Part 3: Assembling the Chaos
Welcome the the third installment of wrangling Mind the Gap into the zine it is today. Here I'll share how I finally solved the design puzzle.
If you missed previous installments of this zine-making adventure, I recommend going back to check out Part 1 and Part 2 before forging ahead to the solution below!
As you may recall from last time, I had made a cramped, cracked, crusty accordion zine and was back to square one. Once I let go of the failed accordion concept, starting fresh from a design perspective ended up being really fun. I had all this finished material—the words and tons of illustrations—all the individual pieces were ready for assembly! And now I got to be a graphic designer and clean up the chaos into something that was a delight to consume while communicating something clearly.
I went with a square size because it’s a convenient ratio for scaling. Then I decided on 5.25” square so I could comfortably print a full spread on one letter-size piece of paper. As an added bonus, this size would conveniently fit inside some mailing envelopes I already had on-hand.
Next, I laid out the text with the intention of giving more breathing room between each thought. This resulted in a 20-page zine. Then I dropped in the illustrations, in a similar order as before, but with a different composition in mind. I wanted the pages to feel like they flowed into one another even though they no longer were an accordion. (Turns out I was being a little too literal!)
Now that I had more pages, I had space for more art! I had other illustrations brewing, like this moon that was a perfect addition for the spacey side of things.
Pacing out the text in a way that served the meaning of the words and the composition of the pages was a fun challenge. I kept the text sparse on some spreads for emphasis and to allow the illustration to take you across the page.
I put more words on some other pages, using elements of illustrations in different ways to best serve the composition of the spread.
And best of all, the cosmic record player still made the cut.
Finally the zine made sense! There is something incredibly satisfying when you solve a creative puzzle. Reworking the layout and getting it to this point allowed my brain to finally relax. I had completed the loop! I set out to make a zine about creativity, and art, and being present, and using art as a means to make life make more sense and feel more real, and I’m not sure if I did all that, but for a moment it felt like, yes, I did those things. That’s when I knew it was done.
If you prefer printed goods or are looking for a lovely gift, you can buy your copy of Mind the Gap in my online store along with all sorts of fun merch featuring the artwork used throughout.
Thanks for reading!
Next week, I’ll share the full zine digitally with subscribers. If that interests you, make sure to subscribe! You’ll get access to finished artwork, behind-the-scenes updates on my ongoing projects, and thoughts on creativity delivered right to your inbox.