FINAL PRODUCTION: MAKING A ZINE/PHOTOBOOK

After the photoshoots were done and the photographs were edited and narrowed down, I started to construct the layout of the zine I planned to make. Using inspiration from Polyester magazine which I purchased to get a better look at, I decided to use a lot of typography and negative space. I chose a colour scheme based off of the colour schemes of the photoshoots so that the pages would all tie nicely together through the different photoshoots, using slightly different colour schemes for each shoot.  Constructing the page layouts took some time due to experimentation with colour, but in the end I decided to use colours taken from the actual photoshoots themselves using the eyedropper tool on Photoshop. This meant that the whole zine would have a colour scheme and flow nicely together. I did use some pages to fill with photographs so that the zine wouldn't be too repetitive throughout.

I had a total of twenty-eight double spreads and so that would mean when the zine was constructed I would have fifty-six pages, which is a normal zine size. I planned to make my zine A5 to keep within the 'zine' genre, as my book is meant to offer something different and new to it's readers. I think the pages look good, but perhaps now in hindsight, Photoshop might not have been the best programme to construct the book in. If I was to re-do this part of the project I would familiarize myself more with InDesign and construct my zine with that software instead, as Photoshop probably was part of the issue I had with printing which I will discuss shortly.

Once finishing the pages of my zine, I had to print it out double sided, which proved to be extremely difficult and time consuming. I first attempted to print it through the printing options, which turned one of the pages upside down. After trying several times to get that to work and failing, I then opted for asking the technician at the IT desk to help, who then told me I had to take out the printed image and flip it before putting it back into the printer.

After several wrong attempts and two hours later, I finally managed to print my front and back cover along with my front and back pages. I then had to repeat this process twenty six more times, which would cost both a lot of money on the printers at Ravensbourne and also a lot of time. I decided I would attempt to print the rest of the pages from home, which also proved difficult because I had the same issue with trying to flip the paper the right way. After wasting a lot of ink, I had to go for my last option, which was to take my USB stick to Snappy Snaps and ask them to print it for me. My last obstacle was that their printer was broken and so I had to get it printed a lot later than I first hoped.

After all the obstacles and problem solving, I finally was able to construct the booklet, which wasn't as challenging as I thought, although if I was to re-do my zine I would probably do it in a different way. I felt accomplished and was happy with the way I persevered and stuck with my idea even through all the hurdles and problems, and instead just found different ways to work so that I could get the job done. This project has definitely helped me grow as a student, especially since hitting several slumps within these seven weeks and forcing myself to get around them and expand my project idea. I will take every lesson I learned during these seven weeks and my entire year at Ravensbourne into my BA course, as I have learned valuable problem solving skills and how to deal with an almost degree level way of working.

front & back page of zine

first page spread