About
Empower Modern Makers to Find, Start, Do Their Thing
PRESENT is a print magazine, a global community and a support system for Modern Makers. We believe every human has what it takes. What’s often missing is the support to begin, and the structure to keep going. We are building PRESENT to be both.
Principles
Every Human Is a Maker
Creativity isn’t reserved for the few. Everyone has something to start, build, or ship. What’s often missing is the support to begin.
Action Cures Anxiety
We don’t wait for clarity to act. We act to find clarity. Starting, imperfectly, today, is the most powerful thing you can do.
Process Over Outcome
We care about how things are made, not just what gets made. The practice is the point.
Build Your Own Tools
When the system doesn’t fit, build a better one. We serve as proof: magazine, framework, and OS, all built from need.
Being Present Leads to the Future
Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present. Focus on what’s in front of you. The rest follows.
No One Makes It Alone
Vulnerability isn’t weakness. It’s the starting point for honest work. Community, feedback, and shared struggle are how we grow.
“PRESENT was born out of necessity, curiosity and frustration. I wanted to build what I wish I had when I was starting out as a designer.”
I started getting deeper into the psychology of work, the creative process and the power of habits while I was still studying and on the edge of burning out. I always had big ambitions with a hundred projects and interests at once.
How can we balance it all without driving ourselves crazy? How can we live life to the fullest, and at the same time be present to do our best work, despite the turbulent times and a million distractions around us? This question drives me.
The challenges and tragedies in my own life helped me grow. I’m not a guru or an expert, but what I’ve learned in my life so far I want to share. I want to give back and build things.
Hugo Hoppmann
Founded in 2016 in New York. The magazine since 2019.
Team
Hugo Hoppmann is a designer, creative director, and founder of PRESENT.
Sarah Discours is an art director, graphic designer, and partner at PRESENT.
Present Cosmos
Empowering Modern Makers
- Present MagazineEssays, Interviews, features, photo reportages with makers worldwide on 300 pages and sold in over 20 countriesOpen
- Do The ThingFrom Overwhelm to Clarity: Do The Thing is our framework and book for unlocking your favourite unrealized projectOpen
- presentOSUniversal application to access all tools, magazine archives and resources from the Present universe and ecosystemOpen
- Present ProThe membership for presentOS: the full Present Library, the Wisdom Base, the magazine archive, community calls and the bookOpen
- Present SpaceOur community inside presentOS, where 250+ makers from 24+ countries learn, connect and exchange while pursuing their ThingOpen
- Consistency ClubBi-weekly Support Group for Creatives exchanging on our favourite unrealized projects, the bliss and battles of creatingOpen
- Present People PodcastIn-depth 1-on-1 conversations with Modern Makers: What are the challenges and wins being a creative in today’s world?Open
- Present PrinciplesStrategies and mentorship for Modern Makers, shared in a regular newsletter, books and videosOpen
- Present ProductsCollaborations with our favourite makers worldwide, with each product’s making-of story in the print magazineOpen
- Sold in 20+ countries on five continents
- Nominated for Launch of the Year at the Stack Awards in London
- 250+ makers from 24+ countries
- 12k+ followers across platforms
Past contributors
David Zilber, Ryan Holiday, Oliver Burkeman, Tricia & Terry Jones (i-D), Florence Tétier, Massimo Vitali, Anne-Laure Le Cunff and Hung La (Lựu Đạn)
Hugo Hoppmann’s studio clients
Work with PRESENT
PRESENT is a print magazine, a global community and a support system for Modern Makers.
- ContributorsBe part of Present Issue 4: Becoming, in print and online.
- BrandsPartner with the magazine and its community of Modern Makers.
- CollaborationsMake an object with us, with its making-of in the magazine.
- PressFacts, images and words, ready to use.Open
Albert Camus