WYS - EVALUATION

Out of all the brief that I have completed this year, WYS has been my main priority, the reason that I focused so much on this brief was that Rob and I have finally figured out what we want to do after graduating from the course. By making it our main focus this year we have been able to use this time to really think about the ins and outs of the idea. We spent a lot of time throughout the year developing and defining the overall idea so that we could be more confident in ourselves to continue WYS after university. This is why it took us such a long time to complete as there were many things that made getting to the point a challenge. Although it was a challenge I feel that taking our time to think about the idea properly should benefit us in the future as we are fairly confident that will we be able to stick our plans. 

We were able to take full advantage of university resources. We attended business workshops that have been able to help us think more about the business side of our business idea. Without this, I don’t think that we would have pushed ourselves to get to where we are now, because of the business workshops we have also shown our interest in the Duke Studio graduate scheme which we know will bring WYS to life if we are able to get that. As we have thought so much into all the aspects of WYS this has encouraged us to speak both industry professionals and business people about the possibilities of our idea and how we could develop it further to make it work better. 

Doing this brief has also helped me to learn new skills, before starting this brief I had no experience using a Risograph printer and if it wasn’t for this brief I wouldn’t have learnt how to use it. I will now be looking to use a RISO wherever possible which will help to continue developing my practice after leaving LAU. I also was able to learn how to fabric screen-print which is something that I a wish I had learnt a long time ago as now I know how to print t-shirts, again this is something that I also want to continue doing once leaving. 

WYS has taught me a lot about collaboration, it is at the core of what we do and I think that it one of the most important things I have learnt this year it really helped to push my practice as working with other people helps to set the bar higher than you may normally want to put it. Working alongside Rob has also been a challenge but I feel like we have now got a better understanding of how to work together and we are able to produce work that I don’t think I would have been able to do without him. This is the start of a partnership between Rob and myself, we help to motivate each other and can we can equally share workload and have a range of strengths between us which helps to make us a good match. 

The identity that we have created for WYS will not just be a university project we have designed all of our outcomes so that they are ready for the real world after uni, throughout the brief, we have had in mind that we will hopefully oneway be using the identity to its full potential. We have also considered the ease of production for all of the elements so that we can easily reproduce them on a tight budget as we may not have the recourses we have currently at university. Other elements of the identity such as the Promotional pack have been designed to help us meet new people as this is one of the most important things for WYS to achieve. 

As well as completing the overall identity for WYS we have been able to link it to other briefs that we have done this year (research project and photography yearbook). 

The whole project was influenced by research, from the end of Level 05 we have both been interested in zines and indie publishing and we have used the year to help develop further research into the ins and outs of the industry to help figure out where we belong. This approach has made our final outcomes well considered and appropriate for real-world use. As well as being influenced by our research we have also been able to really figure out who is target audience is and whether the idea is profitable and from the feedback that we have received so far, I am confident that we have will succeed. 

I don’t feel that we used our social media as well as we could, if we had used the social media properly throughout the year we could have worked on building an audience before leaving. The reason we didn’t do this was that we spend a lot of time making sure that we got the basics right first which is important, we are now that we have more time we will start to build our audience on social media. 

This year we also set out to make as many books as we could, sadly we didn’t end up making as many as we had hoped but we have used this time to help us think about lots of ideas for upcoming projects and also learn new skills. We could have also used this year to test run our first exhibition for WYS but as we did not want to rush into things we had to put it on hold so that we could then considerate on more important aspects of the brief. As of yet we still have not added any stock to our Big Cartel shop because we have been very busy with other things but once we have more time we will be figuring out how we can sell the product we want to sell properly, using professional printers etc. Overall I am very pleased with what we have managed to achieve throughout this project and I am now excited to use what we have learned and spoken about for the last year into action. 

OUGD603 - END OF MODULE EVALUATION

Throughout the year this module has taught me a lot about myself as a designer. There were many times where I have surprised myself with my design abilities I think this is down to having a much better direction within my work. I have been able to identify with designers and studios that have similar interests to myself and I think this has helped me to realise where I belong within the design industry. At the start of the year, I had no idea that I would be where I am now in terms of knowing what I want to do after university. This was all been down to WYS, it has pushed me in a new direction in previous years I have always said that I was interested in editorial design but by starting WYS this has helped me to learn about a whole new side of that and I am no very passionate about this and can’t wait to get more involved with it after graduation. 

If you had asked me at the start of the year if I had a style or a way of working I would have said no. But over the course of this year I have been able to produce a range of briefs and looking back on them I feel that I can see a style starting to develop and the more that I design now I get better at finding out what my style is. I don’t particularly want to have a style for myself but I like the fact that the work that I am producing feels more considered I put this down to undertaking the research stages of the brief in more depth which helps to get a better overall design. 

A lot of my briefs this year have involved collaboration. This has shown me how important it is as a design to be able to collaborate with people as a designer in the real-world we will be forced to work with lots of different people and I know feel that I work best when I am able to collaborate with others. It helps me to stay on top of my work as I never want to disappoint while collaborating I can let myself down but I don’t like letting others down when working on a project. I feel that I am also able to take a range of roles within a group if needs are I am now confident enough design and person to lead a group to get the work done. 

One thing that has been a large improvement from previous years is my time management. I don’t know if this is down to me carefully considering my time better or just enjoying the work that I am producing more so there for the time that I spend on it has increased which means more work gets done. That was one of the main things that I wanted to set out to achieve this year as I have bad with managing my time before. It was also important to learn this before leaving university as when working for someone else or working for myself I need to be on top of everything that is going on so I don’t get left behind. As well as time management a key skill that this module has taught me is how to be more professional, whether this is talking to clients or just being mindful of others I feel that I have learnt how to work in a professional environment. I am now very eager to put what I have been learning for the last three years into practice as well as now have time to explore my practice even more. 

YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - EVALUATION

Producing this yearbook has been a great experience for my practice and I am glad I was able to work with Rob throughout the brief as this has shown me how well we can work together on something without it being overly difficult. This is perfect real-world practice for us in relation to WYS. It has shown me that we would both be able to work together well enough to produce work for clients like we have done with the yearbook. 

Although we lost the Graphic Design pitch which was a slight setback I'm happy that we were given then opportunity to produce the Photography yearbook as I feel that this actually suited our practice better as we are both looking to work more with artists/photographers in this way in the future. 

The brief itself is something completely different to anything that I have done before, working with a real client and having to please them was a challenge at times but this is how the design industry works we were very good at talking through any conserns and keeping up with deadlines that the photographers set for us, although we did have to set up towards the end to get them to speed things up as we went a long time without any content. Having one on one meeting with Evlouation Print was also a very valuable part of the process as it showed me what was possible with the £2000 budget (which isn't very much when you're trying to make it something special) but I feel that we have been able to produce the best book possible with what we had at our disposal. 

Throughout the project, we have had remain as professional as possible which meant organising meetings and making sure that everyone knew what was going on at all times as well working with people we may not have chosen to work with, it was important to have a good working relationship with everyone at all times. 

The project itself did stretch over a long period of time which did make it difficult to manage alongside other work, however, when we were working on this brief we worked at a very high intensisty to get the work done to the best standard as possible. We want this book to be to the highest of qualities as it will be a great way to show future clients/collaborators what we are capable of. 

Some of the more challenging parts of this brief was working as a three. It was very useful to have Jen on our team at the start when doing the Graphic Design pitch but becuase the brief went on for so long it wasn't always easy to get stuff done and as Rob and I live together it was easy for us to get the work done together, however Jen was a vauble asset to our team and we wouldn't have been able to deal with all the meeting etc. without her as she was very good at talking to people and getting things sorted which is what her role was meant to be as project manger (but this role to was taken away by the Photography team). 

Overall I am very happpy with the final outcome, I am disappointed that we could not show the final product for submission but there are certain stages which the book now needs to go through until it can get printed. I will be looking forward to the final print and am excited to see the book once it has been professionally printed as this would be the first time I have produced anything on this scale.   

SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - EVALUATION

This brief has been one of the most interesting and fulfiling briefs that I have undertaken this year. Firstly not only did I get to broaden my knowledge of the history of zines and learn about why people produce them and the culture that surrounds that. I also enhanced my knowledge of printing (getting things ready for print) mainly within the photocopier as this is something that was totally new to me before starting this brief. 

I am very happy with the overall outcome of the final print and this was now made me want to produce more zines using this technique. Although there were slight quirks within the copy process this is all part of the DIY process which helps stick to the origins of zine making. Not only was it very easy to produce it was also very cost effective, each zine cost about 50p each to make. I am also pleased with the overall design of the zine I feel that it is appropriately designed to fit the DIY style and the collage of images flows nicely from page to page as well as the images clearly show the history of the Converse shoe from old to new which works well with the (dis)organised layout of the pages.

As we set out to make these zines a part of WYS I would be happy to sell/advertise them on our site/Instagram as I feel that they would be a great start for our first zine series. This would also mean that we get to make more similar zines in the future about a range of topics and it gives us the opportunity to experiment more with other print processes like RISO.   

The only improvements that I would have wanted to make would have needed more time, if I had more time with this brief I would have looked at extending the zine and making it more personal as I would have rather taken images as this makes it more original. 
However, this is something that I could possibly do in the near future as part of WYS. 

SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - FINAL ZINE

"CHUCKS CHUCKS CHUCKS" - Final zine

Scanned in version of the final print for digital purposes. I thought this would be the best way to present the zine digitally as it shows it off the best - I thought this was more appropriate than taking pictures of the book as you would lose some of the aesthetic from the zine.  

SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - PRINTING/FINAL

Final Design (mockup)

To get a feel for what the final design is to look like I created a digital mockup which shows it flicking through the pages. This helped me to see whether the pages work well once away from the InDesign, which it did seeing it in this format made me rethink the place for some of the images so I went back and fiddled around with them until I was happy with it.

Printing Process 

Stage 1 - Photocopying 

Before printing, we both decided on paper to use for the zines. We wanted to use standard G.F. Smith Colorplan paper but we thought that this wouldn't have been true to the DIY aesthetic that we wanted the zines to have. Instead, we found so bulky newsprint paper which has good texture on it which again adds to the overall style of the zines. For the front cover, we used some standard 100gsm coloured stock which gave the book some structure as the inside pages were rather flimsy.  

To produce the final copy of the zine, Rob and I decided that we should use the university photocopiers to reproduce the zines, this being true to the DIY culture of zine making. This is also the first time myself and Rob have used these methods of reproduction within zine making so the process was trial and error. 

Front cover - £1.50
Newsprint - £2.00

Once we understood the settings to use on the photocopier it was easy to scan in each master page on to the selected paper, this was added to the manual tray so that we didn't jam the printer. The same was done with the covers. I was really impressed with the outcome of the print from the photocopier - as it is 100% Kyan this means the image appears as lots of very small dots which is similar to RISO. The photocopying also means that not every page is accurately placed so there are some quirks which again adds to the DIY aesthetic. I can also see how easy it would be to do a large print run as all you have to do is put in how many copies of each page and then it fires out the pages, this is something that I will be doing more of in the near future. 

Master pages - £2.00
Finals - £3.00

Stage 2 - Pagination 

• While printing I made sure I sorted out each page into the right order so that they could then be folded and bound. It was important to keep them in order at this stage as it would have taken a long time to reorder the pages after. 
• As the zine is 20 pages long this meant that there were only 4 pieces of paper to order not including the front cover. 
• Once printed I then folded each page by hand as the folding machine was not in use making sure that it was as accurate as possible. 

 
Stage 3 - Cutting and Binding 

• Once I had folded all of the pages I used the bookbinder (stapler) to accurately staple all of the pages together. 
• I used a majority of standard staples but I also found some hocked staples which add makes the binding method slightly more interesting, I liked the final outcome of these ones the most. 
• The pages weren't all flush so I used the large cutter to make sure all the pages were neat and tidy to finish it off.

SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - ZINE PRODUCTION

Sketches 

As I already had a good idea of what I wanted to do at this stage in term of the layout, I used sketches to help me figure out how images could be arranged on the spreads. I found that I would only be able to have around 3/4 images on a page which I thought was good as there is a good balance of having a series of images over a spread and having too many images. This something that my grid system will help me with went designing on the computer as everything also needs to considered correctly rather than just being placed where ever. 

Use of grid system

Using this 10 x 15 square modular grid system it has allowed me to appropriately add all of the content on to the pages - the grid makes everything equally spaced out which is important with the type of layout style that I have decided to create. The layout style that I have designed is influenced by other photo essay zines which layout images in this sort of style. As the zine is a photo essay this is also another reason for a large number of photos on the page is it needs to show a collection of images together to help tell the story of Converse. 

The Beginnings

The zine beggings with the images of the original Converse shoe, Chuck Taylor and the early days of the basketball culture that was created by the shoe. You can see from the images how the shoe started its life as a sports shoe and how they were used at the time. 

Basketball (The height of Converse) 

The second spread moves on to the height of the Converse in basketball - the images show some of the best NBA players of the time sporting the shoe. As this was a very good time for the shoe I wanted to shoes being used in the best way possible. The layout highlights some of the best moments for the shoe at this time and shows how much of a stable the shoe was for the athletes.  

Celebrities/Films

For this spread, I wanted to show how the shoe has been worn by almost every major celebrity over the last 50 years. As well as being featured in many Hollywood films, which shows how important the show has been throughout popular culture, as many people would be influenced by the major celebrities that have worn the shoe. 

Music Icons

Throughout the history of Converse, different music icons (Kurt Cobain, Robert Plant and Ramones) have sported the Converse which had made the shoe even more popular among the many subcultures surrounding the music. This spread shows how influential the shoe was when worn by the big rock stars of the time which also shows how important the show is to the subcultures that link to the different music icons. 

Skateboarding

Being one of the biggest subcultures to date the Converse has been a staple part of the skate scene since the very beginning. The spread documents how the shoes are still popular today and lend themselves perfectly to the skater look. Within the pages, I have shown some of the most popular skaters of today still wear the shoe and how important the show is to this subculture. 

Now (Collaborations) 

For the last spread, I wanted to show how far Converse has come in terms of creativity and style. Over the last 10 years, Converse has seen a much-needed return to mainstream culture with the likes of Tyler The Creator collaboration with the brand to release this own version of the iconic One Star which has been a huge success for Converse. The spread also shows how far the shoe has come from the original basketball shoe and helps to round up the history of Converse through images. 

Front cover 

As the zine is going to be part of a series for WYS Rob and I have decided on a style for the covers. Each zine that we produce will use coloured stock that best links to the subject of the zine. In this case, I will be using red paper to represent one of the most iconic colours of the Chuck Taylor shoe. From analysing the shoe for some inspiration I was able to pick up on some small details that I thought might make the cover more interesting. 

• Three stars from the heel cap
• "CONVERSE ALL STAR" typeface (Super Clarendon - closest match*) 
• The more contemporary Converse logo typeface (replica on DaFont) 
• Iconic Converse STAR in a circle 

Looking at all six of these covers and asking Rob and other peers I decided to choose "CHUCKS CHUCKS CHUCKS" for the front cover and then the single ALL STAR circle to be on the back but slightly smaller. The reasoning behind this was that I didn't want to give too much away from the cover - "CHUCKS" is also the nickname for the shoe so it only seemed right as the zine is a fanzine of the shoe and that is something that a Converse fan would do (which I am) 

SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - SUBJECT OF ZINE (CONVERSE)

A Brief History of Converse 

• Converse Rubber Shoe Company was created by Marquis Mills Converse in 1908 in Malden, Massachusetts.
• In 1917, the company designed the forerunner of the modern All-Star, marketed under the name "Non-Skids." The shoe was composed of a rubber sole and canvas upper and was designed to be a high-performance athletic shoe for basketball players.
• In 1923, American basketball player Charles "Chuck" Taylor joined a basketball team sponsored by the Converse Company called The Converse All Stars. Taylor held basketball clinics in high schools all over the country and while teaching the fundamentals of the game, he sold the All Star shoes. As a salesman and athlete for the company, Taylor also made improvements to the shoe he loved. His ideas for the shoe were designed to provide enhanced flexibility and support and also incorporated a patch to protect the ankle.
• By the 1960s, Converse began to expand their company and open more factories and by that time, Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars were being worn by ninety percent of professional and college basketball players.
• Throughout the years, Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars made a shift from athletic sportswear to casual footwear
• Originally an elite basketball shoe, the Chuck Taylor All Star evolved into the shoe of choice for many subcultures, particularly artists and musicians.
• Although Chuck Taylor All-Stars vanished from the professional basketball scene completely by 1979, they continued to flourish in popular culture and fashion
• As fashion icons, Chuck Taylors have played a role in several subcultures, and the company has, in turn, promoted this as part of the shoes' cachet.
• Converse has used Chuck Taylor All-Stars to enhance the brand's cultural and subcultural relevance. Chuck Taylor All-Stars proved their continuity throughout the 20th and 21st centuries through their portrayal in film, art, and music culture, as well as through use in sports sub-culture including weightlifting and skateboarding.

             

             

             

             

The zine is going to be a photo essay that shows the reader the story of the Chuck Taylor throughout the last 100 years and how it has been part of some of the most influential subcultures to date. Before I can start putting the zine together I need the images for each culture that will be featured in the zine. There will be five categories basketball, music, films/celebrities, skateboarding and now - these should give the reader an insight into the subcultural history that surrounds the Converse.  


Basketball 

This is where it all started for Converse, I want to visually document this era of Converse using archive type images that show the shoes being used in their heyday. I have used both books and Google to source my images for this part of the zine, all the images throughout the zine will be black and white as the final printed version will be done using photocopy which only allows for black and white - which links back to how it would have been made originally. 

             

DR. J ABA All-Star Game 1970s

Oscar Robertson (Big O) - 1965

Wilt Chamberlain - 1957

James VanDerZee (1888-1983) Alpha Phi Alpha Basketball Team

Chuck Taylor (1920s) 

Music 

Throughout the history of the Converse, the shoe has been worn by everyone especially musicians from the mid-'70s through till today. The amount of musicians that have worn the shoe is very hard to count over the years Converse has been apart of many musical subcultures and this is what has helped make them what they are today. The imagery that I have sourced for this page looks at the huge rocks starts from each decade that has worn the shoe as part of there looking as well as helping to influence future generations.

Elvis Presley (1950s)

Kurt Cobain (1980s) 

Ramones (1978) 

Robert Plant (1977)

Celebrities / Films 

Chuck Taylor has become a staple of popular culture – representative of individual spirit and a sense of quiet accomplishment. Characters who wear Chucks in film and television are often the valiant underdogs – reliable and trustworthy – just like the shoes themselves.

The spread of the zine looks at the presence of Converse in films throughout the last 50 or so years, there are many brilliant blockbusters that the shoes have stared in. 

Grease (1978)

Basketball Diaries (1995)

James Dean (1945) 

Paul Walker - The Fast and The Furious (2001) 

Pulp Fiction (1994) 

Skateboarding 

Since the start of skateboarding in the early '60s, Converse has been part of the "skater" aesthetic. This strong look has never left skaters since and still to this day are skaters around the world rocking the shoe. Skateboarding has been a huge influence on popular fashion over the years and this is probably why Converse still remains so popular today among the skate community and beyond. Within my zine, I will be showcasing how the shoes are still worn today by some of the best skaters around which shows how important the shoe is to the history of the sport and the aesthetic that surrounds it.  

Sean Pablo (2017) 

Jack Purcell Converse - Polar Skate Team (2016)

Now

Converse now more popular than ever with the likes of Tyler The Creator (rapper) and ASAP Nast (rapper) bringing out there own versions of the shoe shows how desirable the shoe has become with a lot of these shoes either limited or sold out. 2017 was the year for the Converse 70s and One Star with it making a well needed come back by showing how the shoe design is timeless and can be part of any subculture. This last part of the zine explores how high profile collaborations e.g CDG, Yung Lean and Vine Staples have allowed the shoe to find its place in the modern age and they continue to be a timeless shoe that will never die as it is so adaptable to whatever look it wants. 

ASAP NAST - "Mid-Century" (2018) 

Tyler The Creator - Golf le Fleur (2017)

SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - CREATING THE BRIEF

Through my research into zine culture, I was able to learn about the purpose of zines and where they have come from to what they are today. Zines can be very powerful things for the maker as there is no one to dictate what it is about and how it is made it allows the maker to have complete creative control which is not very common now in the creative industries. What has interested me the most about zines is the direct links it has to subcultures throughout history and how each subculture have utilised zines as a form of expression to get their voices heard. 

Having improved my knowledge on zines in general it has shown me that you can really make a zine about anything that means something to you - whether this is an interest or hobby or just something that you want to learn more about zines are the perfect format for that and there are no rules that you need to conform to when making it. 

Rob and I will be creating a selection of zines for WYS. Using the research we have done to inform our zine making decisions we will both be producing an A5 zine about a subject of our choice that also has links to the purpose of zines. We will produce them in traditional photocopy style as this is something that we have not experimented before, sticking to the proper way of zine making is an important part of this brief. 

I will be producing a photo essay on the history of Converse Chuck Taylor. I choose this as my subject firstly because they are my favourite shoe and secondly I wanted to show the importance the shoe throughout history and how it has belonged to almost every subculture since the 1950s. 

Brief 

Produce A5 16-page zine on the history of Converse using traditional zine making skills (cut and paste, photocopy) to work as part of zine series for WYS.

SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - RESEARCH

The Newsstand - Independently published zines, magazines and artists books.

What was The Newsstand?

• NYC 2013/14 - originally meant to last for 1 week, but was so successful it continued for 8 months. 
• The Newsstand was a pop-up conceptual retail store that transformed an ordinary subway hub into a mecca for independently published magazines, books, comics, and zines.
• The contents of the store were not curated. As long as it wasn't offensive or racist you could drop it off and they would sell it. 

Later Dudes #9 Everybody Dies - Happy - Hamburger Eyes - A classic zine by a prolific photographer and zine maker Kappy. Like in every Later Dudes, this is photography of street situations in San Fran. 

Stoned Agin - Jennifer Shear - A collection of scans of collages inspired by 70s American hippie motorbike culture. 

Shop Lifters Unite - Stephen McClintock - Stealbooks - Funny and colourful layout of a collection of found Polaroid’s showing shoplifters who have been caught stealing holding their loot.  

Fuck This Life - Weirdo Dave - A classic zine series with an incredible style of collages of cutouts from magazines, newspapers, flyers and lots of small found objects from the street, organised and arranged in the meticulous layout by the artists to express the intensity of life. 

Creeps - Lele Saveri - 8 Ball Zines -   A collection of creepy images by the artists, which he made and released on Halloween at The Newsstand. 

Locals Only - Peter Sutherland - 8Ball Zines - Custom-stickered cover The cover made from FedEx envelopes and each copy has a different collage of stickers made by the artists. The images are printed on a variety of very thin paper from Nepal documenting random and often bizarre phrases, signs and situations. 

Rainy Daze - Earth Sucks //Bad Faith - A carefully laid-out tape0bound zine images of skateboarding culture. Each page is a foldout that opens into a subsection, revealing a second layout, almost like a zine within a zine. 

White - Tyler Healy - Carefully composed study of classic shapes and close-ups in black and white, bound with a single staple, part of a trilogy. 

Manute Bol (7 Foot 7) - Brain Paul Lamotte - Pau Wau Publications - A fanzine dedicated to the particularly tall basketball player. Manute Bol zine is uniquely shaped to represent the basketball players height and contains images accompanied by text. 

American Woman - Adam Rossiter - Printed on pink paper, with a very well-executed Xerox mid-tone, this zine has 2 1/4” square images - all centred o the right-hand page-of rapper Lil Kim in all of her various stages of life. 

Fire Guys - Idan Hayosh and Corina Kunzil - Kodoji Press - Photo series of firemen posing in front of burning buildings. 

Shanks - Chen Chen and Kai Williams - Peradam Press - Documentation of 30 Shanks designed by the artist in their studio using found objects over a 30 day period. 

How To Over Throw The Illuminati - An informative zine on the Illuminati, with a detailed explanation of the group and all the mystery surrounding it. 


AA Bronson - The community and politics of self-publishing 

• When artists started publishing books in the early '70s they were the forefront of the internet. 
• The printing press gave the means for alternative voices to be heard, especially through the means of politics. Many people in the '60s used pamphlet or zine format as a way of exchanging ideas with a network of friends in a way that otherwise was illegal or dangerous. This helped to kickstart today's plethora of independent art publishing. 
• Zines later became popularized through the explosion of punk self-publishing circa 1977. 
• AA Bronson is theDirector of Printed Matter NYC a huge link for most independent publishing in North America, Europe and elsewhere. 
• NY Art Book Fair emerged as an idea for repositioning NYC as a centre for the world of art publishing again.  
• The print fairs have since happened all over the world which helps to bring together art publishers and create a dense exchange that in a sense imitates the internet.

Johan Kugelberg of Boo-Hooray - Zine History 

• Punk zines, science fiction zones, skateboarding zines, art zines... the roots go very deep and really far back into all kinds of toothsome underground communities spanning the entire 20th century. 
• If the press or websites aren't writing about the music, clothes, art, food and people that you like start your own zine.  
• Xerox Corporation introduced the photocopy machine in 1949. But took until 1969 for the cost to drop to make photocopy more accessible to the masses.
• The mid to late '60s, punk rock emerged which embodied similar aesthetic as zine culture which got people excited about having freedom of speech and being in charge of representing their community through print. 
• Mark Perry published the first issue of Sniffin' Glue in the summer of 1976, publishing 12 issues until its termination in late '77; the first edition was 50 copies and the last reported print run was 15,000 which shows the significance for zines outside of mainstream culture. 
• At least 2,000 punk zines had been published by 1980 - following standard format of collages, recycled photographs and a mixture of rub-on-stencil and ransom note typefaces.

Aaron Cometbus

• Making money isn't the point of publishing - not even recouping the money you put in. To make something cool and beautiful that is reasonably priced, you have to be prepared to lose everything. Only then is there any chance you'll succeed.

Pat Mcarthy and Tom Sachs - Why they make zines

• A zine is a way of documenting on paper something that exists in time. If you go to the roots, fanzines were there so that you could have something to hold in your hand because the rest of the artist's work was music, it is a physical representation of it. But more than a documentary, because it can be a work of art in itself.
• Zines were a way for people to have something to give to someone when passing through new places and that would help to continue the convocation. 
• The internet does a better job than zines in every way except that its lacking in physicality and soul, which is why zins are having a resurgence now. 
• It's important to tell your own story. One of the problems with art criticism is that critics use works to alienate and intimidate their readership. You don't see them in making zines. 
• The generational losses and gain you get from xeroxing are what show the evidence of the making. 

Maggie Lee - Importance of Zines 

• A zine is special and so specific. It's art, but kind of mass-produced. It's precious, but can be a shitty piece of paper.
• As an artist, you have control over what you want to put out, and it can be anything you want. There are no rules. Forced to learn everything (editor, photographer, writer, designer, printer, intern - all at the same time). 

Pay Potes of Hamburger Eyes - The personal rewards of zine publishing 

• It's a cool way to sort out a batch of photos versus an unending stream, on the internet. There's a front cover, some pages, a back cover and it's done, on to the next.

Pau Wau Publications - Zines as physical objects 

• A zine us about the opportunity to express an idea and sometimes the less “good” a zine look the better it might be are conveying the idea. This is subjective, but the reason behind making a zine is how I would quantify it being “good” or not.  
• The worst thing can look great if it makes sense and the most polished thing can fall flat if it misses the point. A successful zine portrays the maker, as most of the time its one or two people making it. 
• There aren't any rules at all in making zines, it can be whatever you want it to be. The point is not to get to hung up over it and just make what feels right for you at the given time. 

"Zines are written, designed, pasted up, photocopied and distributed by the zine maker, removing all intermediaries in the creative process."

"Zines exist outside the purview of all major bookshops and most libraries, yet they invariably find their way into the hands of those who appreciate them."  

"A zine can be a photo essay, a personal narrative, a collection of drawings by friends. They tell a story, make a political point, or, most commonly, express a personal perspective so outside the norm that the making of a zine can be an act of great courage, a highly personal form of expression in a modest, easy-to-handle format."  

"The physicality of the zine itself, so unlike a digital image flickering across a computer screen, makes a direct connection between creator and reader, and among those who read and share zines."

"Zines reach out to people in ways that the flat monologues and hysterical dislodges of social media postings cannot approach."  

SUBCULTURES & ZINES TODAY

The rise of the punk subculture in the '70s spawned a new interest in self-publishing. Zines were used to promote a music scene that, with a few exceptions, received little attention from the larger music press.

 In 1975 the first known fanzine was published by Legs McNeil and friends in New York, it was called Punk. 'Punk' covered the happenings in the New York music and arts scene. 

The name of the zine; Punk was soon attributed to that scene. In 1976 the second most recognizable punk zine Sniffin' Glue was published in the UK by Mark Perry. The long-running newsprint zine Maximum Rock & Roll is arguably the most influential punk zine of all time. 

The feminist movement, particularly Third-Wave Feminism, has strong ties to zine culture. The riot grrrl movement used zines to publish content that otherwise would not have been seen. They discussed sexuality and body image, as well as sexual violence, assault and abuse. The zines focused on personal experiences, not shying away from or censoring the gritty details. Erika Reinstein, the founder of Riot Grrrl Press, said, “Because every time we pick up a pen, or an instrument, or get anything done, we are creating the revolution. We are the revolution.”

From the mid-1980s through the late '90s, the review publication Factsheet Five (founded by Mike Gunderloy) formed a wide network of zine publishers and consumers (often the same people), encompassing a variety of interests and aesthetics.

Many believe that the widescale adoption of the internet (circa 1996) ended the most abundant age of zines. However, they remain popular, particularly among those who also celebrate other hallmarks of the "Do It Yourself" (DIY) philosophy.

DIY is the philosophy of living by ones' own means. For instance, instead of waiting for someone else to publish your writing for you, make your own zine and be your own publisher. Instead of spending money on overpriced commercial products with less-than-stellar practices, make your own clothing, or grow your own food, or whatever it is you can do yourself. The DIY lifestyle has been adopted by thousands of people for reasons as important and varied as the people who live it.

The resurgence of zine culture and why its so important 

• Censorship runs rampant in the media, and some people can start to feel hopeless in their efforts to share their creativity with the world. Enter zines, the creative outlet that advertises complete freedom.
• Zines are reflective of the culture they are born in and are important, now more than ever.
• In a time of such political tension and untrustworthy news sources, zines are more important than ever. Those whose voices are often overshadowed—minorities, LGBT, women—need to have an outlet where they can still reliably be heard.
• Zine-making isn’t about rules or knowledge; it’s about freedom and power.
• Zines are an incredible testament to the longevity of print as a journalistic medium. Many zines have found themselves a home online, as either a full-fledged website or a scanned copy of the physical product. It’s an easy way to reach an audience you never could have had before.

MAKING COPIES (PHOTOCOPY)

• Xeroxgraphy which combines electrically-charged ink (or toner), a slight amount of heat, and a photographic process, helped to change the office environment forever. 
• Mimeographs - This system, which had the honour of having been partially invented by Thomas Edison, was one of the most popular ways to make copies before the Xerox came along. Basically, a page of text would be set up as a stencil inside of a metal drum, and users would fill the machine up with ink, then basically turn the drum to put words on the page. The result looked really good, but the process was somewhat complicated, as you had to basically create stencils out of any document you wanted to copy.
• Ditto machines - Used in the ’70s or ’80s, you probably ran into paper copied using one of these devices, which often came in a purplish hue. The devices, also known as spirit duplicators, worked somewhat similarly to the spinning motion of the mimeograph, but with an added touch—alcohol. The end result didn’t use ink, but it did have quite the smell.
• Photostat machines - Perhaps the closest thing to a modern Xerox machine, these machines relied on literally taking photographs of sheets of paper, creating negatives out of those sheets, then reprinting them. It basically combined the camera and darkroom into a single machine. The machines were large and the process relatively slow, but unlike some of the other processes, it wasn’t destructive: Once a single negative was created, an infinite number of copies could be made. Like Xerox, Photostat became so popular that the term was genericized. Rectigraph, one of the Photostat’s largest competitors, eventually formed the bones of the modern Xerox company.

              

RISO

The Risograph is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective printer, which uses soy-based inks to produce unique outcomes. Each stencil (master) is made from thermal sensitive paper and unlike offset printing it only takes a single print for the screen to be fully inked and ready to print thousands of copies. The Risograph is extremely energy efficient and generates a minimal amount of waste.

The underlying technology of a Risograph is very similar to that of screen printing. The original image file is sent to the machine and it is burnt onto a master, the master is then wrapped around a print drum. This drum then rotates at high speed which pushes the ink through the screen and onto the paper as it is sent through the machine.

Today Risograph is one of the best ways of reproducing zines, its similarities to photocopy machines makes it the perfect tool for zine markers. It can be used in numerous ways to achieve many different results but it is one of the best ways to produce large quantities of zines. This type of printing makes each print unique (registration) which is what makes the process so popular with DIY zine makers.