Before we could release the zine we had to ensure that we had a presence online. We set up a twitter page which we put all of our content on and as a group we made a conscious effort to tweet news as we saw it.
In the days running up to the release of the zine we put out posters with headlines from that day around universities and colleges in Leeds. We printed these on the same news print that we intended to use for the zines. We made the posters really simple using the typefaces we had used within the zines. This helped to improve overall consistency. We decided to use a blue very similar to the blue used in the design of twitter for two main reasons. As our project was focused a lot around twitter it worked in this way. But we also felt it would be interesting to use blue as it is contrasting to the red usually associated with tabloid journalism.
We decided to use spray paint to add colour to the posters as this would make each poster individual and this added to the limited edition idea we were trying to achieve with the zines.
I borrowed a Canon 5d from my friend and then borrowed a Rhode field Mic and a tripod from college. I spent some time experimenting with the equipment and learning how to use it properly the night before we went out to shoot the video. We decided to ask people about the situation in Ukraine as this was such a serious issue it would be interesting to see if people were ignorant about the subject. We decided to compile together the hesitation noises that people made to try and make the video humorous as people would be more likely to share it.
We printed the zines using heavy newsprint. We wanted something fairly durable so normal newsprint wouldn't have sufficed. We still wanted the newsprint look as this is essentially a news zine so it makes sense. We used the photocopier to produce the zines as it was very cheap, something that was important seeing as we originally intended on producing 140 copies.
Using the laser cutter we got some woodblock stamps made. There were a few complications but with the help of the technician we produced 2 stamps of different sizes.
We experimented with printing the stamps with different inks. The oil based inks worked the best but as we were intending on releasing the zines that day we couldn't use these due to the drying time.
We dropped the zines around Leeds in various different places and I have spoken to a few people from Leeds College of Art who have picked up the zines and were really impressed.
Me and the group are really happy with the way that the zines turned out. Not only were they aesthetically pleasing but also included informative content. It would have been great to continue with this project but unfortunately it is too labour intensive to continue whilst studying on the course. We are considering trying to get more people involved to reduce the workload. We have had good feedback from many different sources. My cousin has a friend who works at Vice and he showed the project to people in his office. Apparently they were all impressed with the idea and the outcome. It is good to get good feedback from people who work in the journalism industry.
I have really enjoyed working as a group and feel everyone came together well. We communicated clearly and weren't scared to give honest feedback. Everyone worked hard and pushed themselves and I would be more than happy to work with this group again.
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