Home of zines

Making zines is for everyone and anyone, a zine is a form of self-published work, originally made with photocopied pages, collages, drawing, handwritten or typed text. Zines first appeared in the 1930s with sci-fi fan magazines, but really took off during the 1970s punk movement.

Anyone with a message to share can make a zine, artists, fans, students, writers, anyone! "The great thing about zines is the freedom to be able to express your thoughts any way you like. The more raw and honest, the better. It's a world where the weird, absurd, and unique is appreciated." (Quote from the book "Watcha mean, what’s a zine? by Mark Todd & Esther Pearl Watson")

You can make zines to express your view points, share interests, connect with others, or simply to express yourself creatively. Examples include collections of short articles, news, or information. It's like a homemade mini magazine.

The DIY, low-budget nature of zines make them accessible to anyone who wants to self-publish their ideas or art.

Making zines is a fun creative project that doesn't require any special equipment or technology to complete. Your ideas, pen and paper are all you need, but not all you can choose to include, that's up to you, your resources and your imagination.

There is no wrong way to make a zine!

Making zines

Idea Generation

Ask yourself, what is the topic or theme of your zine? Brainstorm and jot down ideas. Also think about the tone and style of your zine. You can take a look at some of the zines here for inspiration.

Possible topics

Journal, fiction,non-fiction, poetry, interviews, guides, reviews.

Plan your zine

Think about number of pages, eight is a good number to start but add more if you'd like. Think of page layout, you will want to anticipate the page order assuming you will be folding pages into two or more.

Also think of how you'll make your zine. You can go 100% digital working on an iPad or computer or full analogue, or a mix of both! For a more hand-made feel you could add drawing, paste pictures or text into the pages, silkscreen, rubber stamping, stickers, your imagination is the limit.

Materials

Don't let this list limit you, it's here just to get you started: magazines, newspapers, scissors, plain paper, color paper, pen, markers, highlighters, pictures, drawings,ipad, computer, printer.

Create the content

This is where you get to put down to paper (or screen) all those thoughts that got you interested in making a zine in the first place. Add illustrations, artwork, or photos, if desired, or skip the text and do all images instead!

Don't forget to make your cover interesting. Color or black and white, pure text, images, or whatever you like, the only rules here are the ones you make.

Make the zine

If you are using a digital format, print the pages, cut and fold. If you went old school and used pen and paper you just need to cut and fold your pages.

Finish by stapling or binding the spine.

Make copies and share with the world!

Follow no rules