Northern Trust has just completed a redesign of its European staff publication, ntouch, doubling pagination and giving the magazine a more contemporary look and feel.

The quarterly printed magazine, ntouch, is a key part of the internal communications strategy at leading financial services provider, Northern Trust, working alongside regular email bulletins and the intranet to inform and engage the audience.

The decision to double the size of the magazine to eight pages has been prompted by a rapid growth in audience numbers – the magazine now goes out to approximately 2,100 European-based staff in locations in London, Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, Luxembourg and Amsterdam.

International marketing executive, Nicole Bridel, explains: “With such a large and diverse audience, it was difficult to really reflect what was going on in the company in just four pages. Now we have the space, we can provide a blend of company news and staff human interest stories.”

At the same time, the magazine was given a new look, in keeping with the company’s newly designed corporate branding and imagery.

Nicole comments: “We worked with our agency, headlines, to create a new colour template and masthead for the newsletter. The agency was happy to ring the changes until we found a format that really worked for us.”

Though it’s still early days for the new-look magazine, Nicole says response from staff has so far been positive. “We know people like to have a printed newsletter alongside all the electronic communications they receive – it’s something they can take with them to read during their lunch break or when they’re commuting. The feedback we have received so far suggests they like having a bigger publication that better reflects everything that’s going on, and they’re pleased with the bright, new look.”

* To see the new design, please see the October issue of ic magazine.