“ I just wanted to say how fantastic these initial layouts look – it is all coming to life! It looks clean, professional and interesting, so thank you for your great work.”
Chris Duncan, Marketing Manager,
Marie Stopes International
Chris Duncan, Marketing Manager,
Marie Stopes International
Background
Marie Stopes International is a global charity, specialising in family planning and safe abortion. They work all over the world, including in many developing countries, to reduce maternal mortality and enable women to ‘have children by choice, not chance’. As a thought leader in the development field, they wanted to develop a new magazine, to offer their perspective on development and sexual and reproductive health issues.
The magazine had to reflect their personality as a credible, respected organisation that’s passionate about the issues, but can also demonstrate the results. And most importantly, it had to appeal to their target audience, namely major donors such as DFID and the Gates Foundation.
After winning a competitive tender to design and write the new magazine, we spent time getting a feel for what Marie Stopes International is all about – their work, their culture, their personality – as well as researching different publications, both within and outside their sector. To achieve the magazine’s objectives, we came up with a look and feel akin to a broadsheet Sunday supplement – with high production values, strong photography and an engaging design – reflecting the tastes of the target readership.
We also worked with our specialist copywriting partner allthings words to develop an appropriate tone of voice for the magazine. Bringing together different layouts and copy formats, we came up with a template that combines space and impact with readability. We’re now working on content for the first issue.
Videos on the Marie Stopes International YouTube channel.
