For your first full-scale zine project, you will create a 12-page zine designed completely by hand. In other words, you will cut and paste each element onto the pages separately, much like what we saw in the videos on Monday (1, 2).
- You MAY digitally set blocks of type, but no more than a column at a time. (example)
- You MAY crop and scale images to the appropriate dimensions, and adjust brightness/contrast.
- You MAY NOT use Photoshop for anything more than scaling, cropping, or adjusting Brightness/Contrast of images.
- You MAY NOT design an entire page or set of pages digitally, and then print them out, cut them up, and re-assemble them as though you had done it by hand in the first place.
- You MAY NOT use color. Your zine will be entirely black and white. Consider contrast, texture, visual balance, and other design elements.
The theme for this project is OBSESSION. Interpret that how you will, but know that your zine should be your voice, and your point-of-view. Make it compelling in some way. Your obsession may be something completely boring to everyone else, but how can you make it interesting?
Remember the zine about the guys and their pigeons? I’m not particularly interested in pigeons, but I’m very interested in a smartly designed zine that gives me something weird to ponder.
It’s easy for these zines to become very image-heavy. However, I want you to try to balance your pages with text. Write about your obsession. And write in such a way that it engages the reader.
Regardless of what your obsession is, you need to make it relevant/interesting to a causal reader. Maybe they won’t share your obsession, but they can at least be entertained by it. For example, I think the Helvetica documentary makes typography seem kind of interesting to someone not particularly interested in design.
What is your OBSESSION?
- Abandoned Buildings
- Music / Your Favorite Band
- Technology
- Vegetarianism
- Conspiracies ☠️
- Sports
- Feminism
- Celebrities/ Movies / Television
- Travel
- Politics
- Thai Food
- The Mall
- Art
- Architecture
- Something else?
PROJECT TIMELINE
Wed 8/31 – Get started / Brainstorm / Start writing & collecting images
Mon 9/05- Labor Day. No classes.
Wed 9/07 – View progress / Discuss print production techinques
Mon 9/12 – Turn in finished zines (5 copies + original)