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The idea that print will cease to exist is a quite scary one for designers that are interested in tactile prints. However I believe that print will not 'die', it will just adapt and grow within the digital world. As Ludovico (2012) said the death of paper prints is yet to happen, as the printed page is more valuable and reliable to the people. Nowadays everyone can put their life and thoughts into the internet, but making a book out of these will take longer than 5 minutes. Therefore, people consider that the printed page must have better information since it takes time and money to create.

Zines, for example, were always the type of publication that is mainly handmade. Nevertheless, zine designers adapted, and nowadays most are made in software like InDesign with less fear of making a mistake and ruining the whole thing. Additionally, I frequently handmade and scanned into a computer for printing and distributing/circulating to the public.

In this essay, I will prove that zine designers use the digital overpower of the world as a tool rather than a threat. While also presenting different purposes on what makes a zine a zine.

I found a couple of projects that distribute and present zine culture in a different way, while supporting various artists/designers and using the digital help as a tool. The shophouse walking tour kit in japan (in zines) by Kia Kia, a mass-printed project that gives you a tour of the Penang Shophouses in a variety of zines. As well as, the zine-o-maniac website, a space in the digital world to subscribe and receive, every month, a collection of zines. Furthermore, as analyzing a study conducted by student Chloe Parks about the future of zines. And an interview directed by me to the owner of Books Peckham and an advocate to zine culture, Petter Wills.

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The New York Times article “why the internet didn’t kill zines” (2017) quotes Shakar Mujukian, the publisher of The Hye-Phen — “a zine by and about queer and trans-Armenians who, as he puts it, often ‘feel as ignored and invisible as their motherland’” as he describes zines as “the precursor to personal blogs” but are they? zines have such a flexible aspect to them that the purposes can be infinite. Devin N. Morris, quoted in the same article as above says that zines have a way of encouraging people to have “inspiring interactions in real life.” In a way, social apps are designed not to create that feeling. 

The shophouse walking tour kit in japan by Kia Kia gives us just that, this project (Kia Kia, 2018) encourages people to explore, wander, and rediscover the city. While at the same time, giving zines, not just the personal blog purpose. The kit consists of three zines of different topics: introduction (introduce you to the origin, types of shophouses in Penang), characteristics (gives you an idea of what makes a shophouse, a shophouse), documentary (documents the special traditional trades, little conversations in Penang), one brochure map, one Penang Hokkien slang book, postcards, stickers, and vouchers. These are mass-produced and digitally designed. That means the designer in charge, Eve Lyn Lau, used the digital as a tool to create and distribute her work.

The production line of a zine consists of the designer making the page - using all kinds of materials, whether it’s digital (like a collage, not creating it fully digitally) or not -, repeating that a couple of times until you have enough pages, organizing them and stapling them together. This process works for one-of zines but the presence and the evolution of the digital world helps that one-of zine turn into a mass-printed one through the scanning and printing of that original one.

Zines are not used only on the purpose of having and transmitting a message, they are sometimes used as little mini-galleries to showcase the artist’s work. These types of zines need a cleaner and more professional look, therefore the need for creating these online is high.

This project presents that concept of artist zines and distributes theses through the digital world. It is a project that supports zine makers conducting their work by hand or digitally, and then mass-printing it,  distributing, and sharing it through a monthly subscription system online. The zine-o-manic project is a monthly zine subscription service that (Zine-o-Matic, 2015) ”curates and ships a full package of zines, stickers, and indie art to your doorstep”. This service supports up and coming artists and uses the digital (as a tool) to promote them.

Chloe Parks, a student at California Polytechnic State University, conducted a study to discover if the creation of handmade zines will continue in the future despite the immense digital options for those making them, as it was conducted by a student the results come with limitations. While interviewing members of the zine-making community (Parks, 2013) "It is interesting to note that every participant in the study had a URL to offer as a digital presentation of their work (zines, art, portfolio, etc.). A majority also mentioned social networking and blogging sites as filters through which they share their work.", this shows how the community of zine-making adapted into the digital era and that even though a total handmade work is done, the presenting and distributing part is made mainly in the digital world. 

Lastly, I was able to direct and email interview with Peter Wills, the owner of Peckham Books a second-hand shop for books and zines in Peckham, and - as quoting his website “RIP dead trees and dye zine distro - viva BOOKS.” - a promoter of the zine culture. (waiting email…)

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Overall, print is very far from “dying” and it will continue to evolve and adapt in this digital era. The public, nowadays, trusts the printed page, and even though the digital world is a growing one, zine designers take it as a pathway to distribute their work worldwide.

This explains how zines can feel more intimate and creative than a tweet. The care and work that goes into them is greatly important, but that does not mean that the internet and the evolution of the digital world is going to let print die. It just means that the community is adapting and using these developments to grow.

In the future, print could eventually disperse and change its role but for now, print has adapted itself into the digital world and is using it as a pathway to the future.

1095 words