If you’ve ever flipped through a wellness magazine you know how hopelessly staged everything is. There's likely to be a heavily Photoshopped model twisted into an impossible yoga pose. There are almost certainly going to be ads — and lots of them — between articles that may or may not be sponsored content.
The Dragontree spa, the Boulder-based creators of Well Magazine, is trying to bring some authenticity back to the genre. To do that, they have created the first Instagram sourced lifestyle magazine.
On the surface, Well Magazine looks like any other wellness magazine. There are articles with titles like ‘Beauty: The Business of Sowing and Reaping’ and ‘Busy is for the Bees,’ and of course there are big, beautiful photos.
Because all of the images are sourced from Instagram, the magazine feels more authentic. None of the images are of photoshopped models and the reader is not bombarded with advertisements.
So far, the Well Magazine is only available at a couple of locations — mostly spas — around the country, or you can buy a PDF copy for $3. The magazine has just finished out its second issue, and has a circulation of around 700. The hope is that a large retail outlet (think Whole Foods) will take a liking to the concept. If they do, you may just be seeing your Instagrammed photos at checkout counter.
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