Initial Thoughts

I was quite excited to start the Zine Fair as I liked the idea of making my own magazine. During the initial session, I was worried as many of the Zines shown were solely image based. As an Art History student, I am used to writing, putting my thoughts into words, to analyse and criticise thus the idea of creating a zine with a lack of words made me feel very anxious. I don't feel like I am able to spend 6 weeks on making a zine of only images.

However, after further research I discovered that many zines do not use just images but the content can be anything the maker desires so long as the zine fulfills the other criteria that makes it a zine. The common criteria for zines appear to be very much related to how they are made and distributed. Zines are 'underground' publications and have a lack of commercialism and capitalism. They don't have adverts nor promote capital goods like many high brow magazines. Furthermore, zines have a low production costs, often with elements of craft and handmade using image and text and photocopied. The end product is often folded and stapled but can be printed and bound in any matter (athough there is some controversy if professionally printed products may be defined as zines).

Having seen the variety of zines in the lecture and in  Fanzines (Triggs: 2010) the content is hugely varied and it appears the content of a zine can, to an extent, be whatever the maker wishes.