A zine is a small, self-published magazine. Usually folded, often stapled, almost always made with more love than money. In an internet that is mostly rented from five companies, a zine is a tiny patch of land you actually own.
A short, useful definition
Zine - short for magazine, also short for fanzine. A self-published, independently distributed publication, usually printed in small runs, typically on a topic the maker cares deeply about and the wider market does not.
It can be eight pages or eighty. Photocopied or risograph. Sold for a fiver or given away. The format is loose on purpose.
Where they came from
Zines have roots in 1930s science-fiction fandom, came of age with punk in the 1970s, exploded with riot grrrl in the 1990s and never really left. Every culture that the mainstream has been slow to take seriously has used a stapler and a photocopier to talk to itself.
Why they still matter
Because the algorithm is not actually neutral. Because some ideas need to sit in your hand and not in your feed. Because making a thing - a real, physical, finite thing - is one of the few honest creative acts left.
And because reading something printed forces a different kind of attention. No notifications. No infinite scroll. The story ends when the pages do.
How to make one
Pick a small topic and a smaller page count. Write it. Lay it out in whatever you have - Word, Figma, a glue stick. Print twenty copies. Give half away. Sell the other half for the price of two coffees. That is a zine.
The internet rewards reach. A zine rewards depth. They are not the same thing.
Zines still matter because attention still matters. If you have an idea worth printing, print it. We did. You can read ours below.
Keep going
- · Read Zine 01/zine
- · Shop the Uniform/wear
- · Read the manifesto/manifesto