Minimaps are small travel guides to share a little bit of your world and enjoy someone else’s. The project is collectively created by travelers, walkers, nomads, hedonists, nihilists, epicures, readers, photographers and illustrators from all around the planet, who want to share with others what they love and know best: from their favorite restaurants in Buenos Aires to the best swimming spots in Sydney; some lovely secret gardens in Rome, or a route to tread mindfully in Ubud.
The only guideline is: share what you love so others can love it too. The only limitation: each minimap includes just 7 things.
The number of course is arbitrary, but the idea is that you -as a minimapper- curate your minimap experience really well, as there are already too many alternatives, and maps and guides that will flood you with options.
Minimaps are not about quantity but soul. These massive guides that show you literally everything you can do in a place can be a bit overwhelming, and with some apps you can scroll down for decades reading infinite reviews of anonymous people that really love or hate (usually both) the restaurant that you have right in front of you. How can you chose who to believe, and what are you doing with your nose buried in your phone again? Minimaps is about creating connection between the traveler, the editor and the illustrator. A minimap is like a friend of a friend guiding you to the city that he or she loves, telling you about the things he or she knows best. That’s it.
How are the minimaps made?
There is one editor/curator that chose the theme of his/her minimap and the places and stories that will populate it. Then one wonderful illustrator will create the map and give it a visual personality. Illustrators and curators come together to create a unique mini-travel experience to share.
You can do both things, of course. We have created a small guide if this is you first time making an illustrated map.
Can I get involved?
Of course! We were hoping that you wanted to get involved. You can either be the curator or the illustrator, or both! (Read more here). You can also suggest new themes or blog entries, you can sponsor us (yay!), you can recommend places to visit or people that want to participate. If you have an idea, any idea, just drop us a line (superminimaps@gmail.com). Get involved anyway you want!
Do you create bespoken maps?
Yes we do. We don’t really know e v e r y city of the world (yet!) but we do have a great network of travellers. For popular cities like London, Paris, Madrid, Buenos Aires, New York, Bombay, Tokyo, Berlin, we are absolutely ready, so just ask away. And have a look at some of the projects we’ve worked on in our Lab.