But first: what is integrative medicine?
Integrative medicine (IM) is healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person and all factors that influence health, wellness, and disease, including mind, spirit, and community, as well as the body. With IM, patient and practitioner are partners in the healing process and appropriate use of both evidence based medicine and naturopathic healing therapies are considered.
From a trendsetter's tools kit: the customer magazine
Since the very beginning, Secom® became a market trendsetter, being the first company to introduce on the Romanian market the concept and modern practice of integrative medicine, but also medicinal mushrooms, standardized plant extracts and innovative ingredients such as colostrum, resveratrol or 5-HTP. The trendsetter mindset was extended to branding and communication, the company having solid and fresh image and product campaigns. The customer magazine was identified as one of the best tools to reach the company's target of educated, urban audience, people interested in having a healthy lifestyle for them and their families. Each of the four annual editions would be dedicated to a body system – nervous, digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, circulatory, etc. – and have free distribution through Secom's own network, natural pharmacies, family doctors, specialists with whom the company collaborates, partners, etc.
Building the magazine: name, logo, characters
The name of the customer magazine, Perspective (Perspectives), reflects the approach of integrative medicine, which sees a person as a whole and takes into consideration many facets during the healing process. It also reflects its intention of offering different points of view on certain topics, so that people can be well informed and choose knowing their options.
The logotype is a simple, strong visual element. We used Vista, a well-balanced character providing good readability (even for long words or titles), which also helps saving typographic space. The logo displays a small graphic element that places the magazine under the Secom® brand umbrella – the pollen symbol on letter “i” (a hummingbird extracting pollen is the main element of the Secom® logo).
The descriptor“Journal of integrative medicine” is inspired by classic medical publications and specifies the journalistic species of the publication
The characters we use in the magazine are those in the Malaga family (Secom® corporate characters) and Vista.
Malaga is a character inspired by the Venetian writings of Quattrocento, and the shapes of the letters remind us of the Latin culture universe – which makes it a proper choice for a brand operating in the area of integrative medicine. Malaga can be used both in titles, due to its impactful shapes of the letters, and in the body texts, thanks to the well-defined serifs, which helps readability. The ornaments of the Malaga fonts are inspired by the Islamic-Andalusian arabesques that are specific to Southern Spain art and architecture
Vista is a sans-serif created by the same author as Malaga, Xavier Dupré, which gives the two character families a common air – they are different, but they work perfectly together. Vista is well built, has carefully set proportions and blends the humanistic attractiveness of calligraphic shapes with the pragmatic simplicity of sans characters. All these make it easy to read and proper to use both in texts and titles.
All other details regarding the identity and architecture of the magazine are summed up in a guide, including the fixed and variable elements of the cover, the variable elements inside (quotes, highlights, complementary boxes of information, graphics, charts, tables, infographics, timeline), tone of voice, imagery, etc.
Editorial approach
The “journals” are collectible items, each of them focusing on one topic (one body system) that is unfolding in a 12 page section (Dosar/Dossier) comprising the main article, a complementary article, an interview, a myths busting article, etc. An infographic and a timeline with significant facts related to the topic such as discoveries, new theories, scientific papers and books published complement this rich in information and highly entertaining section.
One of our purposes is to introduce the audience to “heavy” topics smoothly, in a catchy way, by using visuals, statistics, trivia, unexpected editorial solutions, and hitting the nail on the head when it comes to answering the most burning questions or issues for the readers. Knowledge leads to better decisions and better health, and Perspective has proven during the years a wonderful customer bonding solution for our client.
Updated concept
At the end of 2018 Secom decided to have a facelift of the magazine, as much so as the company was about to celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2019. Each edition continues to have a theme that brings together most of the articles, but also several news pages that keep the readers up-to-date as regards the latest trends in healthy lifestyle, medical discoveries, new concepts, captivating facts, relevant studies and statistics, and also news from the company itself. The magazine updated concept supports the new positiong proposition and strategic messages of Secom: „Ask for an expert in healthy lifestyle. Ask for Secom!”
See here all the issues of the magazine.
