Project 3 – Zine

Gen Z’s ABCs—by Lameesa, Jackie, and Mikayla

The concept for our zine is an alphabet book on Gen Z lingo. Our main goal for this assignment was to create something fun and lighthearted that would make us chuckle as we navigate the stress in our lives.

Step 1: Brainstorming + Mood Boarding

We began by brainstorming here, and came up with a few different concepts of things we were interested in making. We then presented it to the class and were encouraged to take a more straightforward/classic approach to the form of the zine.

We then created a mood board for the different formats our zine could take shape in. From dictionaries to the Yellow Pages to early internet web pages, we wanted to find a good balance of playfulness and irony. Simultaneously, we were thinking about the different elements of the Gen Z aesthetic that could be integrated into the design.

Step 2: Planning + Producing

We ended up choosing to make a set of flashcards. This allowed for the form of the zine to stay classic while giving us just enough room to play with the design a little bit. It’s also a core memory for all of us, using flashcards to study certain vocabulary.

We collectively started finding words for every letter of the alphabet, which we added to the figma mood board. Then we split up and worked on our part for a day. I was tasked with creating the style guide/design of the zine and implementing that on the front of the cards. After consulting with my group on a few different options, we started implementing our design choices.

Then I prepared the files for print, making sure to line up everything correctly since they would be printed double-sided. I also added crop marks to make our cutting process a little easier.

Step 3: Printing + Assembly

Since printing on actual flashcards would force us to make way too many masters, we printed the “flashcard” colors we remember growing up with first on tabloid-sized paper. Our second layer was the vocabulary word on one side and the definition + example on the other.

Then we cut all of our 8 copies out…..

A few hours later, it was time for assembly!

10/10 enjoyed this process and would recommend!!!