Instagram: One year of magazine covers on coloured backgrounds
With no plan or intent, I started posting magazine covers to Instagram on coloured backgrounds in September last year. (The first was Vogue Japan on the dark grey swatch, FYI.) Back then, the account had about 2,000 followers. Today, 12 months and over 900 covers later, the account has around 9,250 followers. So, it’s been popular. I still have no real plan or intent, but I’d love to reach the big 10k by the end of the year (I guess I do have vanity).
I’m a self-confessed mag-fiend… so sharing covers (and having others enjoy that) is a thrill. I know what you’re thinking… which covers have been the most liked? Well, as I write, here are the top ten most-liked covers on the Gym Class Instagram feed:
Just outside the top ten are Rapha’s Mondial magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Makeshift, Intern, New York, WIRED (the US and Japan editions), The Sunday Times Magazine and New York.
As an adjunct…
In the same 12-month period, I’ve published two issues of Gym Class (the magazine). It’s fair to assume, then, that for most people Gym Class (the brand) is first and foremost an Instagram feed dedicated to magazine covers. The challenge I face, as a publisher, is introducing as many as possible of those followers to the print product. Because, for me, the magazine is the heart and soul of the Gym Class world. Right about now, the wise words of Anorak magazine’s Cathy Olmedillas, interviewed for Gym Class 12, ring in my ear… “The independent market is small. Many people love indie magazines but few buy them regularly.”
