Give Me Shelter: Home Magazine Delivers An In-House Renovation

Furniture World Magazine

After 16 years of providing readers with the information and inspiration to make intelligent décor and design investments, HOME magazine has made one of its own: a turn-of-the-century facelift that reflects the changing demographic profile of a growing and sophisticated audience. Published by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, the redesigned October "Kitchen and Bath" issue is 262 pages, the largest in the history of the magazine. "I'm always singing the praises of renovation," says HOME Editor-in-Chief Gale Steves, "so it's only natural that I would want to make a few changes to my own home. I felt that after nine years at the helm, it was time to take a good hard look at the magazine and improve it in ways that made sense both for the reader and us. Our look is cleaner, fresher, and-like any successful renovation project-exciting!" "More than 4.5 million readers rely on HOME each month for renovation and decorating ideas, and their needs are changing," adds HOME Publisher Edward Abramson. "Our recent research shows that the magazine's readers are among the youngest, wealthiest, and best educated in the shelter category, and their homes and families are their top priorities. They want a look that reflects their lifestyle." "We cut all clutter from the cover, updated our logo and freshened our photo layouts," says Steves. "We changed the typeface, made the photographs larger and gave each of the departments a new design. We stopped at the content, though. We've left that untouched. Our readers love the balance of renovation and decorating." HOME's editorial departments reflect a philosophy of "approachability" with topics that address specific reader interests, including: down-to-earth technology updates for home entertainment and offices (HOME Tech), protecting one's family (HOME Safe), adapting to changing lifestyle needs (HOME Design) and buyers' guides to appliances (HOME Works). "What pleases me the most about this renovation is that we still have more information than any other magazine - more ideas and easy resources for everyone to find," adds Steves. "No matter what your stage, lifestyle, or where you live, you should be able to get the things shown in the pages of HOME. That's a promise we've kept for nine years and will never change."