(summary and pic from creativ.com)
I was given a free copy of this magazine in exchange for an honest review.
My Review: I think the most noteworthy thing—and therefore the highlight—of this fun little publication is that it is beautiful. The photography is beautiful, the featured stories are beautiful looking and very artistic, and the magazine itself is obviously well put together and very artistic itself. Although it is technically a magazine, I hesitate to call it that because this is not your standard flimsy, gloss-covered publication. This is certainly more of a tabletop book—one that you would leave out for people to browse through and think you’re hip and with it (because you would be, were you to subscribe to this). It certainly lends itself to thumbing through and appreciating the beauty of the photographs and the artistic medium that it is. There are articles to read, but they are short and succinct and it’s definitely the kind of magazine that covers a breadth of information as opposed to delving too deeply into any one topic.
Another thing I really liked about this magazine is that
there were very few ads. Those that were there blended in with the publication,
and it’s not like I was reading about some-random-drug-and-side-effects
alongside the biography of a surfing adventure photographer (an actual article
in this magazine!). I understand that magazines have got to pay for themselves
and therefore sell ad space, but I was appreciative that this magazine was so
streamlined and avoided big coupons for zip-top bags and ads for only-on-TV
paraphernalia.
Although I loved reading and looking at this magazine
(because I think that it’s strongest point is really its photography—definitely
eye candy!) I found it a little unfocused. I understand that it covers a wide
variety of creative…erm…creativ topics—adventure/art/culture/innovation—but there was nothing really to tie what was going on
together into a cohesive whole. There were people who were artists next to an
astronaut girl (probably my favorite) next to a singer next to a climber next
to a motivational speaker…all from different countries with different mediums
and focuses. These people are awesome and creative—no doubt about it—but I was
just wishing for some theme overall. Like maybe this month’s edition would have
to do with women adventurers and then go from there. Or have an issue dedicated
to creatives from South America. Or an issue dedicated to men who are creating
new photography mediums. You get my drift. It just seemed unfocused and like
they have a very large file cabinet full of very interesting people and every
month they just randomly whip out the files they have on those people, cut them
down to very minimal size, jam them all together, and publish. The stories
themselves were almost all very short, and left me wanting for more. I would
have liked to see more detail about some of the people—their stories, their
inspiration, etc. There was some of that in the longer articles, but mostly
they were just really short blurbs.
Overall I really enjoyed looking at this magazine. It is
beautiful. Even my nine- and seven-year-old boys liked looking through it and
talking about the photos. There are some really cool people in here, very few
of whom I’d heard about before, so that was fun. If you are looking for a hip
tabletop book that looks really cool with a small, low-commitment description
of each person and their adventures, but lots of really beautiful, inspiring
photos, this is for you.
My Rating: 3 Stars
For the sensitive
reader: This particular issue of this magazine was clean.