Opening Remarks
In the summer of 2004, I took my first job as a graphic designer: a paid internship at Telephony magazine, a trade publication for the telecom sector. It was quite a departure from my days as an art student, and I wasn’t necessarily passionate about telecom. Nonetheless, I was working at a magazine. Life was good.
After a couple years, I realized working at a magazine is great, but I wanted more creative freedom. I wanted to work on projects that excited me, and that might even make a difference in the world. That’s when I decided to start a design studio, Synthetic, with my best friend and fellow art student, Ryan Dorshorst. We had a variety of clients in different industries, and business was great. But when the recession hit, we ran low on cash, credit, and client work. We faced a dilemma: shut down the company, or try something completely new to save it.
Enter Hipstamatic. With less than $3.00 in our company bank account, it was a labor of love and necessity. We spent many sleepless nights over the the course of two months working on it, and on December 9, 2009, Hipstamatic was “Ready For Sale” in the App Store.
Everything changed after we launched Hipstamatic. We’ve grown from 2 co-founders to a company with 15 employees, who I’m lucky enough to call my friends. We work from our own custom-built playhouse in San Francisco, California—the Haus of Hipstamatic. And although the company is a lot different now, our goal is simple: make products that inspire us all to take more photographs.
Today, we are introducing a new product to the family, Snap. It’s a monthly magazine focused on all the things we care about and love to take pictures of: music, fashion, art, and culture. I’ve never been more excited in my whole life. Yes, it’s a beautiful piece of eye candy, but I’m also really excited for our editoral content. In particular, Climax—an exploration of the things that we all think yet rarely speak about. I’m talking SEX, RELIGION, & POLITICS. It’s my hope that the section can help start the conversation about some of the more polarizing issues we’re facing today.
We hope you love reading this magazine as much as we loved bringing it together. We also want your feedback, so reach out,
Lucas Allen Buick Co-founder and CEO of Hipstamatic
