Producing a Zine wasn’t ever on the cards when I started BoW, CS or SYP however the opportunity to produce one for a local competition was a good way to get my project out into the public eye and fulfilled one of the learning outcomes for the course which was a plus.
I initially thought that I could easily transfer the book design I had developed for BoW and had submitted for Assessment into a smaller A5 format. It soon became obvious that this was not the case. Not only did the change from A4 to A5 cause challenges with image format but also the number of pages was limited to just 36 which included the front and back cover.
Image selection was important to retain the narrative as I didn’t have the space for the foreword written by Jim but I did include a short artist statement to set the sense and provide a brief introduction to the project and the reason for it.
Initially I produced a number of designs experimenting with different layouts, styles and text. Reducing the number of images on a single page allowed for larger images and more detail to be seen which was one of the comments from my review of the book.
Peer review was paramount to see if I was on the right track. I also utilised a professional photographer Rohan Hutchinson who had previously reviewed my portfolio and had offered to take a look at my designs. He has self-published over 15 books. Feedback overall was positive and Rohan offered a number of different ways to improve and view the project. He explained the importance of how cropping an image can change from that used for a book/zine to that used for an exhibition. How cropping can change the narrative in so many ways.
Working to a deadline and constraints around page number meant that I had to be organised and strict with editing and re-editing to obtain the best narrative for the project. Overall I enjoyed the process and think I will continue to develop the Zine and add the final work to my project website.
Michele Usher 