Pivoting...?

 OKAY HI, lots of posts today, which is wild. But I think I've had some sort of epiphany.

WHAT IF I SWITCH FROM BEING A HARDCORE ZINE TO A TYPE OF MEMOIR COMBINATION. HEAR ME OUT. 

The two big issues I kept running into was that I didn't want to do a photo book, but I was somehow doing too much for a Zine, right? The pictures I want to use are more polished for a photo book and it would take some editing down for them to be suited for a Zine. The other issue was that I had a hard time trying to connect things back to being relatable. While a photo book of pictures from Paris is pretty, what else is there for someone to see? Which is why I wanted to do a Zine, so I could write in it, but that meant the compositions were going to need to be shifted around. 

SO, what I've come to settle on is a sort of travel memoir! Think of it being the best of both worlds. The homemade quality of a zine mixed with polished pictures akin to a photo book. The difference is that I want to implement text that's able to do a few things! 

- Tells you where each photo was made

- Give you historical context as to where photos were taken 

- Tells you how WE experienced it 

That way you're not JUST getting my own experiences, you're getting some other substance that helps add to the overall experience. That way you can truly see what we did, not solely through pictures!

Something else I know I ended up getting a lot of feedback on was the need for more layering. And while I didn't know necessarily how to do that since I'd like to make multiple copies, I did end up finding a few references! I think it would be fun to possibly have some kind of "hand-done" element for a few of the pages! Maybe not for every single one, but cute little moments that help bring 

 

Re: Zine Topic Feedback

 OKAY, This is me yapping about another piece of feedback! 

 I AM SO SURPRISED THE FLORAL ZINE IDEA GOT SHOT DOWN. LIKE I WAS EXPECTING IT TO BE THE WINNER AS IT COULD BE A WORK DELIVERABLE?? BUT HEY MAN, WHATEVER WORKS. 

The other thing that surprised me was that my photos of Paris were kinda/almost too polished and thought out for a zine, and were more suited of a photo album. Which, AGAIN I GET IT, but also like ... can I take that as a compliment?? Kinda the first time I'd ever been told I had stuff that was way too nice for my og plan, so it made me laugh internally during that moment in a good way. 

The other thing I really wanted to kind of mouth vomit about was the bigger theme. I toooooooooootally get that I didn't have a strong theme when it comes to connecting it back to other things. If anything, I think that I focused more on the meaning for myself and others, which I don' t necessarily think is a bad thing. But it still needs to be able to connect to people, and I lowkey thing that's where I struggle with. Like, how are you meant to make it feel relatable when it's just like HEY BESTIE I WENT TO PARIS. 

I do think there is a way. Framing it as a beginning, to middle, to the end of a trip. Talk about the emotions and narrative of the trip, "HEY IF I CAN DO THIS SO CAN YOU"

Theme Ideas (I'm spitballing): 

- "Take that Chance While You Can, Having the Courage to Go Travel" 

- Exploration of Culture, "Here's a place we saw, here's what it was about, here's how WE experienced it"

- TRAVEL MEMOIRS?? Which lowkey might be what my original idea was in the realm of ... ? 

- Journaling, Documentation, Recording a Part of Your Life to look back on

OKAY BUT WHY DO I KINDA LIKE THE IDEA OF A TRAVEL MEMOIR

Re: Zine Feedback

 OKAY HI, let's chat! So, I think the feedback session went well, although if I had a nickel for every time I had to present with minimal time and got loads of feedback that pushed me over the allotted time, I'd have like ... 3 nickels. 

Regarding the, "This doesn't necessarily fit the vibe of a zine," I TOTALLY GET IT. I think that's where I struggle with labeling. Because I didn't wanna make a photo book, because how in the world can I attach a bigger theme to it? Like I PROBABLY COULD,,,but I don't know necessarily how. And lowkey, I feel like I've been making too many that are focused on my face and body and didn't wanna do that-- BUT,  I don't quite know what's a step down from photo book. A photo album? Maybe bestie, Idk. 

But I think what I really like about Zines is the personality/craft behind it. I think the format has that room for it to be "messy", and not as pristine as a photo book/album is meant to be. Photo books (at least the ones I've been shown) lowkey give me coffee table book vibes, and they're all so. Nice and what not. MAYBE I COULD AS A BIGGER PROJECT, but not now. 

Going back to the drawing board, I found some different references that I think get me a little bit closer to what I've been envisioning. At this point, I'm going to have to include text in some way. That's probably going to be how I'm connecting the project to a bigger theme and what sets it aside from just being a pretty book of photos. Maybe it's giving photo book, maybe it's giving zine. THAT'S NOT THE POINT. But, I like the format of being able to show "here's the photo, here's the story/text behind it" MOVE ON. 

For some feedback, *maybe* this could be a good mix of typed out text and little hand writing scribbles. I like what Molly and Hailey said about layering it, and adding doodles to help get a more kitschy quality to the zine.