
Created by Matt Zoller Seitz
Directed by Judith Carter
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
Haruki Murakami
Photo by Carlos Torres on Unsplash
A full-color illustrated compendium chronicling the magical twenty-year journey of acclaimed art and design studio, MinaLima, the creative genius behind the graphics for the Harry Potter film series.
“It all started with a letter . . .”
Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima began their extraordinary partnership in 2001 when Warner Bros. invited them to realize the imaginative visual universe of the Harry Potter film series. The two artists would never have guessed that the graphic props they designed for the films—including the Hogwarts acceptance letter, Marauder’s Map, Daily Prophet newspaper, The Quibbler and Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes—would become cultural icons loved by Wizarding World fans around the world.
Eight years later, the pair formed their own design studio, MinaLima, and expanded their work to include the graphics for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade at Universal Orlando Resort and the Fantastic Beasts film series. To showcase their treasury of designs, the studio has opened House of MinaLima, its immersive art galleries and shops in London and across the world.
The Magic of MinaLima is an illustrated history and celebration of Mina and Lima’s twenty-year evolution and groundbreaking vision. Their wondrous creations illuminate the Wizarding World as never before, and their commentary offers insights into the imaginative thinking that shaped their designs.
This collection showcases the very best works from the award-winning studio’s two decades and includes interactive elements such as the Marauder’s Map, the Black Family Tapestry, and Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.
Designed to delight and enchant, The Magic of MinaLima will be an invaluable resource for Wizarding World and graphic art fans alike.
“From the Hogwarts acceptance letter (handwritten by one half of the MinaLima duo, Mira) to the Daily Prophet newspapers, this gorgeously detailed compendium leaves no stone unturned when it comes to the meticulous level of thinking that went behind the magical objects you see in the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films.” — Wizarding World Digital
"There’s this one piece of paper that has all the names written on it from Dumbledore’s Army—they had to create a different handwritten — MuggleNet
“Readers will get lost in the sheer volume of labels, book jackets, book spines, maps, prints, papers, documents, and posters–it’s almost overwhelming how many visuals can be stuffed into a two-page layout.” — C.J. Bunce, Borg
“The Magic of MinaLima is an illustrated history and celebration of Mina and Lima's twenty-year evolution and groundbreaking vision. Their wondrous creations illuminate the Wizarding World as never before, and their commentary offers insights into the imaginative thinking that shaped their designs.” — Goodreads
“For any fans of the look and feel of the Wizarding World, The Magic Of MinaLima is a must.” — Ben Travis, empireonline.com
MinaLima is an award-winning graphic design studio founded by Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, renowned for establishing the graphic style of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film series. Specializing in design and illustration, Miraphora and Eduardo have continued their involvement in the Wizarding World through numerous design commissions, from creating all the graphics for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando Resort to designing award-winning publications. Their bestselling books include the MinaLima editions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter Film Wizardry, The Case of Beasts: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Archive of Magic: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and J. K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts screenplays. Studio MinaLima is renowned internationally for telling stories through design and has created its own MinaLima Classics series, reimagining a growing collection of much-loved tales including Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
MZS.Press is the online arts bookstore founded by author, critic, and filmmaker Matt Zoller Seitz and Directed by Judith Carter. It offers new, used, signed, collectible, and rare books on film, TV, music, photography, and the visual arts. The store was launched in 2019 on a different platform and has expanded to incorporate arts books published by MZSPress's private imprint: titles currently include Seitz's The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon and Dreams of Deadwood, about the HBO Western, and Walter Chaw's A Walter Hill Film.
Our deepest wish is to promote, encourage, and distribute work by small presses, academic presses, and individuals. Extraordinary work tends to get swallowed up on giant platforms like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The titles featured here are personally selected by a group of curators and advisors, including Seitz and an array of critics, artists, journalists, educators, publishers, and arts mavens who are known for their ability to suss out what Seitz's jazz musician dad liked to call "the good sh*t."
In Honor of the greatest auteur of our time, Judith is using one of her favorite quotes by him.
"Every day, once a day, give yourself a present"
David Lynch (January 20, 1946-January 15, 2025)
Matt Zoller Seitz
Critic, Author, Filmmaker, MZS Press Creator
Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large and film critic of RogerEbert.com; Features Writer for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, Contributing Writer for D Magazine and Texas Highways as well as finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. His writing on film and TV has appeared in Sight and Sound, The New York Times, Salon.com, The New Republic and Rolling Stone. Seitz is the founder and original editor of the influential film blog The House Next Door, now a part of Slant Magazine.
Seitz has written, narrated, edited or produced over a hundred hours’ worth of video essays about cinema history and style for The Museum of the Moving Image, Salon.com and Vulture, among other outlets such as Texas Highways and AARP. His five-part 2009 video essay Wes Anderson: The Substance of Style was spun off into the hardcover book The Wes Anderson Collection. This book and its follow-up, The Wes Anderson Collection: Grand Budapest Hotel were New York Times bestsellers.
Other Seitz books include the New York Times bestsellers The Sopranos Sessions and Mad Men Carousel; TV (The Book), The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon, The Wes Anderson Collection: The French Dispatch and the new The Wes Anderson Collection: Asteroid City. He is also an interviewer, moderator, and film programmer who has curated and hosted film and TV presentations for the Museum of the Moving Image, IFC Center, San Francisco's Roxie Cinema, and other venues. In October 2024 he brought the legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone back to Dallas for a historic return to the city and the Texas Theatre, considered the biggest film event of Dallas in 2024 by Dallas Observer!
Judith Carter was in the Upscale and Luxury Hospitality Industry for most of her life. In 2004 she had a beautiful baby boy with Special Needs and put the pause on her career until 2017 to dedicate herself to him and then others, assisting and volunteering as a legal advocate ensuring the best medical care, evaluations and educations for Special Needs children and their families.
Matt and Judith were family friends for over 20 years. She was there with her family in support when his wife Jen passed away suddenly in 2006. Then just 6 weeks later while Matt was in Dallas; he and his Father, Dave, and Step-Mother, Genie, were there as support, when Judith was alone and her son received the first of many diagnoses that changed the trajectory of their lives. So it made sense in the turbulent year of 2020, Matt asked Judith to take over running the online store that has become MZS.press. The rest as they say is, "Their"-story.