appear at the top of the cover, and it's color can be changed to fit with the color scheme of the rest of the cover. The logo is included as an attachment here in Illustrator native format.
3) There needs to be one large, defining headline that ties together the connection between it as the cover story teaser with the cover illustration. We use the serif font that include the Abril family, Abril Fat Face, and the sans serif font Poppins TT. I do not like the use of italics in fonts on the cover. The cover story text needs to be either the serif or sans serif font and contain the same number of words (four - six) for the main headline, with a short (10-12 words) subtitle accompanying beneath it. Be creative and place in the same consistent area.
4) There also needs to be 5-6 smaller teasers to call attention to other articles in the magazine, with each following a consistent standard in number of words used, placement on the cover so it doesn't compete with the illustration and reflect a style and look and feel that is consistent in helping to establish brand identity.
5) We need to include the website address (ourhealthmagazines.com), dates of the magazine (use January/February 2021) and the tagline "Connecting You to Trustworthy Care Close to Home" somewhere that it fits naturally and visible on the cover.
THE CONCEPT FOR THIS FIRST COVER
1) My cover size is 8.375" x 10.875", trim size. We'll need to set the bleed at 8.625"x11.125", leaving all live matter within 1/2 inch of the trim size.
2) The headline for the cover story is: "Stuck in COVID's Shadow?" The subtitle (the smaller text accompanying the headline) will read: "Avoiding healthcare out of fear of catching the coronavirus may be riskest choice of all."
3) The cover art will be based on the headline "Stuck in COVID's Shadow?". The idea of COVID casting a shadow over healthcare needs to be conveyed in an illustration or typography of some sort. My initial thoughts are to have the word "COVID-19" in a 3-D look and feel, with a shadow emerging with arms of some sort and casting a heavy shadow over the words "healthcare", which will be really small and drowned out by the shadow, yet still clearly legible. Perhaps the shadow emerging will have hands of some sort that rise up and reach down appearing to hover over the word "healthcare". I am open to ideas here. I just want it to be creative and very eye catching. I'm thinking it will be on a white background to give it better effect, or perhaps a red or black background. Use your creativity. Please make sure the image aligns to the right side of the page more, and it can bleed off the right side, reach to the top and bottom and about 45% to the left of the page. Make the cover story headline/subtitle prominent at the bottom right so it stands out using the fonts discussed above.
4) I also need the following teasers written in smaller text and lining along the left side of the page, with variations of text size to give it some creativity, while still using the fonts discussed above. The teasers include:
"Sharing is NOT Caring: Are You Spreading Mistruths on Social Media and Not Know it?"
"COVID Learning Curve: Distractions are taking our focus off lessons we need to learn."
"Maskne: Face masks + acne equals a real problem for many"
"Making a Re-Connection: How Overdue Are You for Important Follow-Up Care?"
"Health Protection: Choosing the Right Products to Protect You"
5) Using either a starburst or some sort of stamp background, include the following: "Special Edition: Complete Guide to COVID-19"
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