The requirement for this project allowed and expected us to explore and create a Fan-Zine. The Zine itself had no requirements other than a minimum of 12 pages. It could be on a subject of our choice but preferably something new, original and interesting. I was originally quite sceptical about the project, creating a story wasn't something id say I enjoyed but that was where I had misinterpreted the requirements. I had failed to take into consideration that what we were creating wasn't a novel but a mini magazine. Something, short, sweet and ultimately fun.
I was very brief in my research, although the project was a graphic design project I didn't feel compelled to research a graphic designer. This was partly due to my inability to find a graphic designer who also created zines and because I wanted to create an original Zine in my own unique style. We did however manage to have a hands on session with many zines to get to grips with what they generally look like, feel like, the format and common characteristics such as how they're bound and what material they're made from. We had the chance to encounter many zines on trips to comic book stores and in class. Many of us hadn't experiences Zines before, I feel like I really benefitted from this as it allowed me to envision my Zine a lot better. I did eventually manage to find a creator and designer I could take inspiration from. Their name was AE Ritchie and they had created a Zine about tying in the natural with the electronic, combining images of brain scans and botanical illustrations. However the topic of the Zine wasn't what intrigued me, the fact that the designer had uses tracing paper as some of their pages. That I found very interesting and decided to experiment with it in my work.
I think my experimentation was ultimately a little bit flawed, in the sense that I had a very strong sense of what I wanted to create and so that limited my attitude toward experimenting with different ideas. I was cautious of wasting time creating ideas that I was sure I wasn't going to use. However when it mattered I think my experimentation was thorough. When it came to choosing my pages and playing around with tracing paper, that was when it became clear that experimenting was very fundamental to the success of a project. I explored using whole tracing paper pages, part tracing paper, photocopying onto tracing paper, sticking printed images onto tracing paper, using the tracing paper to trace the images, etc. In the end i was able to step back and decide what worked best for me. Originally I was confident in my ability to trace the images I was going to use but after experimenting my mind had changed and I had finally settled on photocopying onto the tracing paper as it was more efficient and it kept true to the images I was using.
The areas I feel need improvement are endless, each and every aspect of my work could have been improved so much. I feel I didn't fulfill my expectations with this project. The part that bugged me most was how I bound my Zine. I really could have tried experimenting more with book binding, using the number of pages to determine the success of my experimentation. I didn't take into consideration how many pages I was creating and so when it came to stapling my Zine together it didn't quite work because my Zine was far too thick. I therefore had to create a method to bind my Zine that I hadn't represented in my book at all. It was a last minute ditch at creating a finished piece. Although I guess that leaves my Zine up for improvement and development, which it definitely needs.
