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WS 115: The World of Zines, Zine Making and Self-Publishing

for Professor Jenny Fondren's fall 2025 course

But I'm Not An Artist!

Don't panic when you look at photos of zines and start thinking, I can't do that!

I can't do that either! but we can!! You will not be expected to suddenly be a highly skilled graphic designer or artist! Zines can be very simple: you just need writing and images. Your writing can be printed or handwritten by you, or you can type in Word or another program, print out, cut, and paste or tape in your zine.  images can be collected from the Internet, your own photos, magazines, old books, newspapers, etc. cut and pasted into collages. Art and design students may be comfortable making more sophisticated zines, but we can all make a zine! Watch the video below for a great explanation.

Here's a link to an article about the basic principles of composition in art and design. It's good! Even if you just skim it and look at the images. The article is part of a larger series Learning to Look, about visual literacy.

You will upload your zine into VoiceThread. Dr. Silberstein will explain all the details. This zine will be shared with your classmates. You are encouraged to add comments to other students' zines in VoiceThread.

Videos about Making a paper-based "Old School" Zine