evaluation for my factual fanzine

1. Factual fanzine Evaluation
Aasiyah Chopdat

2. Why I decided to make a fanzine.
For the first project after lockdown I decided to make a factual fanzine centered around the topic of
herbs and nature. I decided on this for a couple of reasons, one of them being the uncertainty
surrounding Covid 19 at the time, we didn’t know whether we would be going into a second lockdown
or not. This meant I had to create something that could be done at home if needed.
Doing a fanzine seemed quite daunting to me because print isn't my strong suit. This made me more
eager to try it out and experiment with new ideas even if it didn’t turn out right, my main goal was to
learn from the experience.
The idea of making a fanzine completely by hand also seemed like a good option since my career goal
at the moment is to become a prop maker which includes a lot of hand work as well as digital and
Prop making covers a lot of areas from armor, food and even fake newspapers, so crafting a fanzine
would be good experience.

3. research
my research went pretty well. It really helped me to not just analyze modern fanzines but
to also take a look into the history of fanzines which sparked the idea of making a fanzine
completely by hand. This idea also worked for the current situation with Covid as I
previously mentioned.
Most of the fanzine I found on Issuu.com were from 2020, I struggled to find older ones.
This meant that a lot of the fanzines I was analyzing had noticeable similarities. One of
them being the topics that were discussed, a few of them talked about covid19 since it is a
relevant topic that is impacting the world right now.
To mix it up I watched a short documentary on how rock fanzines did a lot to spread
awareness of feminism and the injustices women faced in the industry. It was interesting
to learn about the influence fanzines used to have and how relevant they were especially
to the punk rock scene. I focused more on the impact fanzines had in the 1980s.
Something I have learned from this is that it important to not only look at current things
but to also take its history into account, it can help deepen you knowledge on the topic
and can help you see how its evolved and where it could go.

4. research
Source A
Research on fanzine history
Source B
Research on modern fanzine
Something I could have improved on is analysing pages from past
fanzines. This would include analysing the content, colours and design
as well as analysing them against other pages. It may have also been
interesting to have compared them with modern fanzines to see how
the fanzines work differently to attract the audience at the time/society.
I could have also looked into the process of making fanzines in
the 1980s as it will have been very different to how they are
made today since software's weren't so readily available as they
are now. Instead of just focusing on the impact fanzines had I
could have also looked into the different techniques they used,
this could have been really helpful information when making my
fanzine.

5. planning
What went well with my planning was the idea development. This was successful because its how I decided on
the feel and tone I wanted to create. The visuals that I gathered in the mood board really helped me to
envision my ideas and were really helpful to lookback on when I was stuck in production, as they reminded me
of what I was aiming for and put me in the right direction. It also really helped that I made more then one
mood board, it showcased the idea in more detail.
What I lacked in planning was detailed plans on the pages I planned on making, intend what I had was a rough
idea. If I had been more specific I could have maybe worked a lot better in production by having a clearer idea
of what I was making. This could have also made me work a little faster then what I did. I could have also
improved on my schedule that I made, I find that I work best if I am really specific on the things I need to get
done, this is something that I'm going to try and improve on in my next project as I think that it will really
improve my work.

6. experiment
During the experimental process of this project I mainly focused on figuring out how I was
going to make the cog wheel (showing the contents). I figured out how to make it by
researching similar designs, sketching out ideas (source E) until I came up with something
that I thought would work, then testing it. I spent most of my time doing this as I didn't
want to waste time having to figure it out during production, this proved helpful in the
end since it was less stressful making the wheel later on. I also found that because I new
the basics of making it that I could add in more elements/details that I hadn't done in the
prototype such as extra pieces of card and paint.
Something I didn't do was experiment with page design. Experimenting with the style I
was trying to go for would have been helpful and could have maybe avoided me having to
learn from mistakes during production. For example on pages 4 and 5 I ended up
designing the page in a style that I'm used to doing digitally, which was far from what I
was aiming for .By experimenting beforehand it would have boosted my confidence and
understanding of the style.
this is a really important point that will help me to improve my work in future projects.
Source C
Sketch

7. Time management
This year has been a tough year to get through, Covid and lockdown has been really difficult for everyone, my
mental health became worse. This made it really hard for me to come back into college and find the motivation to
work. Because of this I procrastinated doing the project, I was quite nervous to start since print isn't something I'm
very confident in
However when I started the project it wasn't as difficult as I though it would be, doing this made me realize that
taking the first step can be really hard but makes all the next steps easier to take. Once I did start I ended up learning
new things like binding pages together by hand with thread.
Next project I'm going to make a conscious effort not to procrastinate and just keep going by keeping on top of my
work. I found that keeping note of what I'm doing each day motivated me to keep going and get the next thing done.

8. production
In production there were a few weaknesses. For instance
the pages on how to dry herbs was far from what I was
aiming for, the colors layout were the main things that were
off(instead of using neutral and light colors I used neon's). It
was more like the style I'm used to doing. I think this
happened because I wasn't comfortable with the journal
style and so instead went for what I'm used to.
Another weakness was that because I was doing this fully by
hand it meant that I made a mistake I couldn't reverse it.
This meant I spent a lot of time making sure everything was
perfect and overthinking. For example when it came to the
writing on on all of the pages I had to first write them in
pencil before going over it in pen incase it didn’t fit on the
page
My page
Pages from my mood board

9. production
One of my main strengths in production was noticing were I was
going wrong with my page design early on and resolving the
issue by going back to look at my mood board and analysis to
see where I was going wrong and what I wasn't doing . This help
me to notice that things like the colors were wrong. This really
help me to get back on track with my other pages(source D).
Another strength was my contents wheel(source E) that I had
few problems with which I think was a result of practicing
making it during the experimenting. All the mechanics work,
however it does spin easier then the one I made previously
which means sometimes it moves when the page is closed.
Thankfully it didn't make the other pages notable bumpy which
is what is afraid of happening
My favorite part in production was making the wheel since it
was the main interactive element.
Source D
Source E

10. Audience appeal
My fanzine’s is targeted towards young adult and teens interested in nature. I think I created mostly the style and tone I
was aiming for at the start of this project. The main goal was to create content about nature in a cottage core/ journal like
aesthetic. The cottage core style is really in right now along with nature based content (online) so I know there is a large
audience of people around my age interested in this sort of thing.
On the one hand my fanzine appealed to my audience. The fanzine has interactive elements that people really enjoy. Some
of these elements include the contents wheel that you turn in order to see each topic covers and a short description.
Another element is the pages with layered materials such as card, magazine parts and paint. These things can be appealing
to feel. One of the pages have open up cards that reveal information on herbs and fungi, I really like this because it really
makes the fanzine feel like a journal and gives an adventurous feel. I think the action of having to open the pages is quite
exciting as it feels like hidden information and reminds the audience of opening a map
On the other hand there were things that could have been improved on. One of them being the lack of photos' think the
biggest thing that my fanzine was missing was photos, if I had include more photos I think it would have broken up the
pages a little more. This would have also been more appealing to my audience since most people who like cottage core like
it because of the photography and the editing style. This is a big thing that I missed in my fanzine and I think this happened
because I didn't do enough research into my audience by not outlining what makes them interested in this type of fanzine.

11. Page comparison
I used more magazine content on my
page such as articles and
photographs, where as on the left
they have used designed
cards/prints.
Both pages have some typography that
are in a calligraphy style. It works really
well with the journal look I was going
for, this is because it has a classic look
I went with a neutral colour scheme for my
pages, so I stuck mostly to cream and brown
shades. On the left there is also a neutral
colour scheme going on, I notice they have
added in colours such as muted pinks and
blues which ties in really well.
I think the layout on
both pages are pretty
good.]when designing
the layout I had to take
into consideration how
much I would be writing.
It looks as if on the left
there is a painted
flowers. This is a really
nice design as it breaks
up the amount of card
/paper being used
My page

12. Page comparison
Illustration
On both I think that the
illustrations are good. On
my page I was aiming to
show mushrooms through
different times of it growth.
I kept the illustration
simplistic, without missing
too much detail.
layout
The page has a lot more texture and
movement. The shading in the corners
and around the illustration gives a
vintages look. By ding this it makes the
page look less bland
Typography. The
typography is a lot nicer
and I like how some of
the text curves around
the illustration giving the
page more movement.
Typography.
My typography
could have been
better. As I was
doing it by hand I
just used my
hand writing.
Since I struggled
with this a good
way I could have
maybe improved
is by writing out
what I want to
say online and
choose a font to
reference.
My page

13. conclusion
This project has taught me a lot. For starters I'm really proud that I decided to go for something different and
something I'm not very confident in yet because I have learned a lot from the experience. This project has
taught me that its really good to make mistakes and experiment because it helps you to learn first hand and
improve your work. For example when designing one of my first pages it went wrong, but from this i was able
to improve the other pages.
I most enjoyed the making of the contents wheel, this tells me that I should do more projects that includes this
sort of aspect's. I could include something like this in other projects by making props for a show or a photo
shoot.
My plan was to make my fanzine completely by hand, I think this did limit my self quite a lot, and in future
projects I should try and have a little less restrictions, although a positive to this was that I learned to stick with
some guidelines. I struggled a little with my time management mostly due to not feeling motivated, but I have
figured out the best way to get over it is to just start and so I will try to do this in my next project.