Brand Guide 2024

• Brand Guidelines
• Organization Messaging
• Visual Style
• Max Glossary

Brand Guidelines

Be Bold. Stand Out. Be Seen.

The Max Foundation’s brand guidelines enable us to tell our story in a clear, consistent, and compelling way. The visual elements – the logo, word marks, colors, font face, and graphics – embody our vision, mission, and values. By using these (refreshed) visual elements in conjunction with our messaging strategy, including photography and iconography, we can establish a clear, distinctive, and recognizable brand identity and voice.

Taken together, we hope to make unforgettable first impressions, strengthen pride, and forge long-lasting meaningful relationships. It is critical we consistently express these elements across all our communications to influence the perception of our brand identity and experience to the internal and external stakeholders.

With your support, we can enhance and enrich our image and reputation as a leading global health nonprofit dedicated to accelerating health equity.

Organizational Messaging

Vision

Our vision is a world where all people can access high-impact medicines, where geography is not destiny, and where everyone can strive for health with dignity and hope.

Mission

Accelerate health equity.

Name Usage

ALWAYS write out The Max Foundation with the first letter in each word capitalized.

ALWAYS write out The Max Foundation in the first reference. After that, you may use Max as a short name.

Elevator Pitch

The Max Foundation helps patients in low- and middle-income countries by delivering life- extending cancer medication at no cost to the patient.

Core Beliefs

We believe all human life has equal value, and all people facing illness deserve access to immediate and effective treatment no matter where they live.

We believe achieving health equity requires a holistic approach based on multi-stakeholder collaboration. We work collaboratively at all levels, knowing the result is better for it.

We believe accelerating progress requires dedication above and beyond the ordinary. We are hyper-focused on forging new pathways whenever necessary and are obsessed with overcoming any obstacle to save more lives.

We believe we must develop new and innovative solutions. We aim to think ambitiously and to leverage novel technologies and approaches to improve outcomes for our patients.

Tagline

General: Accelerating health equity, one patient at a time.

Social Bio Baseline

The Max Foundation is a leading global health nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating health equity.

Background

For job announcements, our website, Max collateral, grant proposals, etc.

The Max Foundation is a leading global health nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating health equity. For more than 26 years, Max has pioneered practical, scalable, high-quality solutions to bring life-extending treatments and patient-centered health care to more than 100,000 people living with cancer and critical illness in low- and middle-income countries. Max believes in a world where all people can access high-impact medicines, where geography is not destiny, and where everyone can strive for health with dignity and with hope. Learn more at www.themaxfoundation.org.

Talking about patients

When telling the story of a specific patient, you should first show the context of their life, then talk about how it’s been impacted by their disease – no matter the audience. This may seem daunting, but it’s very achievable, even in a single sentence. For example:

• YES – Salleh, a husband, father, and fruit-stall vendor, was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 …
• NO – Salleh is a lymphoma patient. He was diagnosed in 2013.

When writing broadly in general public- or donor-facing communications, our preferred description is:

• A person/people living with cancer – OR – A person/people facing cancer
• In general, use “living with cancer” instead of “combat terms” like battle, warrior, fight, etc. Patients have expressed dissatisfaction with that language, as the implication is they can “lose the battle” or “not fight hard enough.” Learn more in this blog post from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Talking about diseases

While The Max Foundation works across a variety of cancers and rare illnesses, our audience is not as concerned about specific illnesses. The Max Foundation is also always working on new pathways for other treatments outside of our typical cancer work.

Instead of the full disease name, please only use ‘cancer’ when talking about our diseases.

Talking about physicians

When talking about physicians, always ensure you include their full name, professional title, and the institution they work at. Do title case their professional title and hospital name.

• YES – Dra. Olga Graciela Cantú Rodríguez is a Head Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Hematology Department of the University Hospital in Monterrey, Mexico.
• YES – Dra. Olga Graciela Cantú Rodríguez is a hematologist in Mexico.
• NO – Dra. Rodríguez is a head professor in the hospital in Monterrey.

Visual Style

Logo

In using the logo, the wordmark (text) and symbol (image) must always be used together. If the space available does not allow for horizontal orientation, use the alternative vertical treatment.

Our logomark evokes a number of themes – a blood droplet, arms wrapping around a patient, and a hand surrounding a dose of life-extending medicine.

Horizontal Orientation (primary)

Download  JPG  PNG  EPS

Vertical Orientation (secondary)

Download  JPG  PNG  EPS

Logo Variation

Use the single-color logo in white to complement different color backgrounds.

In rare cases, such as on top of an image, the full color symbol with white word mark is used.

Logo Do Nots ✕

Do not rearrange, dissect, distort, wrap, skew, rotate, obstruct, add affiliation, add effects to the logo. Never use the wordmark or symbol on its own.

Color Palette

Color is an integral part of our brand identity. Using our brand color palette reinforces the cohesiveness of our brand and communicates its trustworthiness. Max Blue requires a special set of supporting primary colors – Seattle, Buenos Aires, and Grey– to underscore its vibrancy. Utility colors complement our brand by providing some dimension with a range of colors that can be used subtly throughout any design but not in excess of 25% of the color in the entire collateral.

Primary Color

Supporting Primary Colors

Utility Colors

Typography

Both typefaces are open-sourced fonts designed for Google and are available as a free download. Paired together, Merriweather complements the clean and modern look of Open Sans while providing a nice, sharp contrast.

Primary Typeface

Open Sans is a versatile, humanist sans-serif recognized for its clean, strong lines. It has a friendly character with a hint of playfulness and a warm appearance.

Open Sans Medium or Open Sans Regular are recommended for the body text.

Secondary Typeface

Merriweather is a classic modern serif font typeface. It is a dense and sturdy typeface with a balanced, warm, and friendly character. With its unique design elements, it evokes a sense of comfort, trust, and reliability.

Merriweather should only be used for headings only.

Font Do Nots ✕

Avoid all bold, all caps, and outlines.

Iconography

Our iconography are simple and flat identifiable representations of concepts, programs, and services. Icons can be used throughout our materials to highlight a key element including layouts with other brand elements or photography. Full color versions should be first choice and where necessary, single color icons can be used.

Strategic Plan Icons

MAS Model Icons

SDoH Program Icons

Barriers to Access Icons

Giving Icons

Miscellaneous Icons

Max Glossary

Writing Style

We prefer American English spellings for all external communications originating from HQ. For Region Heads and Program Officers communicating with audiences in their own regions, regional language and spelling should be followed

• For all marketing communications, including news and media, please refer to the Associated Press (AP) Style
• For all academic papers and publications (depending on the requirements of the publication), use Chicago, AMA, or APA style.

Grammar Best Practices

• URL: In all formal publications, our URL should always omit the “www” and simply be written as: themaxfoundation.org
• Serial comma: When you list three or more items, the item immediately preceding the “and” should always receive a comma. (Example: I bought eggs, milk, and bread at the store.)
• Periods: Always follow by a single space.
• Capitalization: Title case capitalizes the first letter of every word except articles,prepositions, and conjunctions. Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word.
• Emails: Use all lowercase when writing out an email address(info@themaxfoundation.org)
• Numbers: Spell out a number when it begins a sentence. Otherwise, follow AP style.
• Date: Spell out the day of the week and the month, abbreviate only if space is an issue.(Saturday, May 4, 2020)
• Percentages: use the % symbol
• Ranges and spans: use an en-dash to indicate a range or span in numbers
• Time: Lowercase a.m. and p.m. and use a period between each – use numerals with a.m. or p.m., with a space in between (6 p.m.)
• Use an en-dash to indicate a time period (7 a.m.-10 p.m.)
• Ellipses: Used to indicate a space between a thought. Use them sparingly in communication. Don’t use them in headers or titles.
• Always include one space before and after the ellipses (hello … is anybody home?)
• Quotation marks: Periods and question marks go inside the quotation marks if they are part of a quote. Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes. “The patient told me, ‘I am taking my medication every day.’”
• Ampersands: Only use when a part of a company or brand name. Use in social media to shorten character count or for style preference on materials.
• Names and titles: When talking about a patient, don’t use their last name. When mentioning a person, refer to them by their full name the first time you mention them, all following mentions can include their first name.
• Capitalize the names of departments and teams, but not the word “team” or “department.” Only use “team” for full staff. (Communications department/ The Max Foundation team)
• Abbreviations and acronyms: Spell out on first reference and include acronym in parentheses following: Patient Access Tracking System (PATS)
• Active voice: Use active voice, avoid passive voice:
  • Active: Dr. Karen treats 300 patients
  • Passive: Three hundred patients are treated by Dr. Karen
• Time zones: For HQ employees, abbreviate and title case U.S. time zones (PST, MST). For international time zones, spell out and title case. (Nepal Standard Time). The opposite applies for regional colleagues.
• Copyright: In all formal publications, a copyright line should be used that refers to “The Max Foundation.” For example, “Copyright © 2024, The Max Foundation.”

Glossary of Brand Terms and Frequently Used Words

• CMLPath to CareTM: the collaboration between Novartis and The Max Foundation for access to Novartis
  products through Max Access Solutions. The initiative is directed by The Max Foundation with support from Novartis through drug donations and funding.
• Diagnostics: we use the term “diagnostics” to broadly refer to any test or technology used to diagnose or monitor a patient. Most often, we use diagnostics to refer to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. We say diagnostic (without the ‘s’) to describe the initial test for confirmation of disease.
• GeneXpert®: a point of care molecular diagnostic instrument designed and manufactured by Cepheid. The instrument uses many different assays to diagnose different diseases including DR-TB and HIV, but one of the things it can do is PCR to test for the level of BCR-ABL. For CML patients, the two existing tests are the Xpert® BCR-ABL Monitor, and the newer, substantially more-sensitive, Xpert® BCR-ABL Ultra.
• Glivec® International Patient Assistance Program (GIPAP): A program of Novartis, launched in 2001 to provide access to Glivec® to patients that otherwise would not be able to. The Max Foundation co-developed the GIPAP model with Novartis, administered and refined it for 15 years before developing and launching Max Access Solutions. In 2017, Novartis and The Max Foundation agreed to transition GIPAP in 65 countries to CMLPath to Care under the umbrella of Max Access Solutions. Though the majority of countries have transitioned from GIPAP to CMLPath to CareTM, a few countries are still in process and expected to transition by end of 2020.
• Healthcare: one word
• Headquarters: may take a singular or plural verb
• Humanitarian PACT: Spell out Humanitarian Partnership for Access to Critical Treatments (Humanitarian PACT)in first reference, then use Humanitarian PACT for subsequent references
• Life cycle: two words
• Life-saving: one word, hyphen. In general, use “life-saving” on the second or third reference. The preferred term is “life-extending,” as we provide medications for terminal illnesses like advanced breast cancer.
• Low- and middle-income countries: This is our preferred descriptor of the “type” of countries where we establish and maintain treatment access programs.
• Max Access Solutions: Max Access Solutions is our leading access to treatment model that harnesses the power of effective partnerships with corporate drug manufacturers, international distributors, diagnostic companies, ministries of health, hospitals, cancer centers, public institutions, local NGOs, patient organizations, and academic centers of excellence.
• Max global partners: Our network of endorsed patient support groups throughout the world.
• Maximiliano “Max” Rivarola (1973-1991): Stepson of Pat Garcia-Gonzalez and the namesake of The Max Foundation. Max Rivarola was born in 1973 and diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) at the age of 14. He lived courageously with CML for three years. He passed away in 1991.
• MaxInsider: our internal blog hosted in SharePoint that connects stories from team members. Use it to share stories, challenges, announcements, personal reflections, etc.
• Noncommunicable: one word, no hyphen
• Nonprofit: one word, no hyphen
• Patient Access Tracking System (PATS®): The Patient Access Tracking System, PATS®, is a real-time program management tool, developed in house and accessed by The Max Foundation team and treating physicians. PATS® and Max Access Solutions go hand-in- hand by tracking each patient’s treatment life cycle that includes any changes to a patient’s medication, dosage, and diagnostic needs.
• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR): a technology in molecular biology used to amplify a single copy or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence. PCR can be used to test for the presence and prevalence of the BCR-ABL gene, the critical indicator in diagnosing and monitoring CML.
• Preferential pricing agreement: we work to secure preferential pricing agreements with medical technology providers to increase access to diagnostics in low-resource settings. Our agreement with Cepheid gives us discounted testing machines and kits.
• Solidarity Fund: a fund The Max Foundation has established to increase access to molecular diagnostics by purchasing and donating diagnostic test kits and equipment for certain under-served countries.
• Spot on CML: a diagnostic partnership with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center that facilitates diagnostic testing for patients by shipping blood samples through dried blood spots in mailed-in paper cards.
• Targeted cancer therapy: a special type of chemotherapy that takes advantage of differences between normal cells and cancer cells; many targeted drugs go after the cancer cells’ inner workings; there are now many “families” of targeted cancer therapies, one of which is tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKI).
• Treatment Free Remission (TFR): TFR is a deliberate, planned, carefully monitored intervention embarked upon by CML patients after discussion and agreement with their doctors; the goal is to observe and record continued (relatively) deep remission without treatment. There are specific requirements to try TFR, strict monitoring and actions (retreatment, etc.) that must occur to make it a safe and reasonable experiment. If it works, a term that has been used to describe the outcome is ‘functional cure’: cure meaning someone has completed treatment and is in remission; functional because many patients may have some evidence of their CML still by PCR but appear stable and safe off treatment.
• Tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI): a type of targeted cancer therapy that inhibits tyrosine kinases, which are the enzymes responsible for the activation of various proteins by signal transduction cascades; in CML, TKIs specifically target the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase protein and either mute or disrupt its expression.

How to Simplify Common Terms for Larger Audiences

This is a guide to help with writing reports, blog posts, presentations, etc. The goal is to make materials easier to translate and read for wider audiences. Generally, we recommend simplifying scientific/technical terms and avoiding acronyms if possible.

Conferences

• First use: full name (acronym). For example – American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference
• Subsequent use: acronym or shortened version. For example – ASCO, conference
• Do not use: if you’re mentioning more than one conference, use the acronyms instead of the shortened version to avoid confusion

Diseases

• First use: full name (acronym). For example – chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), advanced breast cancer (ABC)
• Subsequent use: acronym or shortened version. For example – CML or leukemia, GIST or stromal tumor, RCC or carcinoma, ABC or breast cancer
• Do not use: if you’re mentioning more than one disease, use the acronyms instead of the shortened version to avoid confusion

Humanitarian Partnership for Access to Critical Treatments

• First use: Humanitarian Partnership for Access to Critical Treatments (Humanitarian PACT)
• Subsequent use: Humanitarian PACT
• Do not use: HPACT

Low- and middle-income countries

• First use: low- and middle-income countries
• Subsequent use: low- and middle-income countries, low-resource countries
• Do not use: third-world countries, developing countries

Max GPS

• First use: Max GPS
• Subsequent use: Max GPS, patient navigation program, navigation program, the program

Max Access Solutions

• First use: Max Access Solutions
• Subsequent use: Max Access Solutions, access program, medication access program, the program