Graphic Inspiration

Graphics Inspiration

The graphic design used in the zine could be hand-drawn & painted images mixed with dark lines edited on photoshop. This will give the reader an idea of the topic of the zine (fresh artistic talent), while at the same time maintaining it's professional image.

Sofie x

Creatives at Nottingham Trent

After deciding on our idea aimed at creative students we though we would need to understand what size this demographic was at out uni. This we decided is the best place to start the zine as we have a perfect audience and belong to it too.

List of creative courses (full-time, undergraduate):

- Costume Design and Making

- Decorative Arts

- Design for Film and TV

- Fashion Accessories and Design

- Fashion and Textile Management

- Fashion Communication and Promotion

- Fashion Design

- Fashion Knitwear and Knitted Textiles

- Fashion Marketing and Branding

- Fine Art

- Furniture and Product Design

- Graphic Design

- International Fashion Business

- Mulitmedia

- Photography

- Product Design

- Textile Design

- Theatre Design

From this we calculated that this amounts to 20.6% of all full-time undergraduate courses which is 3, 840 creative students.

With this many people we could have a great demand for our Zine and create a great platform for these creatives to network with each other!

Abbie and Sofie xxx

Current Creative Networks

After looking into the Facebook and social media trend we have discussed the content/idea behind our zine and want to create an offline social media/networking place for creatives.

There are currently a few online creative networks out there:

These all however cater for the business person in the creative field. They are places to network with others and look at the latest news and jobs that are available.

THERE IS NOTHING THAT CATERS PURELY FOR STUDENTS LOOKING TO COLLABORATE, SHARE AND NETWORK WITH EACH OTHER!

We therefore feel that this is the direction our zine will take. Also in zine form it will be great as most creatives and students will be aware of the zine format and what it stands for - the low-fi production etc so it will be better than purely an informal website!

Abbie and Sofie xxx

Facebook and Social Media Trend

As users of social media ourselves we are familiar with the increasing trend and wanted to look into some facts and figures. This is because we have started to have the idea of including a social media theme/taking inspiration from it for our zine!

Facts:

45% of the population in the UK are Facebook users

Facebook has 25, 000, 000 users of which 50% are under 30!

Image:

We are thinking of creating possibly an offline version of a social media site through the zine. People are happy to stalk others on facebook and look at their updates, photos etc and so we want to take this user habit and translate it so that it works in the zine - people will use the zine in the same way as they would use facebook?

Abbie and Sofie xxx



Editorial Ideas

JUST A FEW INITIAL IDEAS I HAVE HAD about content, names, logo and the zine fair...

Content:

We could see if we could feature maybe a few local creative businesses? Perhaps Style Compare or someone similar so that they would create interest for other uni people to want to be part of it - it may have a better selling point too and could generate more sales at the fair?

Names:

mEYEn Zine? (playing on mine/my?)

Logo:

Could have it as i magazine and the dot of the i is an eye?

Materials:

When talking about leather for front cover etc...we could have a different texture for every person...say one was a textile designer we could have fabric and print to that? If one was a graphic designer we could have newspaper print and print to that? If one was a video maker (not sure what you call them) we could have film strip set backgrounds?

Selling Them:

The beauty of the idea is that if people from the uni are featured in it...they will buy it and hopefully their friends?! Which means we could sell more than 7 copies!

Layout of Stall:

If it is about creatives, and 'you' as a person then we could have long-length  mirrors either side of the desk with signs saying 'who are you' / 'you decided what you want to be!' etc? We could try and get a big stall space if we wanted for the fair?

Abbie xxx

Interesting Book in Creative Review

I came across this article on the Creative Review blog and couldn't help but think it would be a great way to present our zine!

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2008/february/what-no-jewel-case

It is a set of CD's and a booklet in a box...

We could have a set of mini zines put together like this (above). They would be like a small booklet (see below)

And then i love this part....it all folds out into a big poster!!!

I can't help but think this is brilliant!!!


Abbie xxx

Inspirational Layouts

I have started to look at inspirational layouts for our Zine and came across this editorial from Vice magazine inspired the idea of documenting interesting people-almost like Facebook stalking but through print instead of online.

If we were to lay ours out like this for instance, the features could include interviews, a photoshoot and a selection of creative work.

Sofie xxx

FreeStyle Magazine

I have started reading and collecting FreeStyle Magazine. I absolutely love it and feel I can draw inspiration from here to our Zine we are creating.

In a sense, FreeStyle is so creative in its layout and form that it could almost be a Zine.

To start it comes in a different frisbee each issue designed by someone well known in the creative industry-the example I will show below is of one created by Paul Smith. The issue is also of a rounded shape so that it fits into the frisbee - something quirky I feel.

The particualar issue I am showing below features a contents in a weird numbered form to produce larger numbers and the editors letter and contributions is beautifully illustrated!

So from this magazine there is loads of inspiration. From the actual shape, the added extra of the frisbee, the images, the way the contents is layed out in a visual way and the fact it is designed by creatives for the creative industry.

Abbie xxx

Current Zines on Sale

After the lecture the other day on ther zine introduction...we decided to investigate the other zines out there to see if we could gain inpiration from them. There were so many we couldn't fit them all in one post!

IT'S NICE THAT

"It’s Nice That is a tri-annually published arts and culture magazine. Including in-depth interviews and articles focussing on, and written by, practitioners from all over the world, It’s Nice That publishes original content in a format that gives the work the respect it deserves. The magazine is available online at itsnicethat.com, as well as from numerous international stockists."

I liked the way it was presented in a book type format so it looks professional and sleek...

I also liked how on the website the information about the Zine was split into 'launch', 'work', 'interviews' etc so it ave you a great deal of information without spoiling the actual content!

STACK MAGAZINES

"Stack is a unique service that brings together the best independent English language magazines from around the world and delivers them direct to your home. Beautifully made and offering an intelligent, alternative view of films, music, art and whatever else crosses their pages, they guarantee a fresh perspective on the world. Every Stack delivery is a surprise – you never know what you’re going to get next, but you do know that it will be an excellent independent magazine that you probably wouldn’t otherwise have found."

Although it isn't a Zine i really love the sweet branded package they deliver content in:

NIEVES

"Nieves is an independent publishing house based in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 2001, Nieves' focus is on publishing Artists' Books and Zines."

I love their little logo as it is in keeping with the low-fi zine format.

ZINESWAP

The fact you can swap zines is really cool. We are loving this!

Abbie and Sofie xxx

Brighton Zine Fest

Yesterday I went to the Brighton Zine Fest at Hanover Community Centre in Brighton (near the seafront!!!!)

I wanted to go to find out about what other people are doing with their Zines, how they make them, what they look like and the content. In brief, I wanted to emmerse myself into the culture.

This is what the website says about the fair:

Below features a list of Stall holders:

I picked up a few great examples of zines I was inspired by and I will document these below...

LADIES FIRST ZINE

- This was by far my favorite zine of the fair. It has been created by the illustrator Sarah Clark and features an illustrated feminist story.

-The fornt and back covers are made of brown felt and have been screen printed with a translucent glue to add an extra texture and image to them. (VERY CLEVER)

- The paper is of an organic feel, very textured and she had folded A4 sheets into A5 and sewn them together with the felt as the binding. A cute and neat way of producing something unique!

ELECTRIC BABY ZINE

- This zine caught my eye due to the bright colours and quirky deisgn on the front. 

- I loved how inside there was a cartoon of how the makes of the zine screen-printed it.

-There is also a mirror at the back that they have added on through reflective paper and I just like the change in medium. 

DEADTIME STORIES ZINE

This one had some weird content but I liked the added extra of a badge at the front and it also had some cool layouts of pages.

GISSA JOB ZINE

-An amazing use of current objects/media to create a zine. This comic zine uses a job centre application form to write and vandalise on their comic story of a guy trying to find a job!

-A MUST READ!!!

-I also love how it comes in a little wallet too!

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed going,

Abbie xxx