Making a Zine!

Sep 22

2 min read

One of the things I looked forward to most during this summer was making a zine. I think they’re pretty interesting little creations. They are no bounds to what they can be used for—there can be text, illustrations, little collages, you name it! I was particularly interested in how they can be used to convey information. They’re easy to read and super digestible. I also took the format as a creative challenge—could I tell a cohesive story in eight pages?

We decided to make it with the Lacombe Pride Society. I had a few conversations with Jonathan Luscombe, its founder, about the short history of the organization, and decided to have a final product ready for their annual Pride in the Park. It was over a month away at that point, so I had plenty of time, right?

As the event came closer, I began to dread making the zine. I had ended up collecting a lot more data than I thought—how was I supposed to fit so much information into eight, tiny pages?! The zine format was beginning to feel daunting. I felt that I had collected so much information that I didn’t know where to start. It was getting to a point where it felt like the empty word document was mocking me. One afternoon, I decided to just sit down with a notebook and write some points off the top of my head. What did I remember from conversations with people in Lacombe? What stood out to me as the most important bits?

Miraculously, I wrote down just enough points for the amount of pages I wanted. Since I had apparently been struck by inspiration after staring at a blank screen for about a week, I seized my momentum and elaborated on the points in the previously empty document. I started drafting the zine format that same night! After some back and forth with my supervisor and Lacombe Pride Society, I had a product that we were all happy with.

To make the History of Lacombe Pride zine, I used the Electric Zine Maker. There was a bit of a learning curve, but it’s super fun to use. You can also use Procreate, Adobe, or just plain old paper!

Here are some links to some zine archives that I looked at for inspiration.

I also spent a lot of time on Pinterest! There are a ton of boards on there that could spark an idea.

Artists at local markets are usually bound to have zines, too. If you live in Calgary, make sure to check out Shelf Life Books’ Zine Party if you’re on the hunt for some zines.

Here’s a link to an online viewer of my zine: https://gabarber.itch.io/history-of-lacombe-pride

If you’re interested in a physical copy, I dropped off a few at Shelf Life Books in Calgary, or you can print and fold your own here.