The Digital Magazine Awards has been in existence for five years now and awards outstanding and new digital magazines under an international jury. Mirus has earned a place on the list in the "Title Launch of the Year" category. The final elections will take place in Camden, London, in November. "We are quite surprised to be there alongside all these big players. Basically, we don't have any time to celebrate, because we're busy producing the second edition, which will be published in December," said publisher Stefan Jermann in a statement on Tuesday.
Mirus was conceived and designed by the Truce design agency. The CMS, which was developed from scratch and is completely responsive and based on a grid, was built over a period of one year. Mirus was launched in September (Werbewoche.ch reported).
Mirus means "amazing, striking, wonderful" in Latin.However, the name now also stands for exciting and exclusively produced stories about previously unknown neighborhoods in major international cities. Mirus is neither based on an app nor is it a blog. Mirus is an easily accessible online magazine for locally interested globalists.
In terms of content, Mirus focuses on little-noticed neighborhoods and districts of major cities.The first issue takes a close look at the Poble Nou neighborhood in Barcelona. At the turn of the century, Poble Nou was regarded as an industrial prodigy with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. At its peak, the district was home to up to 800 factories. However, the end of the industrial age led to a fundamental upheaval in Poble Nou.
Today, Poble Nou is probably the most interesting district in Barcelona - with great potential and a high density of innovative companies. And yet the district is hardly known. Tourists rarely stray here. This is precisely the concept behind Mirus, says Stefan Jermann, the founder of Mirus: "We are not interested in attractions, guides and sights in the conventional sense." Mirus is neither a travel magazine nor a trendsetter. Rather, it is intended to encourage people to go on a "micro" discovery tour themselves - to see places, corners and people with new eyes.
The protagonists of Mirus are the "local heroes": Nyamnyam - a couple who organize a kind of gourmet art performance in their apartment. Or Erika Lust, who specializes in erotic films for women and has enjoyed worldwide success with them. But also "La Escocesa", a former factory that now houses art studios for up-and-coming talents.
Mirus is produced in Zurich, but sees itself as an international and therefore English-language magazine that aims to appeal to "global nomads with a local attitude". Mirus is published four times a year. The next issues will be dedicated to unknown neighborhoods in Sarajevo, Lisbon and Rotterdam.
Photography: Stefan Jermann (Jermann.com). Art Direction, Concept & Design: Truce (Truce.ch).
The creators of Mirus say that this digital magazine is aimed at the global nomad with a local attitude. While the first issue documents an exciting and little-known neighborhood in Barcelona, the second issue will "explore" a district in Sarajevo. The last 12 months have been spent working intensively on the concept, design and technology on which Mirus is based. The first edition is ready for launch and has been fully self-financed. To secure its future, Mirus is now launching a crowdfunding campaign to show its potential audience what is worth waiting for and to raise funds to cover part of the ongoing production costs. Mirus focuses on exclusively produced stories on location and on strong photography, film contributions and independent journalism.
The English-language magazine is launching its crowdfunding campaign today on Indiegogo.