Introduction to Zine Making at Pace University
An Introduction to Zine Making
Maybe you have to make a zine for a class at Pace University. You'll probably have a presentation in class or on Zoom by your professor, a librarian, or a guest speaker about how to make one. Videos, slideshows, and other files will help you figure out what to do. This guide is designed to supplement all of that course-based activity and material. There's a ton of material on the Internet, and we've sifted through a lot of it and selected videos and files that are useful, clear, and appealing.
classic "half-size" zines: cover image on right, "spread" or two open pages on left.
spread of a mini zine (made from one piece of 8.5 x 11 paper) example of a mini zine unfolded (folds into 8 pages)
on left, cover of multiple copies of a zine; on right, spreads
Don't panic!
Don't panic when you look at these photos and start thinking, I can't do that! I can't do that either!
Ah, but you can! Students will not be expected to suddenly be highly skilled graphic designers! Zines can be very simple: Word-processed or handwritten or printed text; images collected from the Internet, your own photos, magazines, old books, newspapers, etc. cut and pasted into collages; and photographs. Take a look at these and see what you think!
on left, more mini zine covers; on right, cover of a zine made by student at Pace
Zine Making: An Overview
Check out these great overviews of zine making from experts in the field!
- A Beginner's Guide to Zine Making: Written by Sarah Burke at Vice Magazine. Check out #zines at the end of the article for other Vice articles about particular zines!
- An Introduction to Zines: Fabulous, detailed guide created by the Canadian organization The Public. This guide is part of The Public's Creative Resistance How-to Series.