Editor takes LHJ in a cozier direction
By Aileen Jacobson STAFF WRITER NEWSDAY

Diane Salvatore hasn't actually changed the name of the 119-year-old magazine where she recently became the first new editor in 21 years. But by enlarging the type size and shifting the placement of its middle word, she has transformed Ladies' Home Journal.

Journal used to be the dominant moniker - and still is, temporarily, on home-delivered and some newsstand copies, for a smoother transition, says Salvatore. But, in the new version, it's going to be Home Journal that jumps out. And that's more than a cosmetic lift.

"When I looked at the name, Ladies' Home Journal, it became very clear to me that there was a lot of equity in the word 'home,' and that home was a warm word, and it certainly did lend warmth to the word 'journal,' which can be a little business-sounding and a little cerebral and chilly."

Salvatore's new motto for the magazine is "heart, home and family." Partly spurred by the nation's new home-centered mood after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she says, she's concentrating on "the theme of family connectedness, from lots of points of view and in lots of formats." The logo change fits right in: "By putting 'home' all front and center, it helps to cue readers ... that there there has been a shift in the focus."

Felicitously, she also found in looking through the magazine's archives that Home Journal had been the title when the publication launched in December 1883 as a compilation of letters from "lady farmers to the editors of the magazine," who gave advice. "A wily printer took it upon himself to add the word 'Ladies' to the original title. And that's how it got born as Ladies' Home Journal," says Salvatore, who at 42 has worked at many magazines, including YM, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and, most recently, overseeing 15 Hearst titles.

"I felt very much like a back- to-the-future moment when I learned that ... this has very much been part of the legacy of the magazine, that Home Journal was the heartbeat of the magazine to begin with."

Other changes may not be as apparent to readers: The magazine is using heavier paper (on newsstand issues and eventually for all copies), more prominent writers (including Wall Street Journal and New York Times staff members) and its own photos instead of hand-out shots of celebrities on its covers Read more