If You’re Going to Print a Magazine, Make it Matter
The editor-designer duo responsible for Brown University’s medical school alumni magazine talks shop.
By Kris Cambra and Kelly McMurray
In the world of alumni magazines, COVID-19 was the death blow for many publications whose existence had been threatened for years. Pandemic-related financial woes made it an opportune time for schools to reduce the number of issues produced annually or cancel their magazines completely.
But a few years later, magazines, like in-person dining and movies, made a comeback. Universities and colleges saw a reduction in alumni engagement and giving without a magazine, proving what editors have long known: An alumni magazine is one of the most effective ways to get your brand into alumni homes.
Here, Asst. Dean for Biomedical Communications and Editor, Kris Cambra, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Creative Director Kelly McMurray, 2communiqué, share their insights about how to make a magazine impactful after partnering on Medicine@Brown for over half a decade.
WHY DOES PRINT MATTER?
Kris: In this new world, magazines have become prestige items. Having something in your hands now means more in a world that is all digital.
Kelly: I totally agree. We worked with a school on the relaunch of their magazine, and a conversation with one of their board members stood out to me. He talked about how we don’t own physical items anymore—our music is digital, our correspondence is in email and text, our books are on our phones. We miss the tactile nature of holding and owning a physical object. Look at the music industry and the resurgence of records. We are now receiving more proposals for print redesigns and launches than in the 25-year history of our design firm.
Kris: Well, I’m glad we were already on your dance card! When we selected 2communiqué to redesign and relaunch Medicine@Brown, the decision was driven largely by the sense that you and your team took the time to get to know our medical school. You understood what our values and mission are, and worked that into the design you developed. Magazines are important, but you can’t just slap some words and images on a page and think you’re going to reap the benefits. No one is going to read a bad magazine.
For all the staff hours that go into them, the freelance budget, the trees they are printed on, and the rising cost of postage, magazines require significant resources. Their quality, therefore, should reflect that level of investment.
You can’t just slap some words and images on a page and think you’re going to reap the benefits. No one is going to read a bad magazine.
Kelly: Agreed. And, you better make sure the product you’re crafting is something that resonates for your readers, something they’ll want to keep on their coffee tables.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Kris: Right. We evoke that emotion in our readers by knowing them, knowing their interests, and giving them what they expect while surprising them at the same time. As an editor, one of the most gratifying things I can imagine is a reader picking up our book from the mailbox and saying, “Yes, it’s here!”
Our audience is always front-of-mind when I’m developing a story list. They are almost all physicians—meaning they’re upper-income bracket, highly educated, and short on time. But, more importantly, they are Brown-educated physicians, and that’s what differentiates them from graduates of the 150 or so other medical schools in the country.
Until twenty years ago, nearly all Brown medical graduates came to the school through the university’s eight-year Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME); today, 60 percent still do. As high school seniors, these students are granted admission both to Brown and its medical school, with few pre-med requirements and no standardized tests to take. As undergrads, they lean into a liberal education, majoring in visual art, music, international relations—whatever piques their interest. They share Brown’s values of social consciousness and advocacy, and many commit their work as physicians to improving health care access and equity.
Kelly: Knowing that, when we redesigned the magazine, we ensured that the liberal arts were infused throughout, a factor that makes it unique. One of my favorite opening spreads is Exposure, a full-spread photo contributed by an alumnus or student. It tells the reader right out of the gate that this magazine isn’t going to be all medical facts and figures.
Exposure spread “Searching the Sky” photographed by graduate Catherine Napolitano ’20 MD’24.
Kris: So true! One of my favorites is the department In Vivo (which translates to “in the living”), where we show students and faculty being humans, not just doctors or scientists. They ride horses, play drums, climb rocks—remember that wonderful group of people we photographed doing soul line dancing? This reflects the “whole physician” concept they are taught in the PLME: When you bring your whole self to your practice of medicine, you bring your best self to your patients.
In Vivo piece featuring Don Dizon, MD.
Kelly: I love this page. It’s always interesting to hear what people are doing and then to work with the photographer to capture them in their activity. In the Fall 2024 issue, you can see the joy in the doctor’s face as she’s surrounded by her soul dance class. Or the equestrian astride her trotting horse in the very first issue we designed. Another fave is “Dapper Don,” sporting his three-piece suit.
And the back of the magazine opens with Check-Up to showcase an alum who is taking what they learned out into the field, like the researcher who’s developing a male contraceptive after first studying men’s attitudes toward contraception as a medical student.
MISSION AS THE GUIDE
Kris: Our magazine has to serve the mission of Brown’s medical school. Our dean always says we don’t have a mission statement just to have one; we are on a mission. I see my job as editor as helping further that mission, which is “To advance the health and well-being of people and planet.” We also have a guiding principle for the magazine, tacked up on our office wall for the staff to see every day: “Medicine@Brown reminds alumni why they went into medicine in the first place, and why they are proud they did it at Brown.”
That always guides me, especially when I’m picking alumni for profile pieces. It’s not about who is making the most money or winning awards. We profile the alum who is fighting to improve treatment for substance use disorder; the researcher studying how patients with disabilities experience discrimination; the White House fellow advocating for victims of human trafficking. I want a reader to see these fellow alums and say, “That’s so Brown,” and feel good about being part of that tradition.
I want a reader to see these fellow alums and say, “That’s so Brown,” and feel good about being part of that tradition.
Kelly: That focus is so important. The first question I ask when considering the visual direction is, “Why this story for this audience and magazine?”
Last year, we directed five articles about AI for our clients, and each one had a different visual direction based on the mission of the respective magazine. We wanted Medicine@Brown’s AI feature to feel serious but not foreboding. This is in keeping with the magazine’s approach to pieces about innovation: measured, nuanced, and embracing of change when it doesn’t harm anyone in the process. Ultimately, we selected illustrator Stuart Bradford because we knew he could get to the technical aspects of AI while creating striking visuals.
Kris: Another example that stands out for me is a feature about two alumni who, as federal whistleblowers, exposed the decrepit conditions in U.S. immigration detention centers. This wasn’t their first time taking down the establishment together—they met as young faculty treating prisoners with HIV and hepatitis C in Rhode Island correctional facilities.
Feature opening spread. Portrait illustration by PJ Loghran.
Kelly: The tricky part for the art was that they were on separate coasts so we couldn’t photograph them together. We also wanted to tell a deeper story about the risks they took, so illustration was the best visual direction. I had seen PJ Loghran’s portrait illustrations and knew he would be perfect for the assignment.
Kris: And the cover lines on that issue perfectly summed up the story as well as our mission: “The forces that are doing harm never sleep. So we can’t either.”
BRAND ALIGNMENT
Kelly: We can’t talk about an alumni magazine, actually any magazine, without talking about brand alignment. There are two schools of thought on whether a magazine’s design should align with a school or university brand and visual identity. Some believe it should be completely independent of the school’s identity, while others adopt the school’s palette, fonts, and overall feel. I land firmly with the latter. I believe that as a high-profile communication, it’s important that the magazine reflects the school’s brand. But it doesn’t have to be heavy handed. It also has to feel editorial. This builds a strong brand connection and still leaves plenty of freedom for creativity in design.
Vitals explores what’s new in the classrooms, on the wards, and in the labs.
Kris: The brand is more than the visual toolkit; it is about voice and tone. And that impacts how the magazine conveys the messages of the institution. The message is not going to feel authentic and resonant if it’s packaged in a vehicle that looks nothing like other materials readers receive from the school. Beyond the visual identity and nomenclature, the brand is conveyed through every page. For us, the selection of stories, the way they are told, and the visual direction embrace the humanities, a commitment to social consciousness, and the gravitas of the Ivy League.
Kelly: Another aspect is considering the nomenclature, like our department titles “Vitals, “In Vivo, “Check-up,” which echoes the practice of medicine.
THE SPECIAL SAUCE
Kris: Magazines are not out of the woods in their fight to exist. There will always be some well-meaning leader who will wonder if it couldn’t just be an email newsletter or insist that younger alumni don’t read print magazines.
Kelly: They’re not wrong. Some magazines could be newsletters. I’ve seen magazines get killed and rightly so because they were basically newsletters. With so many digital ways to connect with people—email, social media, digital publications—print now has the opportunity to stand out, to take full advantage of the qualities of the medium: spread imagery, pacing, and the tactile experience of paper.
Kris: Medicine@Brown enjoys strong support from its readership. One of the best compliments I ever received was from an alum who told our dean of Advancement, “If you want alumni to know something, put it in Medicine@Brown because we read every single issue.” That kind of feedback, as well as the awards we’ve won for writing, design, and the magazine overall, have kept Medicine@Brown highly regarded as the Medical School’s flagship publication.
We have to work hard and be creative with budgets to make readers smile when that magazine lands in their mailbox, to keep it on their coffee table, and to remember their affinity to their school. My advice is to craft stories that will engage and delight your audience. Tap into that alma mater feeling that ties your alumni body to your institution, in every issue.
Kelly: And give them a visual experience that will stand up against any newsstand magazine. Make the magazine matter.
Kris Cambra is assistant dean of biomedical communications at Brown University and has been the editor of Medicine@Brown since 2012. When not sewing, she’s planning her second career as a pastry chef.
Kelly McMurray is the founder & creative director at 2communiqué, a content strategy and creative design firm. She founded the firm in 1999 to focus on strategy and design with a narrative lens. She also loves to sew! Kelly and Kris have worked together to produce Medicine@Brown since 2019.
