Like wheatpasting posters and blindfolding statues, producing zines gives you another way to get important messages directly to people. Zines bypass the gatekeepers of social media and mainstream press. They take just a tiny bit of effort and creativity.
What to do?
- provide simple information or instructions
- persuade people to do something (a call to action)
- leverage the layout: use 2-page spreads for larger images, timelines, flowcharts, etc.
- create a compelling front cover (pg. 1) – keep it simple with large fonts and clear images
- you can either do a similarly bold back cover (pg. 8), perhaps continuing the image or style of the front, or use the back for a summary of the key points or contact info (use short URLs and/or QR code)
Some Other Zines to Print and Share
- Make Polluters Pay zine (California)
- Fossil Fueled Fascism zine from Fossil Free California
Other helpful resources
- Free 8-page digital zine maker at dirtylittlezine.com
- How to Make an Origami Pamphlet by Paula Beardell Krieg
We would love to share other zines about the climate emergency, the extinction crisis, inequality and degrowth, science and academic freedom, or other topics relevant to the Scientist Rebellion mission.
Got suggestions of zines we should link to, for people to print & share? Want us to share a zine you’ve created? Got other good resources for zine-making?
Email us or add your suggestions in the comments below.
Leave zines in breakrooms, at bus stops, tucked into neighbors’ doors, or wherever you think they’ll catch someone’s eye. Does your favorite cafe or bookstore have a place for zines & handouts?
Zine Origins & Culture
A zine (/ziːn/ ZEEN; short for magazine or fanzine) is a homemade magazine that is usually noncommercial and often devoted to specialized or unconventional subjects. Zines are usually photocopied into physical prints for distribution. Zines frequently draw inspiration from a “do-it-yourself” philosophy, ignoring traditional conventions of design and publishing.
Historically, zines have provided the ability to express a community’s ideas and interests. Dissident, under-represented and marginalized groups have published their own opinions in leaflet and pamphlet form for as long as such technology has been available.
The concept of zines can be traced to the amateur press movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Many trace zines as far back as Thomas Paine‘s exceptionally popular 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, Benjamin Franklin‘s Poor Richard’s Almanack, and The Dial (1840–44) by Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“Little magazines” were produced during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.. Zines were important in science fiction fandom and queer communities in the 1930s through the ’60s. Punk zines emerged as part of the punk subculture in the late 1970s, along with the increasing accessibility to copy machines, publishing software, and home printing technologies. These fanzines became a countercultural alternative to established print media, and soon began incorporating a diversity of radical politics.
Adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine. See https://guides.lib.virginia.edu/zine/history and https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=1378775&p=10803201 to learn more.