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Zines and Zine Making for LIA, Summer 2022

This guide accompanies zine librarian Jenna Freedman's zine library section of the Young Women's Leadership Initiative pre-baccalaureate program, coordinated by Lila Livingston for Barnard College's Athena Center, executive directed by Umbreen Bhatti.

Zine Elements

photo of a hand drawing, with a white cat on the table definitely not interferingElements

Essay * Poem * Review * Drawing * Collage * Personality Quiz * Crossword Puzzle * Playlist * Top Ten List * Likes/Dislikes * How To * Comic * Rant * Blank Space * Art * Handwriting * Typewriting * Design Software * Stick Figures

Metadata: author, title, publication location, publication date, freedoms and restrictions

Graphics

illustrations * fair use/copyright * photographs * typography/handwriting * backgrounds

Genre

personal * political * art * literary * split * compilation * minicomics * DIY

Pro Tips

  • Leave a 1/4" margin around your pages
  • Remember your zine will be copied or scanned, so light text and images may not reproduce well
  • You do you

Make a Zine

Zine Making

Today we're making one-page folding zines. The layout may be hard for some folks to accomplish at first. We're going to follow Celia Perez's instructions. 

Prompt

Last week, you were asked to think about a concern you had, and to imagine the relief of that concern - how the world would look, how you would feel.

Today, through your zines, I want you to explore HOW that concern would be relieved. How could it be addressed? What are some possible ideas? Some possible solutions?

Suggested Page Content

Cover (p1)

Selfie or brain map
 

Inside cover (p2)
  • Introduce your zine (pro-tip: you might want to do this at the end, so you know what you're introducing)
  • Metadata: contextualize for the reader
    • Author
    • Date
    • Publication location
    • Contact information
  • Freedoms and restrictions
    • Do you want to claim copyright?
    • Assign a CC license?
    • Reject copyright?
    • Control digital reproduction?
  • The required or repetitive stuff, like the honor code: consider using a QR code
Page 3

Rant, manifesto, I statements poem

Page 4 (left side of centerfold)

Cartoon, sketch, art, doodles (be bold! draw stick figures!)

Page 5 (right side of centerfold)

Continue page 4 with more graphics

Page 6

Pencil game: maze, crossword puzzle, word finder, quiz, survey, matching

Page 7

Recipe (could be literally about food, or it could be "steps to dismantling whiteness.")

Back Cover

Credits, playlist, reviews or recommendations