more a *zine than a 'zine nor a full-fledged design magazine.
"volunteer magazine" is kindof a more accurate desc.
[…] a thing that is actually more like a volunteer magazine but presenting as a 'zine will be criticized for appropriating the aesthetic or marketing value of the genre without engaging in the ethos or deeper possibilities of the form; I think this unnecessarily risks distracting from the objectives of the project.
but why should we not in fact escape categorization?
details
norns itself is multi-faceted and we are polymythical. -> shouldn't impose too much of a definite style.
the name of the publication is already non-descript:
~.we should still have rules (fonts / perefered colors) to have some sense of unity.
3:4 (US Letter aka 8.5x11 & Half-Letter) is kind of a standard.
@Gahlord personal fav is 5:8 (taller/slimmer looking).
saddle stitch is good for up to 68 pages.
glued paperback ("perfect binding") works starting from 28 pages.
for DIY, stapling is the way to go.
additional things to consider:
- stripping for the creep
- margins
- color space
- bleed
magcloud provides some guidelines alongside some template (PDF in the same zip file) that seem to be generic enough (to be reusable).
fonts to select:
- h1, h2
- prose
- pagination (+ other structural elements)
- captions
- code
- interview
some articles ("small bites" or one-offs) could deviate from the formula to have their own su-identity.
better to go minimal for general layout.
I’m more in the camp of legibility and letting the content and imagery speak for itself. I lean towards more minimal sans serif fonts paired with highly expressive art.
but we can go wild in section delimiters!
[David Carson and Chris Ashworth approach] You can always set up layouts where it’s needed and f* the rest. It’s a bit like diving underwater. Hold your breath, deep dive and absorb another world for a while, then when the formatted pages hit its like a breath of fresh air. A lot of cool pubs do this. It’s fantastic for art-heavy pubs (which this is).
digital-first but print-ready”.
we consider environmental impact of the project.
even if it's a small scale thing, it's also about sending a message.
the consensus seems to be that if you read it once, digital is a winner. if you'll go back to it several times (or even lend it to others) print wins.
nitty gritty
brief research on carbon footprints shows that press is not that bad (an issue of Nat Geo is equivalent to driving a car for 3 km) and that the footprint of digital is often underestimated (notably due to difficulty to estimate the impact of cloud hosting).
see also:
- more detailed analysis from the except.eco thinktank
- viewpoint from the author of How Bad Are Bananas?
important to consider the print side of things as it adds constraints & challenges that we wouldn’t have if we were going purely digital (notably on format & content density).
| strategy / service | supported formats | binding method | price (B&W)) | price (color) | shipping |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY - outselves | stapled / stitched? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |
| POD - lulu.com - magazine | US letter / A4 | paperback | 5 USD | 13 USD | 5 - 8 USD |
| POD - lulu.com - book | half letter (digest) | paperback | 4 USD | 9 USD | 5 - 8 USD |
| POD - magcloud - magazine | US letter | saddle stitch / paperback | n/a | 13 USD | 5 - 12 USD |
| POD - magcloud - digest | half letter | saddle stitch / paperback | n/a | 10 USD | 5 - 10 USD |
sources:
no precise idea of cost of DIY, but POD seem to be more attainable if we go in color.
Using color will meaningfully increase the cost of physical editions if we are reproducing via photocopy method. Probably moving the project well outside the comfort level for any of us to fund the first run, likely limiting the creation of physical editions to about 10 or 20 total.
DIY is "inconvenient" in that it asks us for more effort (labor). but that's part of the spirit.
the low-convenience model of 'zine manufacture and distribution is about direct connection and engaging meaningfully with the question “What kinds of institutions does our labor reinforce?”
as we're doing this fully remote and internationally, we loose the locality (part of the "direct connection").
coordinating the DIY assembly effort accross the globe could be challenging, esp. if we can't quantify the demand.
there could be an hybrid approach: limited run of DIY (special edition w/ some personalisation) + standard POD w/ no limit.
MagCloud prints on FSC-certified paper. Originally founded by HP (meh), now owned by Blurb, Inc.. US-based, 120 employees, 100 M$ in revenues
lulu.com prints on FSC-certified paper as well and is B Corp certified. US-based, 563 employees, 12 M$ in revenues.
The 'zines I made back in ‘80s were all photocopied, most were. The thing to do was go into someone’s parents’ office building at night and run off as many copies as possible. Or show up to the 24hr photocopying store at around 2am with a bunch of coffee to bribe the night worker to let you print for free. The colors of the cardstock available often determined what color the cover was.
We often did things by hand: writing entire essays/poems etc by hand and then taping them into a maquette for photocopy.
A typical 'zine manufacture and distribution system works like this: an initial version is created (often as a maquette–a physical cut/paste version with all the pages in proper configuration for duplication–though since the mid-nineties it could also be as a PDF), that initial version is duplicated on requisitioned corporate machines or in photocopy centers close to the people to whom it will distributed, some number is often mailed to the different 'zine archives or friends in other cities as part of a swap etc, some are distributed by mail order). The 'zine as an object is often informed by this process: 8.5x11, folded in half, staple bind is something every copy center in the US can do, as well as many large companies and nearly every church.
The benefits of this approach are:
- low cost of duplication: no trimming, staple bind, usually no color or only 4 or 8 pages of color
- manufacture close to the audience decreases shipping expenses. It’s notable that Lulu does cover USA, Australia, & Europe though.
- handmade touches can be added: foregoing the staple for other binding was often a cost-saving measure but evolved into many people genuinely enjoying that aspect of the craft.
- Direct connection on distribution: an overall 'zine ethos of direct connection is enhanced when a human being who produced the thing slips it into an envelope or delivers it by hand.
- Archive/Show distribution: conversely, when the distribution of a 'zine is reinforcing a cultural institution like a show or 'zine archive or art collective instead of a capital institution like a PoD service, this is also nice.
the printable area should fit on a folded 8.5x11 and also a folded A4. If it fits on both then printing physical editions can happen easily closer to the “market” for the material: UK people can print locally on A4 so they don’t get crushed by shipping, US people can print locally [on US letter]
maximum internal page should be 5.5 inches wide by 8.25 inches tall, which would be full bleed. A more harmonious actual block size could be cut down from there.