Thursday May 15, 2008
Map magazine
Finally, a local magazine that does it right. This is the 4th (quarterly) issue of Map magazine, and the quality has been consistently great, so I’m finally letting myself get attached. Splitting the difference between local and non-local content — this issue’s cover, of the Ravonettes, is the first non-local — the magazine focuses on art, music, and culture.
This issue opens with a story on downtown club promoters, follows with a great interview with artist Aramis Gutierrez, and along the way features Del the Funky Homosapien, Luis Gispert, Dino Felipe, Gustavo Matamoros, the Postmarks, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Auster, and Rachel Goodrich. That, my friends, is a damned good list. Oh, and …
right smack in the middle, an article on Sweat Records. Perfect.
Editor Omar Sommereyns is a longtime Miami journalist, having most recently kicked ass at the Sun Post and Flavorpill. You couldn’t have picked a better guy to head up a magazine, as evidenced by the results.
For the gallery walk this month, Map threw a party next to Snitzer gallery, with a coffee bar, funky user-configurable seating, and a rock concert. They gave away the magazines, and distributed a card that guided folks through a carefully-picked group of the best galleries on the circuit, with step-by-step instructions. A nice touch.
Oh, one other thing I need to gush about — it’s beautiful. Map lets its graphic designers toss visual caution to the wind with each new spread, and you get stuff like the pages above — eye-popping but smart, and complimenting their topic. A series of grayscaled upside-down photos over a color gradient on one page, multi-colored plaid graph paper at 45-degrees on the next. It’s held together by a tight grid for the copy (set in a nice san-serif) and printed on lavish matte paper.
You can pick up Map free at lots of places around town, but why not spring for a subscription — your $25 is well worth it and supports what will hopefully be a long-running institution. Oh, and you can also flip through the magazine on their website and download a high-res PDFs of any of the 4 issues. Go read!
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The design is catchy, the topics are great, I love the idea of local stories and the focus on the indie and arts scene, but the first two issues I read had really bad writing. Perhaps the last two have gotten better?
JD: from what i heard, the first two issues were under a different director.
any local miami magazine that shows you what’s awesome in miami will fail because the ones that care are already aware of all it or is apart of it.It’s not like Miami has this huge awesome stream of hipsters…we are rare,few, and under the radar (also the name of a decent magazine)maybe if the magazine was about finding the best pastelitos or coladas in miami…maybe then…possibly…
Nasty comment deleted. Next time you get your IP permanently blocked from commenting, asshole.
The original mission of MAP was to make the arts more hip among younger people based on the fact that an older generation of patrons is passing away. I think it’s a great magazine that’s definitely different than other publications out there. The two founders of the magazine were very enthusiastic and passionate about making this work from the get-go.
There are a lot of us who used to be hipsters, but now are just living the pleasant life wishing we knew what was going on.
rarely do i hear people actively identifying as hipsters. it used to be an insult. has it reached its tipping point, where its now okay to call yourself a hipster?
hipster = the new punk. not really. ster = the new punk. actually heard that from new world kids on the metro. thought they were talking about steroids. i am 25 and feel so old.
let’s put the hipster drama to rest: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster
i would say it’s a compliment in Miami…in places where it’s overwhelming it may seem annoying but i greet any Miami hipster with open arms.
uhhh as someone who studied magazine feature writing and production there are several things wrong with this magazine that aren’t apparent on the surface but if you sit down and study it you’d realize its target audience is off (it can’t decide if its going for the hipster crowd or older more well-rounded art enthusiasts and collectors). an editor-in-chief should have realized that from the get go because advertisers like niche audiences and you have to prove to them you are targeting one. and unfortunately without advertisers, there is no magazine. subscription only makes up about 10% of a magazines total operating budget. although i’ll admit they are improving with every issue. but i wouldn’t call it a great magazine by a long shot.
There are a lot of people in Miami that have no idea what goes on East of I-95. I wouldn’t say they don’t care, they just don’t know.
These magazines just need to reach them. People cannot find out about things highlighted in the article (such as Sweat Records) if the magazines are only available there (as an example).
(FYI, I wouldn’t want to be called a hipster.)
anyone who quotes urbandictionary is not only not a hipster, but a complete dork from marrow to mind.
btw, there’s an episode of seinfeld where elaine calles kramer a hipster dufus.
if