Research

1. FANZINE
RESEARCH
Clara Johnson

2. Front cover Double Page Spread
https://issuu.com/gorillazunofficialfanzine/docs/gu_fanzine_1_final_version_vers_2

3. This is a fanzine dedicated to the virtual band Gorillaz and was made by the users of GU discord.
It was originally made to celebrate the gorillaz unofficial discord’s one year anniversary but ‘it
became much more’ and they plan to make more issues. The type of content in this fanzine ranges
from art pieces to interviews. Included in this fanzine are lists of top songs, an article on the
music album the fall, an interview with Nicole (GU ADM) and also an article wishing Damon
Albarn (who is the co-founder, lead vocalist, instrumentalist and principal songwriter of Gorillaz)
happy birthday. All of the content is opinion based. I chose to research this fanzine because the
colours and art styles stoodout, I needed to do a lot of research on what Gorillaz was and who
Damon Albarn was etc. This fanzine also contains a wide variety of art spreads, sketches,
drawings and other artwork all created by different people. There are no real images in the
fanzine only digital art. This Fits with the theme of the virtual band characters. There is a wide
range of bright colours giving the fanzine an overall lively and mismatched feel to it in a sense of
organized chaos. As a whole there is a relatively even picture to image ratio, there is at least one
small image on every page, and some pages have full page images and no text so there is a good
balance overall. The text is in a simple font similar to Corbel which is a different style to the
digital art styles. However it makes a nice contrast making it easier on the eye and gives the
fanzine a sense of organization and structure, easier to navigate and gives a more formal feel. The
fanzine covers topics related to the Gorillaz. There is no simple information explaining who the
Gorillaz are, who the members of the band are or part of the process in making the animations
etc. This fanzine was created for already existing fans of the Gorillaz to read for entertainment
purposes not for promotional purposes. The writing style is informative but not formal, simple
using easy terminology. The mode of address is informal not specifically direct. As if they were
talking to whoever would listen. A lot of what is written are opinions from their point of view. This
fanzine was published on April the 15th 2018.

4. Front cover Double Page Spread
https://issuu.com/reececrowder/docs/coffee_fanzine_final_doc_hd

5. This is a fanzine about coffee which was published on 5th May 2013. I chose to research this
fanzine because it is a common subject and a thing in life unlike Gorillaz which I needed to
research to understand. I also love the simple design of each page and how it fits the theme of
coffee, I was specifically drawn to the front cover which is just a simple image of some coffee
beans. There is no text or anything extra but it is still incredibly clear what the fanzine is about.
The theme is consistent through out with the main base colour being a light brown cappuccino
colour. Light brown and white is the main colour scheme which greatly links to the colour and
mood of coffee. The font is swirly which matches the coffee theme like the steam from the heat of
the coffee or the image that is presented on the foam top of coffee. Depending on the background it
is either brown or white to contrast the background. The photography is nicely set and is elegant,
matching the font. All of the images are a full page and stick with the colour scheme. There is
limited text on each page which makes it nice to read and creates an uneven image to text ratio.
But I think it is relaxing to pass the time much like coffee. The style of writing is polite and
relatively formal, adding to the swirly font style. It has a really nice layout and is nice to read,
ideal to be put in a coffee shop for people to read through as they relax but it is also very
informative. Some informative content includes how coffee is made, how coffee is harvested, how
coffee was discoverend and how it got from brazil to the rest of the world. Each of these subjects
are accompanied with beautiful diagrams and images, although simple they add a nice
atmosphere making the information fun to read. In some cases there are very few words, for
example to explain how coffee was made there is a labelled diagram but no other form of text.
Some of the lighter areas of the fanzine include different types of coffee drinks, the ratios of what
is included in different types of coffee and descriptions of what type of people like to drink which
types of coffee which I think is a fun element to add. The photography included is simple images of
coffee and coffee beans. All of the diagrams and symbols are in the style of an infographic giving
the fanzine a simple but professional look and fitting with the overall atmosphere.

6. Front cover Double Page Spread
https://issuu.com/farahhamdy9/docs/fanzine_final_for_viewing

7. I chose to research this fanzine because I am a fan of Banksy and have researched him before in
previous GCSE art projects. I wanted to look deeper into how Banksy has been portrayed in this
fanzine and what about him has been included. This will give me more of an insight into the
amount of detail and types of things to include in my own fanzine. This fanzine is meant to be
purely informative, roughly telling you who Banksy is and about his art, however the information
is poorly put together and a lot of detail is missing from the work. The information included isn't
inaccurate but the full story isn’t included and isn’t well structured giving odd facts and
information at random intervals. This fanzine roughly includes where his art started, what some
of it conveys and the lack of Banksys identity. The style of the fanzine gives it a professional feel
to it but the text and what is written doesn't match the professionalism the design conveys. The
font is plain and packed together causing it to feel more like a chore to read it. Also the text is
poorly organized making it difficult to follow and slow to read. On some occasions (e.g. page 10)
the sentence isn't even finished. After reading it you can tell it was quickly put together with
little thought. Overall as an informative piece it is badly organized and lacks a lot of simple
details. The writing style and mode of address is formal and direct much like a Wikipedia page.
The design of this fanzine is nice and suitable for the subject. The front cover is colourful paint
splotches on a wall, this relates to Banksy's street art. The inside of the fanzine is all images of
Banksy's artwork which mostly consists of black and white. Sometimes there is colour to a small
part of a piece of art to make it stand out or to convey some sort of symbolism. Red was often a
popular choice. The use of Banksy art as a background not only gives examples of Banksy's work
but also give a streetwise feel to the design. There is an even picture to text ratio but I feel the
pictures are more dominant and the text gets lost in the background. The font, colour and
arrangement could be better to give the text just as much dominance as the images, not to
dominate over the pictures as it is an art based fanzine but so the text is recognized as something
interesting to look at and read.

8. The most significant thing I have learnt about fanzines is there is no limits.
While looking at different fanzines to research I found an unlimited range
including fanzines for chickens to footwear. Every fanzine is unique with a
different subject, design and style which gives me a very wide berth for idea
generation. Some are more professional than others and you can tell they spent
a lot of time on it. I feel this makes them more enjoyable to read and look
through. The majority of them use an informal mode of address often using
colloquial language which I feel make it more relatable and easier to read and I
would like to do the same in my fanzine. Overall there is no theme or
consistency with the ones I researched except they all have a good layout and a
nice design for their purpose and they all contain relevant information.

9. Initial Ideas

10. Front cover: Totoro is the mascot of
Studio Ghibli and is an easily
recognizable character and to those
who even are not familiar with
Studio Ghibli. (I made some
examples above and below)
The subject of this fanzine would be studio
Ghibli. More specifically the films. I would want
to make this because I have always been a fan
of studio Ghibli, I love the art style of design of
the animation and the story's are always so
creative and different. Also the recently there
was a studio Ghibli season on film 4 and I have
recorded a lot of studio Ghibli films which I
could watch and include in my zine.
The design style of this zine would be similar to
the style to studio Ghibli. The reason for this
would be so not only does the theme match the
content but the zine would be easily
recognisable as something to do with studio
Ghibli.

11. I could also include a page of facts
about studio Ghibli.
E.g. Fact: The name Ghibli was given
by Hayao Miyazaki from the Italian
noun ghibli, based on the Libyan-
Arabic name for the hot desert
wind of that country, the idea being
the studio would "blow a new wind
through the anime industry"
One of the visuals elements I would love to
include is fanart which people have drawn
because some of them are really beautiful
and I think it’s nice when people put effort
into things that they like. I feel the visual
element would change depending on what is
on each page however some ideas I have will
be consistent through out. For example for
the numbers to mark the page I could use
soot mites, acorns or little coloured stars as
they recognisable symbols which have come
to be strongly associated with studio Ghibli
and some of their famous films.
Content:
• Different films and reviews
• List of top films and reasons explaining
why
• I would like to include a page about the
founders of the studio, especially Hayao
Miyazaki who is the director for many
Studio Ghibli films.

12. Image A
Stars
I would like to do this fanzine because I have always enjoyed stargazing and spotting
constellations in the sky wherever I may be and I find space really interesting and I
would like to explore it. I know star signs are a really small area of the universe ( just in
our galaxy) and are not scientific but I find them very interesting and I’ve always liked
fortunes and horoscopes, for example the personality types of different star signs.
The design style of this fanzine will differ from each page depending on the sign. For
example Aquarius would have scales/ mermaid theme and Cancer would have a
crab/beach. Etc. The style if this fanzine id going to be an Infographic style. There will
not be too much text but enough information to keep it interesting.
The content of this zine will be the 12 zodiac signs, one on each page. Included on each
page and for each sign will be the personality type and traits of whoever falls under that
sign, and possibly some facts on what the zodiac signs are and how they came to exist
and the history of all that. I will need to add an extra 4 pages to make a total of 16 pages
in the booklet. Two pages for the front and back cover and two in the middle for an image
of the night sky (image A). The rest of the 12 pages will be one page for each zodiac.
The subject of this fanzine would be about
stars, more specifically the star signs. E.g.
Scorpio, Cancer, Aries etc.

13. This zine will be called ‘How to life’. Inside there will be a
young girl who talks you through how to have a fun life.
There will be many different subject in this zine for
example, how to make friends, how to have a healthy diet
etc. However because it is a little girl explaining things it
will contain her opinions and thoughts on the different
subjects. It isn’t going to be very serious, the purpose of this
zine is to be entertaining to read.
I want to give the impression that the girl is talking to
reader and bossing them around so the design style for this
zine will be simple because I want the viewers attention to
be focused on the girl so the background will be plain white
and throughout the zine there will be small illustrations of
the girl at different stages as she talks and the illustrations
will be related to the text.
I would like to do this because I think I would be really fun
to make and I really like to read stuff similar to this and
would like to have a go creating one of my own. I thing it
will be interesting to se what types of subjects she talks
about and what could mention in each subject to make it
an entertaining thing to read. I feel it will be quite a
challenge to create the girl character and to have her in so
many positions on different pages. I think it would be a
challenge to make them all consistent.

14. BIBLIOGRAPHY

15.  https://issuu.com/gorillazunofficialfanzine/docs/gu_fanzine_1_final_version_ve
rs_2
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillaz
 https://issuu.com/reececrowder/docs/coffee_fanzine_final_doc_hd
 https://issuu.com/farahhamdy9/docs/fanzine_final_for_viewing
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ghibli