Jane Hayward, part of the hospital’s media services department, oversees the design of BIDMC Quarterly. In the initial design of the quarterly publication, Keating and the communications team were presented with five different designs.
“We could have gone with four of them,” he says of the five options. The team finally settled on one, incorporating various aspects of the other four designs. “It’s very modular, but modular in a funky way,” says Keating. “It felt fresh, clean and distinctive. It really follows through from first page to the last. Our design department came up with amazingly beautiful magazine.”
A curved horizontal line across the bottom distinguishes the cover, and we see these curves repeat throughout the magazine. This gives the publication a sense of natural flow from one page to the next.
Many pages are divided vertically in half, but never by a straight line. There’s always a subtle curve or bow to the lines, which are sometimes shadowed, making articles easy on the eyes. Similarly, there isn’t a single picture that appears in perfect rectangular or square shape. Each photo has at least one rounded edge. This takes away any potential harshness or perceived sterility and rigidity.
Circles also repeat throughout the magazine as a design element. Graphics and pictures alike both show up in circle form. It’s a great deviation from the norm.
Tip: “With any magazine you’re doing you want the cover to pop and make your readers say, ‘I want to read this,’” says Keating. “It can’t be generic. I think you really need to recognize that your publication is up against everything else in the marketplace. It’s a great challenge, but that’s part of the fun—finding out how we can (engage our readers) with each story and each issue.”
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Fresh, distinctive and modern
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