Canadian Health & Lifestyle has adjusted its target readership, as reflected by a redesign and new content unveiled in the October issue.

"We know that most of our readers are women, 1.5 million according to Spring PMB numbers," explained editor-in-chief Beth Thompson, who joined the Rogers-owned title in July. "We've realized the female audience is definitely where we should be focusing more of our voice." The digest, launched 2004, previously aimed at both men and women.


Thompson describes the reader as an urban mother acting as a gatekeeper when it comes to her family's health and wellness. Content will speak to her with new columnists and departments covering nutrition, dermatology, fitness, family medicine, naturopathy and more.

The brand aims to be more interactive, with Q&A formats for columns and an upcoming site redesign that, along with a new skin to match the magazine's makeover, promises more opportunities for questions and feedback, further social media integration and more contests.

Thompson describes the new look as a modernization. "We've really opened up the leading, we've made it a lot lighter, and we're playing a lot more with serifs and sans serifs in our display so that it has more character, whimsy, playfulness and energy," she said. The logo has not changed.

"We really wanted to position ourselves as the Canadian health authority," Thompson said.