5 Things Zines
By Nicholas Nesbitt
Hi! I’m Nicholas Nesbitt, a Johannesburg based creative specialising in Illustration, Digital Design, & Sound Design. These are some of my latest illustrated ramblings. Enjoy :)
1. Catchy
Making a zine is a great way to spontaneously express yourself and get your thoughts out into the world, quick quick. Sometimes though, it can be hard to start. So ask yourself: what am I trying to achieve? What am I trying to say? Is it a design zine or an art zine? Do I want to educate or shock? This will help you decide on the style of the Zine you want to create because your idea will guide the visual language.
Once you have a concept, you will need a catchy title. I love coming up with titles for zines. I keep notes on my phone, anything memorable, non-sensical, obscure, or odd I jot down. Often it’s something funny that someone said to me at a bar or a line from a song or a movie. If you really struggle with this type of thing have a zine party and pull names out of a hat. My best advice is don't take it too seriously and have fun with it.
Once I have the catchy title I begin to sketch out the letterforms in my sketchbook or find a font that fits the brief. A zine is not supposed to be too labor intensive. Keep it spontaneous. Keep it catchy.
2. Sections and layout
Breaking up the zine into pages might seem a little technical or labor intensive in the beginning, but normally what I do is get a few pieces of paper and create a rough pagination guide. Pagination is an old school term for laying out pages of a book or magazine. It’s easy and there are different ways you can do it. Google it quick and find something you think looks manageable.
Reading about hotdogs or hamburger (I’m getting hungry!) folds might seem daunting at first but it’s not rocket surgery, just different ways to fold paper. Find something you think works for your concept and go with it.
3. Work fast, have fun
Now that you have your rough template sorted it’s time for the fun stuff… adding content. There is no rule of what can or can’t go into a zine. You might want to cut and paste magazine clippings or go playschool and just draw with crayons. You might want to write poetry, and then scribble over it, or copy some lines from beautiful prose you recently read. The main thing is to try to be as creative and explorative as possible with your compositions and content. Let your unconscious take over.
I use the zine process to develop ideas on the fly. I try to work fast and use existing content from my sketchbooks and breathe new life into old drawings. Often I will photocopy an old drawing and possibly add a new caption to it or draw over it. It's a chance for me to let go and be creative with zero constraints.
Don't think too much and let the process dictate what the final outcome is. Zine making should be fun. I give myself a tight deadline — 1 day. If you are working on a zine for more that one day it's not a zine, it’s a day job.
4. Paper
Go out and find some awesome paper to print it on. This will really make a difference in the final outcome of the zine. I like to have options, maybe the front cover is printed on colour card or transparent paper but the pages inside are black and white. Depending on how much you want to spend or how many copies you want to make this can really make your zine go from zero to hero.
Make sure the paper you chose is safe to go into a professional printer. If you are doing this at a print shop they will tell you what will be acceptable in their machines. I think up to 170gm is safe in an inkjet (an inkjet is obviously not the only printing technique, silkscreen or risograph printing are also excellent options, but I find inkjet to be the most cost-effective route when starting out)
Time to take it to the printer…
5. Print to streets
You have your master copy and now you need to take it to a printer. Make friends with your printer and be sure they understand the final product you are trying to create. Decide on how many copies you want (this depends on your budget obviously) and press the big red print button. I like to number the editions of the zines to make them more collectible. It’s really up to you.
Cut out sections of the zine to make a cool effect. Maybe you even want to hand draw some effects into your print run so that each zine is unique. Get Crafty!
You can sell or swap your zines… maybe even leave them in non-descript, random spaces around the city, or in shops. People love zines because it’s a little piece of you. Don’t be afraid to share your work.
Go and zine out my friends…
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