Fanzines have been created by enthusiasts since the 1940s. They are small, non-professional magazines focused on a specific topic made using basic equipment. Early punk fanzine 'Sniffin' Glue' was made in 1976 using a typewriter and photocopier. Modern fanzines take different forms, from arts journal 'Antithesis' featuring essays and art, to children's book 'The Little Otsu' using illustrations to imagine plants growing large. Fanzines allow enthusiasts to share information on niche topics through minimal design and amateur production.

1. Fanzine Research
Emily Grace Porter

2. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread

3. Existing Product
UK's first punk fanzine, 'Sniffin' Glue' was created in 1976, by Mark Perry. He
came to the conclusion of creating a miniature magazine based of when he
heard the band "Ramones" for the time he couldn’t believe no one was
writing about it. He put the fanzine together with a typewriter, felt-tip pen
and the use of his girlfriends work photocopier.
Very simple design that fits with the theme and the era of punk rock. Adding
the hand drawn notes and doodles to the typed up article adds the drawn up
characteristics of the fanzine. I think the aesthetic suits the topic well, as the
punk rock scene is grudgy and the un-neat/messy feel to the fanzine goes
with the punk rock subject. The information is purely based of the new and
upcoming British punk bands of the 1970's/80's. The colour scheme is black
and white, most fanzines from this time are black and white due to them
being photocopied. The mode of address is informal due to the use of cursing,
the informal nature goes with the subject of punk rock and also the
community that punk rock established which was mostly formed of young
adults into the band scene.

4. Existing Product
Front cover
Double Page Spread

5. Existing Product
Antithesis is a fanzine that’s referred towards arts and humanities journal
edited by graduate students and published annually in association with the
School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne. The
fanzine publishes a mixture of content including: scholarly essays poetry
short fiction creative non-fiction artwork illustration photography reviews
interviews.
The design features illustrations, photography images and text using a variety
of fonts. The writing is direct and personal and features stories from the
writers that have a life message for the readers. The photography is neat,
tidy and links very well with the information, the clean layout makes it easier
for the readers to direct where to read. The Arial font is used for the big
information, with more illustrated fonts being used for headlines to catch
peoples eyes, this adds small illustrated details that adds design elemnets to
the minimal layout.

6. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread

7. Existing Product
The Little Otsu Living things, is a fun illustrated artist book of drawings about
plants and what happens when they grow too big. The Little Otsu Living
Things Series is a collection of mini art books in which different artists each
explore one idea based around the theme of living things. The tenth and final
installment is the glorious "House Plant" by East Coast artist JooHee Yoon.
The content incorporates drawings and printmaking. Each issue features
a colour scheme that plays out throughout each issue. This collection is an
example of modern day fanzines where colour and unique illustrations are the
main focus and the niche subject is creative and enjoyable.
Context in the magazine is fun and friendly, almost child-like with the
illustrations matching the information. The usual font is tall and thin, giving a
soft look for information next to the high contrasting colour scheme. The
main focus of this fanzine is the aesthetically pleasing illustrations that tell
stories of how plants grow in a anomalistic, imaginative way. This fanzine
could be aimed towards all ages as the light hearted context and images can
be visually enjoyed by anyone, kids could learn from it in a exciting way and
adults can enjoy the creative aesthetic of the fanzine.

8. Research summary
Fanzines have been around since the 1940's. Fanzines are putting the words
"fan" and "magazine" together to create a small booklet type magazine that is
based on a specific topic. The idea of a fanzine is described as non-
professional and non-official publications produced by enthusiasts for fans of
a specific topic/subject. The colour scheme is usually minimal, with older
fanzines being purely photocopied and there for black and white and newer
fanzines keeping to 3 or 4 colour's or keeping to the same colour layout, for
example: beige colour's, block colour's, etc. Some fanzines are typed, drawn
and photocopied by amateurs using standard home office equipment. A few
fanzines have developed into professional publications (sometimes known as
"prozines").

9. Initial Ideas

10. Idea 1
My first idea for a fanzine would be on a crime, I'd chose a cold case from
years ago and would set it out like a police file. I would include; a fact file of
aspects of the crime, a timeline of events before and after, an evidence
report, information on the suspects that where questions , and images that
relate to the specific crime. I would design it to look old and would use a type
writer font to give it the old time feel. I'd set it out to look professional and
with using proper termniology that I like this idea because cold cases are
something I find very interesting and I feel like I could get a lot of information
down about a certain case due to having the interest and the knowledge.

11. Idea 2
My second idea would be to make a fanzine based of the cocktails, I'll feature
the cocktail menu at my work (Brew York). I'd include our cocktail menu with
drawn images of each cocktail, an ingrediants list and also step by step
instructions on how to construct each cocktail. I'd also inlcude a bit of
background for each drink, the history on where they came from originally.
With design I'd illustrate each page based of the ingredients in the drink. And
some extra illustrations that relate the specific cocktail of that page.

12. Idea 3
My third and final idea would be to make a fanzine based of the very popular
tv show, friends. I'd give a summary of what its all about before doing a
biography on each main character, I'd also include images from throughout
each series. I'll go into detail about the relationships of each cast member and
how they developed throughout the 10 series. I'll keep the colour scheme
from the main logo, I'll include the colours from the dots: blue, yellow and
red.

13. Bibliography

14. Bibliography
1. Peter Silverton. (2016). Sniffin’ Glue: A fanzine that epitomized
punk. Available: https://www.independent.co.uk › Culture › Music. Last
accessed 10th September 2018.
2. Antithesis Journal . (2017). Antithesis Journal Vol. 27. Available:
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/sniffin-glue-
a-fanzine-that-epitomized-punk-a7023131.html. Last accessed 10th
September 2018.
3. Joohee Yoon. (2018). books. Available: http://jooheeyoon.com/p1.html.
Last accessed 10th September 2018.
4. Tim Peacock. (2018). Fanzines: More Information Than You
Need.Available: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/fanzines-
more-information-than-you-need/. Last accessed 12th September 2018.