Skip to Main Content

Zine and Booklet Making and Publishing

Have a zine-making assignment at Pace? Use this guide to learn about how to make a zine or fanzine. This guide includes "old school" zine making with paper, glue or tape, scissors and a photocopier; zine making using Word; and making zines using In Design

Introduction to Zine Making at Pace University

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 I've sifted through a lot of it and selected videos and files that are useful, clear, and appealing.

   

Dont' panic when you look at this photo and start thinking, I can't do that! I can't do that either! but we 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. Art and design students will be comfortable making more sophisticated zines.

Watch A Zinester Make a Zine

Violet Victoria shows the entire process of making a zine by hand, without a computer.  This is sometimes called an "Old School" or "analogue" zine. It's challenging to make a zine these days without using a computer at all! Often people will use a computer or smart phone to search for images or text, which they then copy and paste into a Google Doc or Word file. They print the file out & then cut out the images or text blocks. Finally, they paste the content into the pages of the zine. Sounds more complicated than it actually is. :)

If you want to be truly analogue, try gathering a bunch of magazines, catalogs, and other printed matter from your home or work. Or go to a thrift store or public library and see if you can get some old books, magazines, newspapers, postcards, or photos. You can even use stickers, badges or buttons, fabric, yarn, and other objects, as long as they can be stuck to the paper.

Great Overview of Zine Making