This document contains information about conducting interviews for a fanzine project. It discusses practicing an interview with a student to gain experience. Some things that went well included the interviewee's knowledge on the topic, asking open-ended follow up questions, and researching beforehand. Things that did not go as well were not taking thorough notes during the interview, not ending on a strong question, and questions could have been more creative. The document also discusses experiments with layout design, image filters, and page concepts for the fanzine. It explores using pastel colors, different filters to alter images, and incorporating illustration pages between interview sections.

1. Factual
Alfie Jones

2. Mental Health & Trauma
Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs)
- Adverse childhood experiences, or
ACEs, are potentially traumatic
events that occur in childhood (0-17
years). For example:
• experiencing violence, abuse, or
neglect
• witnessing violence in the home
or community
• having a family member attempt
or die by suicide
Discuss:
• Issues surrounding mental health –
especially trauma
• Expert information on trauma – how it
can affect people, how to get help, how
to raise awareness
• Basic information of mental health –
what causes mental health, what is
mental health, where can I get help
• Past examples they have had to deal
with – what is the most interesting case
you’ve dealt with etc
• What interested you to work in the
mental health profession and to
specialise in trauma?
Interview Opportunity:
• Jo Ward – Mental Health
Practitioner for 37 years
• Dale Ward – 10+ years of working
in mental health
• Jake Mawer – 5+ years of working
in mental health

3. Fanzine Information
Fanzines are homemade magazines made by fans that are made
for a very particular audience instead of a broader audience like
magazines as fanzines don’t have to cater for everyone as it is for a
closed audience.
The main thing a fanzine consists of is illustrations whether that’s
hand drawn or a collage they all have the same effect, however
hand drawn illustrations create a more personal feel to the fanzine.
A fanzine creates a more personal connection to the reader
compared to a magazine as they are aiming it at an audience who
have the same interests as them; instead of a magazine that tries
to aim it at a larger range of people.
The early issues of fanzines were a lot more homemade then they
are now and were mainly created by fans of punk rock and the
punk era as it was big in the 1970s/80s across North America and
England; fanzines in this era were such an inspiration as it had
never been done before and even some bands used the
typography, colours and graphics for their album covers.
Nowadays, fanzines are more digital and allows for prints to be of
better quality. The artistic element is still present, but the
collaboration between designers, illustrators, and writers is crucial.

4. Existing Product Analysis
This product is aimed at an audience who have a keen interest in
fashion and how and where different items of clothing are made
across the world, and has a clear genre of fashion but the
information is more aimed at the people who care about their
clothing more in depth of how they look. In the current world, how
fashion is made has become a reoccurring issue for many years and
activists have been protesting for equal pay for sweatshop workers
etc, so by creating a fanzine about this current issue it is showing
more and more people why this is an issue and how it can be fixed;
the producers have created this for their particular audience by
making the pages all about the same issue, but portraying it in a
different way and talking about sub topics within the issue.
This particular page has made the most important points the biggest
and boldest, so if someone who was just getting into fanzines picked
this up would see the crucial points they are making, and if the
regular readers didn’t have time to read it they can have a quick
scan and still absorb the vital information. By having diagrams and
images as the main attraction of the page it implies that this fanzine
is meant for an easy read, and the reader can still take in all the
information they need without being overwhelmed by too much
writing; this is something I am going to consider for my fanzine as
not only does it make the pages look fuller and more appealing, but
it is a clear key convention of a fanzine so it would be clear that is
what I am making.
Fashion Revolution fanzine #001 MONEY FASHION POWER
https://issuu.com/fashionrevolution/docs/fr_fanzine_001_moneyfashi
onpower

5. Existing Product Analysis
This product was made in 1977 so back then the target audience was the
people who were punk rock fanatics, and loved to read interviews with bands,
live gig information and about the punk genre in general. The producers have
aimed it at this certain audience by naming artists/bands who were either big in
the punk genre or local artists like Wayne County and Cherry Vanilla, so the
people who aren’t interested in this genre of music or lifestyle won’t have any
interest in reading it. I think the producers have worked to this audience
because it was very big in the seventies and eighties, so by creating this type of
fanzine it is aiming it at a large and relevant audience for that time period.
The main image of Cherry Vanilla is a photo taken from a live gig, and has been
put in black and white to match the minimalistic graphics and design of this
fanzine; the masthead has a relaxed and unprofessional look to it as if it was
hand written or on a typewriter, and that has been done for the other text on
the front cover, which gives it a more personalised feel to it compared to a
magazine. The information on the front cover isn’t written and designed in the
same way as a magazine as the writing isn’t straight, which links to the hand
drawn typography, and there isn’t any real organisation and it looks as if a fan
was to create it, which links to the purpose of the fanzine which is to entertain
fans of the punk rock genre and lifestyle.
Sniffin’ Glue (issue #8)
stillunusual.... — Sniffin’ Glue (issue #8) YEAR: 1977 CREATED
BY:... (tumblr.com)

6. Existing Product Analysis
Gorillaz-Unofficial Fanzine Issue #3 "Plastic Beach 10th Anniversary“
Gorillaz-Unofficial Fanzine Issue #3 "Plastic Beach 10th Anniversary" +
Cass Browne Special by gufanzinearchive - issuu
This product is aimed at specifically fans of the band Gorillaz as
other than a couple of interviews with different bands/artists, who
either toured with Gorillaz or they toured with different
bands/artists, the whole fanzine is about Gorillaz’ hit album
‘Plastic Beach’ 10th anniversary. The producers have made this
fanzine to attract fans of Gorillaz by filtering in a variety of
different art work and interviews with artists who have featured or
worked on this album with Damon Albarn from Gorillaz, and
information about the album on how it was produced, the
response from fans and media, and different artists views on the
album. The producers did it this way to show their audience a
more in-depth view on the album as the interviews were exclusive
to this fanzine instead of it being already common knowledge to
the public.
The producer has chosen two images for this double page spread,
and with one of them being a screenshot from one of the music
videos it is like a mini easter egg for the fans of this zine to notice
and understand, but compared to regular music fans they are
unlikely to identify that so this makes it unique to this fanzine; the
second image is of the band the author is interviewing so the
audience can get a better experience when reading the interview
and it allows them to imagine being in the room whilst it was
happening. The interview itself is quite lengthy as it goes over 8
pages with this being the last 2 pages, and the author has made it
a lot more intimidating than it seems with different colours for the
interviewer and the interviewee.

7. Existing Product Analysis
London’s Outrage fanzine (December 1976) by Jon Savage
stillunusual.... — London’s Outrage (issue #1) YEAR: 1976 CREATED...
(tumblr.com)
This product was designed and created in 1976 so the target audience were the
rebellious punk rock lovers who loved the idea of rebelling against anything the
government said, so by having cut out articles from newspapers saying ‘Punk rock
violence is sinister’ it appealed to that audience because the media and government
didn’t like the punk rock era as they went against everything, so being hooked on the
punk rock ideology was trendy back in the seventies and eighties. The producers have
worked this to their intended audience by taking a Sex Pistols flyer for their gig at the
Notre Dame Hall and using ‘London's Outrage’ as their title for their fanzine, and using
the flyer itself as a background to put various cut outs of newspapers and images that
Jon Savage had cut out, stuck on and photocopied copies to sell; by using a Sex Pistols
flyer it caters to the punk audience since people will have seen the original flyer and
wondered why they are seeing it again, and fans of the Sex Pistols are likely to read it
as well since it will feature about them with them being the main image as the cover.
The producer Jon Savage has used images of Nazis wearing their uniform with a
swastika on the sleeve of their arm clearly on show on the front cover, and even though
racism was still a big issue during the punk era with the skinhead culture thriving in the
late 70s, but the whole idea behind using that image is for the shock factor of it when
you notice it when you read it, and with the audience of the punk era wanting to rebel
against the government and the media, this would appeal to them massively but not
for the racist connotations of it. The collage design of having different news articles cut
out and stuck on the front page it shows that it is clearly a fanzine as these were clear
conventions of a fanzine and still are.

8. Interview Practice
For our research, we practiced interviewing a student to get a better understanding on how to conduct an interview, so when it comes to interviewing our specialist for our fanzine we have more experience and then we can learn
what to do and what not to do. When conducting the interview, I enjoyed asking the questions in general as I like to get a deeper understanding of a topic someone is passionate about, and I enjoyed getting a more in depth
answer with a follow up question as it gets more out of the interviewee, and it allows me to approach the question in a different way to the first time round. Three things that I think went well were that the interviewee was very
knowledgeable about their chosen topic and he knew what he was talking about and could provide extensive knowledge about the Jacksonville Jaguars; this was good because it helped me as the interview went on get a better
understanding of the topic and link previous questions together to get a better answer, and with the interviewee being passionate about his chosen topic it makes a better interview in general because they are engaged in the
questions and give more extensive answers. Another thing that went well was the style of questions I asked and how I asked a follow up question almost after every question from listening to their initial answers; with the
questions being open ended it allows the interviewee to give a thorough answer. The third thing that I think went well was the researching prior to asking the questions as I think getting a bit of background knowledge before
conducting the interview as I think going in completely clueless to the subject isn’t practical as it makes it harder ton ask follow up questions. Three things that didn’t work so well was that I recorded the interview audio on my
phone and write it up, but I think it would have been better if I made notes as I was conducting the interview instead of just relying on the audio as for whatever reason the audio doesn’t work I still have notes from the interview
to write up the interview instead of having to do it again. Another thing that didn’t work as well was that I didn’t end the interview on a good question, so if I was to use this interview in my fanzine the reader wouldn’t feel fulfilled
at the end of it, so I think when I do my interview for my fanzine I need to pick a ending question to round of the interview. The third thing that didn’t work so well was that my questions weren’t as inventive as I had hoped they’d
be, so for my actual fanzine I will come up with more creative questions as it is aimed at a younger audience. I have learnt from this experiment that for my project I will be more creative with my questions, make more notes
during the interview as a backup, and that I need to sound more engaged when asking the questions. Being interviewed was a normal experience for me as I have had job interviews in the past, however this interview was more
informal and more relaxed and it was about something I was passionate about so it was a different style of interview. For when I interview someone, the aim is to make them as comfortable as possible and that can be through the
environment of the interview, the style of questions and my tone of voice because the more comfortable they are the more information they will give, and with it being a fanzine and not a magazine it can be informal.

9. Experiments : Layout
With my previous projects I have always struggled with coming
up with a good layout design that isn’t just a generic design, so
with this layout I think it is still simple but I mix of colours
creates an eye catching colour palette, and I think it suits a
mental health magazine for young people very well. My
intention when designing was to use pastel colours in various
different ways by creating sections on the page, but with each
page I wanted the different colours to match, so with the 4
colour design it will be hard to match it all up well as I think I
need to make the page less of an eyesore, which could be done
by changing the colours to more pastel colours, or do not use
as many colours. With the second design I have matched the
background and the text boxes together by using the same
colour but in different shades, which is something I will
consider for my other pages. I have chosen to do these things
because after looking through fanzines similar to the one I am
going to make pastel colours are very common, so by sticking
to the common conventions it makes it clear to the audience
what the product is and what genre it is. The use of pastel
colours adds a friendlier look to the fanzine than blunt and bold
colours as it looks too strong, and with the lighter colours it is a
lot easier on the eyes and the black border could be a nice
addition as I think bold black writing would compliment it well.
My Design
Inspiration
EXAM
PLE
ILLUSTRAT
ION/IMAG
E

10. Experiments : Image filters
For this project with the images having to be original I
wanted to experiment using different basic filters by
changing one of the images to a more grainy effect as I
think that can work well when the images is too bright.
Another image I have increased the brightness, and
increased the contrast so the main colour, which is
orange of the cat, is more prominent and indicates
even more that it is the main attraction of the image. I
For these images I have applied the same filter, and it has
had a similar effect but with the sun in the background
hiding behind the clouds, the second image has made the
sky more of a teal colour rather than sky blue, which I need
to consider when taking my photos, and it darkens the
foreground so if I wanted to focus on the background this
could be a good filter to use and it can still be played around
with. The final filter makes the full image a lot brighter than
the previous filter, and this filter can really brighten up an
image, and by playing around with it I think it could work
nicely
Original Dramatic Warm Vivid Warm

11. Experiments : Page Design
As many mental health fanzines don’t exist it is hard to get an idea of
what one would consist of, but after doing some research I have
found many A5 posters with either messages on them, like the first
one, or with basic information on where to get help if you are
suffering from mental health or basic information on a certain
topic/type of mental health issues, like the second one. These types
of pages are going to go in between different pages to break up all
the writing, so it isn’t just endless pages of writing because even
with minimal writing these still get the message across well. I have
designed these illustrations to be simple but effective, as by
overloading the page with information and different colours I found
it to be too much for the reader, therefore by keeping simple and
easy for the reader it is more effective. Something to consider when
I create more illustration pages is to create a page that is overloaded
to represent someone’s head/mind who has a bad headspace or
suffering from poor mental health; i would either do it over a double
page with the other half explaining very briefly what the page is
about or pair it up with a similar page like this experiment so the
pages have a bit of contrast.

12. Page Concept
This page concept would go in between interviews
to break up all the writing as with it being a fanzine
for young people I don’t want to have all the pages
just full of writing, so with illustrations like this all
the way through the fanzine not only does it portray
an important message, but it is attractive and
provides contact details or information on mental
health in general/a specific type of mental health.
I have used 2 out of the 3 fonts I have found that I think
work for this type of fanzine. For the page on the left I
have used ‘PastelSkies’, which I think works well as it
looks hand drawn to an extent, but not too bad where
you can’t read it; also for some letters like the ‘i’ it has a
love heart as the dot which is a nice touch. For the page
on the right I have used ‘Moonbright Demo’ as I like the
look of the unfilled letters so you can see the
background colour through the writing, which allows
me to match the different colours together better.
This page concept will be my back cover as it
allows the reader to interpret the message I am
trying to get across since I don’t think I will add
any significant amount of writing, although I may
add ‘Produced & Designed By Alfie Jones’. By not
adding any clues to why I have created this page
for the audience it lets the reader use their
imagination to portray their own message and
meaning.

13. Audience Research
• This fanzine I am producing is made for young people who have suffered from
mental health in the past, if they are suffering from mental health currently, or if
they know someone who is suffering from mental health so they can use the
information that they will read to try and help them get help. The target audience
for this unisex fanzine is 16-24 years old since mental health in young people is on
the rise so by creating a fanzine on this topic I think it will help people but it is
also important that young people especially are educated on such an increasing
subject. After looking at fanzines on websites such as Etsy, the common target
audience for this genre of fanzine seems to be young adults, so by creating a
product targeted at the same audience it will not only follow the key conventions,
but will ultimately make it more popular. From researching about mental health
fanzines, there are no real big manufacturers of this genre of fanzine so by
looking on Etsy, Depop and Instagram I found more homemade issues of this
genre, which I will use as inspiration for my final product as by taking inspiration
from a personal and original fanzine compared to a mainstream copy it will give it
a more personal feel to it.

14. Subject Research
• Mental health in the 1980s : Despite the promise of ‘care in the community’, there was concern
that community services were not equipped to cope. However, long-term progress could be
acknowledged. The Mental Health Foundation said -“Forty years ago, mental illness was
synonymous with madness…and people referred to sufferers as lunatics, idiots and
defectives…the last decade has seen the growth of public awareness… it is no longer acceptable
or indeed possible to consign the mentally ill for long periods in isolation in institutions.” – this
created a turning point in mental health for the future.
• Mental health in the 1990s : The extent of mental health problems in the UK was now clear –
statistics showed that one in four people experience mental ill health each year. However, funding
issues had not gone away – the proportion of NHS money spent on mental health had fallen from
15% in 1958 to 11% in 1993, and while £72 a day was spent on the care of the each mentally ill
person in hospital, an equivalent of just 29p was spent in the community. Stigma hadn’t gone
away either, with media coverage of the issues focusing on the ‘danger’ posed by people with
mental health problems. The public and the media still viewed people who suffered with their
mental health as ‘mad’ or a ‘nutter’, which only hindered the progress as they would feel
ashamed about opening up about it in order to get help and felt different from everyone else.