Introducing the Redesigned Martha Stewart Living Magazine

In yesterday’s New York Times, in an article on Martha and her company’s response to their own sluggish revenues, Martha helped unveil the redesigned Martha Stewart Living magazine. From the photograph that accompanied the article, and a quote attributed to the magazine’s editor in chief, Pilar Guzman, it would appear “the days of 1,000 word front-of-book stories are over.”

A photograph of the magazine’s cover (below) shows a heavy focus on cooking and recipes, which matches nicely the focus of Martha’s current television presence, now solely her “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School” on PBS, on which she demonstrates various cooking techniques.

Hard to tell the extent of the changes from just these photographs, but it sure looks very “how-to”, doesn’t it?  This step-by-step approach to presenting recipes is reminiscent of the content once found in the company’s “Everyday Food Magazine”, shuttered in late 2012. An absence of editorial, and a shift to cooking-only content, would also explain the recent departure of long-time design guru and legend, Gael Towey. (We FOMs miss you, Gael!)

FOMs: What do you think of the changes? To you, does this make Martha Stewart Living a more attractive magazine? Does this change the way you feel about Martha Stewart, the brand?

From the New York Times article:

“We understand that people are coming for short, consumable bites of information,” said Joseph Lagani, the company’s chief revenue officer. “People are not spending an hour with you. They’re there to get something.”

The redesign represents a large shift for Ms. Stewart, who built her reputation and her company largely on the strength of her cut-no-corners approach to cooking and crafts.

“I don’t want to retire,” Ms. Stewart said as she sat in a conference room framed by views of the Hudson River. “We’re trying to help figure it out. I don’t think it’s anything to run away from. I’m not banging my head against a stone wall here.”

In part, the redesign is an attempt to hang on to the magazine’s readers and artisans ages 18 to 34 who have become loyal fans. And like many publishers, the company is betting that video can help solve the online advertising riddle.

“That approach of putting cooking techniques near our recipes in video form has done really well,” Mr. Lagani said, “and many of our advertisers want to be part of that.”

It’s a Wrap: Martha Stewart’s Cooking School has completed taping!

Martha has completed taping her new show for PBS, “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School”. To celebrate, she hosted all involved at a Moroccan feast, or “bisteeya”, at her Bedford home. You can see many photos of the feast, as well as its preparation, on Martha’s blog. In the photo above, from Martha’s blog, Martha, appropriately attired for the evening’s theme, is leading partygoers on a rainy day tour of her farm. What do you think, FOMs: Will you be watching and learning from Martha this fall? I can’t wait!

BTW: If you absolutely can’t wait to learn step-by-step cooking techniques from Martha, you may want to check out the enhanced edition of Martha’s 2008 book, “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School”, (coauthored by Everyday Food Editor, Sarah Carey) available now on iTunes. NOTE: You will need an iOS device–an iPhone, or iPad, or iPod Touch–to view these. Here are the available lessons, in order:

Lesson One: Stocks & Soups
Lesson Two: Eggs
Lesson Three: Meat, Fish & Poultry
Lesson Four: Vegetables
Lesson Five: Pasta, Dried Beans & Grains
Lesson Six: Desserts

The PBS show will be different than these enhanced editions, but these should hold you FOMs over until fall. Enjoy!

From Martha’s blog:

As I mentioned, last Friday evening I hosted a dinner party for thirty guests. We recently finished taping Martha Stewart’s Cooking School, which will be airing on PBS this coming autumn and I’m so excited! This dinner was for people who worked on that show’s production, both from PBS and MSLO.

via A Moroccan Feast at my Home – The Martha Stewart Blog.