Health.com

Design LeadershipArt Direction
Written By Don Eschenauer

A comprehensive redesign of a generalist health magazine brand, transforming it into a modern, accessible, and authoritative health information platform. The project encompassed brand identity, design systems, and organizational restructuring to serve over 8 million monthly users.

The existing health magazine brand needed modernization to better serve its mission of providing trusted, authoritative, science-backed health information to a global audience. The challenge was multifaceted:

  • Outdated brand identity that didn't reflect modern design standards

  • Fragmented visual systems across multiple distribution channels

  • Need for improved accessibility and performance standards

  • Requirement to support diverse business objectives, including advertising, commerce, and content marketing

  • Team structure that limited cross-functional collaboration and career growth


Brand Identity & Design System

The redesign centered on creating a cohesive, modern brand identity with a new logotype and comprehensive design system. The approach balanced timeless design principles with contemporary accessibility standards, ensuring optimal readability, fast loading times, and high-quality imagery across all platforms.

The new design system was architected to support:

  • Website and mobile experiences

  • Social media presence

  • Email marketing campaigns

  • Custom advertising products

  • SEO optimization

  • Performance marketing initiatives

  • E-commerce integration

Organizational Restructuring

The project included a strategic realignment of the design team, moving from siloed functions to cross-functional collaboration. This restructuring involved managing a distributed team of designers specializing in product design, brand marketing, and content creation.


Implementation

This redesign was the first of many to be implemented across an ecosystem of health, wellness, and parenting sites, ensuring consistency while allowing for vertical-specific customization. The new design system was built to enable rapid product iteration and maintain visual coherence across all touchpoints.

Key implementation focuses included:

  • Adherence to modern accessibility standards

  • Optimization for performance and loading speeds

  • Support for multiple content distribution channels

  • Integration with advertising and commerce platforms

  • SEO-friendly design architecture

Business Impact

  • Successfully served 8+ million monthly users across the health content ecosystem

  • Improved support for diverse revenue streams, including advertising, commerce, and performance marketing

  • Enhanced content marketing capabilities through cohesive visual design

  • Strengthened brand authority and trust in the health information space


Team Performance

  • Increased cross-functional collaboration efficiency through strategic team realignment

  • Created new career growth opportunities for design team members

  • Improved workflow across product, brand marketing, and content design functions

  • Enhanced ability to work across key business objectives

This project demonstrated the importance of treating brand redesign as both a creative and strategic business initiative. The success came from balancing aesthetic modernization with practical business requirements, ensuring the new brand identity could effectively support multiple revenue streams while maintaining its core mission of providing accessible, trustworthy health information.

The organizational restructuring proved equally important, showing how team alignment can directly impact collaboration efficiency and individual career development within design organizations.

The health magazine brand redesign successfully transformed a generalist publication into a modern, authoritative health information platform. By combining thoughtful brand identity work with strategic design system architecture and organizational restructuring, the project created a foundation for sustained growth and improved user experience across a significant digital health ecosystem.

VP, Design – Health Group
@ Dotdash Meredith  
2021-2023

TEAM:
Don Eschenauer - Design Strategy, Art Direction, Visual Assets Design System, Iconography, Branding Workshops
Jaime Yong - Design Lead, Art Direction, UI Design, Design System Architect
Eliana Rodgers - Illustrations

Don Eschenauer
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