CREATIVE PROCESS JOURNAL

F21DM0314 YIEW RACHEL

CONTENTS ZINE BRIEF

1 - 2

INITIAL ZINE

3 - 7

CONCEPTUALISATION CASE STUDIES

ART DIRECTION

3 4 - 7

8 - 10

COLOUR COMBINATION

8

GRID SYSTEM

9

BINDING STYLES

FINAL ZINE CASE STUDIES

10

11 - 16 11

PROTOTYPES

12

FEEDBACK RECEIVED

13

PAGES TEST-PRINTING

14 - 15 16

PBOARD

17

TAKEAWAYS

18

没好 少年

RETURN BRIEF

Since my previous project

aimed to invoke courage and confidence to be limitless, in this term's zine, I plan to showcase rebellion in teens and how we can dictate our own lives. This zine documents fragments of

teenage-hood with a sliver of rebellion. "I don’t worship your god, I don’t love the way you want me to, and I don’t study in the school you want me to— but I do all of this to create a teenage life which I can rightly call my own."

POSTCARD TAKEAWAYS One main area of improvement was the consistency of my designs; lecturers recommended using the element of framing and same

中

typeface (ENG+

) to make my

designs cohesive throughout the series. Lecturers also emphasized on the importance of callback to the subjects in every component of the assignment (manifesto poster, presentation board, CPJ etc.)

1

2

MINDMAP This is a continuation of my first mindmap in Term 1. i've decided to extend it as both topics are interconnected and share similar points. Circled in red is the theme for my postcards, and written in red are my ideas for each section/page of the zine. Through the three sections, Love, Loss and Life, I hope to reveal the inner workings of a Chinese youth and what these three aspects of teenage life can mean to an individual.

3

LOVE LOSS LIFE

LOVE

RABBIT GOD

Tu'er Shen or Tu Shen, is a Chinese deity who manages love in the

queer community. His name literally

RABBIT GOD

爱情

兔儿神

translates into "rabbit deity".

Queer love is considered taboo in Chinese culture, hence I would like to take this chance to delve into the LGBTQ+ and its relations to Chinese mythology. The youth aren't really familiar with Chinese mythology, hence I'd like to include a page for the Rabbit God.

月

老

Known as the god of

Yue Lao in my zine is not to

love and marriage in

reinforce this outdated

Chinese mythology, Yue

tradition, but to show that

Lao unites lovers with a

we as youths have the

red string. Arranged

power to love freely.

marriage/Pressure to

Freedom to love has been

be married before 30

an increasingly common

(theme from postcards)

notion among youths in

is common in the

today's society, with more

Chinese community. The

and more non-conventional

purpose of bringing up

couples emerging.

UNDERRATED ZINE uses riso printing to achieve a duotone effect for its illustrations. I plan to use a similar effect in photoshop to achieve a riso-effect without having to put the physical zine through the actual risoprint process. Using two colours, namely fluoro pink and green, to colour these images makes the print look vibrant and fresh.

They also use a very simple layout for their zines, where the subject is enlarged and situated in the center of the page, leaving adequate white space around it to draw attention to the middle. This is a good design for showcasing a physical item, and creates impact without the need to insert a lengthy writeup.

UNDERRATED ISSUE

ZINE

4

FILM INSPIRATION

HANDMAIDEN

THE

The Handmaiden (2016) is a South Korean revenge thriller + queer romance film. The story revolves around a Korean orphaned pickpocket who falls in love with a Japanese heiress. The film shows how these two girls go about destroying the lives of men who have tortured them and gaining freedom at the end.

春光 乍洩 Happy Together (1997) is a Hong Kong queer romance film

describing the tumultuous

relationship between two men, with themes of loneliness, suffocation and exile present every step of the way.

Kiss Of The Rabbit God (2019) is a short film telling the story of a Chinese-American restaurant worker who falls in love with an

KISS OF THE RABBIT GOD

I really like how the overarching

18th century Qing dynasty god.

colour in this film is Red; the This film delves into themes like

statue of the Rabbit God is in red,

self-discovery and self-

the interior of the restaurant is

acceptance, both of which are

red, and so are the neon

themes found in my zine.

lights/costumes.

5

ANITA MUI

The late icons Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui were both internationally recognised for being idols of many youths back in the day. They both carried flamboyant and outrageous appearances, both physically and intrinsically. Not afraid to go against the norms and bravely express

LESLIE CHEUNG 6

themselves, they were very well-liked by teens seeking freedom with countercultural tendencies. Hence I would like to write about them in my zine.

人 生 LIFE

GHOSTBOY CLUB creates Qipao tops

such as red

out of used t-shirts,

packets, Qipaos,

and I would like to

cassette tapes

use a similar

and Chinese

concept in my zine

This could come in

rice bowls. This

where I inject

the form of

implies breaking

uncommon designs

changing the

tradition (a

or ideologies into

original designs of

theme previously

tradition.

everyday items

covered).

Using items from my postcards (cola candy, plastic wraps) in my zine, changing up design.

7

COLOUR COMBINATIONS

I would like to use a colour scheme that is bold and impactful. Red and Black seem to fit my theme the best, but I would like to throw in a bit of blue as well to spice my designs up.

红 粉 红 粉 红 黑 绿 绿 黑 蓝 黑

Colour scheme

Classic riso

Retro Hong Kong

Punkish colours,

used in previous

colour scheme.

posters feel (

youthful, serves

term. Most likely

Very vibrant and

using this/a

港

风

), doesn't

strong visuals.

gives off

really feel like

Feminine look.

similar variation

childish/playful

colours

for the zine.

vibes.

for rebellion.

Similar to first, adding blue to highlight certain elements, makes design pop.

8

GRID SYSTEM I would like to adopt a grid system that is spontaneous. It looks similar to retro Japanese magazines which had content or type plastered boldly across the page. It can also

KITSCH

be likened to the neon signs in the streets of Hong Kong.

zine by Can Yang (2022)

FLANEUR

zine by Studio Yukiko (2020)

These are two zines I came across which adopt this typography layout. It's very striking, impactful and brings the message across very well due to high contrast and large size.

I would like to use this grid system for my content page. It gives me a chance to play with type and explore how I can position text in a not-so-rigid way (compared to traditional magazine layout).

This is the outcome of using this grid system in my zine. It gave the effect I wanted and I could add various symbols to spice up the design (apart from just using text). Playing with different fonts and each word's vertical/horizontal scale gave the design variety. Some of the text is big while some of them are small.

? 9 ?

BOOK BINDING

EXPLORING These booklets are made by using cassette tape boxes as the front and back cover of the books. This

复古风

is great for projects with themes of sentimentality,

and the

essence of keeping something recorded to be stored away.

中国 古籍 装帧

This is one of the traditional binding methods used in ancient China, where books are bound with thread/string by hand. I thought that this was a good binding method to use for my zine since it carries Chinese influences, but upon trying it out myself, I realized that it's pretty difficult to open up the book fully and it took a lot of trouble to keep the book opened while reading. While it may look nice, it wasn't very practical for my zine :(

INTERESTING DESIGNS Heart-shaped pages, great for themes like love and longing! Curious as to how

FINAL DESIGN Even though I had looked for many different binding styles, some of which I

readers would start

really wanted to use, I realized that time

reading this book...

was tight, and so were resources. Hence, I settled on the most basic book binding method, saddle stitching. However, if given more time to work on this zine, I would

Zine made out of a recycled

definitely try more adventurous styles of binding to complement my zine.

bag, themes of environment/ shopping will suit this idea well.

10

FINAL IDEA

I decided to switch topics in the end as I realised that the previous one was too broad and did not have a clear objective. It was merely a collection of thoughts without any clear goal for the target audience. Since it did not have enough power to influence, I decided to alter the idea while still

CASE STUDIES

retaining some aspects of it.

I would like to feature selfheating instant food in my zine as a representation of how teens enjoy indulging in unhealthy food. We like it because it's quick and tasty, but we don't regard its unhealthiness. As the saying goes, 'I'm here for a good time, not a long time'.

These are pages from a zine named

沪漂

by Raven Luk. I liked the idea

of showing mundane processes/routines through documenting it in four pictures spread across two pages. It's very simple, with minimal words, but it gives the feeling of something that's familial and meaningful despite it appearing boring/meaningless.

半途而废

Showing food that's half-eaten or leftover carries meaning. It could suggest the concept of

(to give up halfway), or it could

suggest the act of greatly enjoying a dish.

For this spread, I wanted to use coloured rectangles to frame the sides of the pages. This is reminiscent of Asian packaging design and gives room for type in a creative way.

11

THE MAKING OF CASSETTE

LAYERING

PROTOTYPE #1

PROTOTYPE #2

This was created by using two vassette tape cases as the front and back cover of the zine. I was really enjoying this idea until I realised it does not convey my messages well enough. Additionally, it's a little stiff when flipping through.

CHINESE BIND PROTOTYPE #3

By using pages of various sizes and binded at different positions along the spine, this creates layering in the zine and can give content extra meaning. However, I decided not to use this idea as I was afraid that it

One of my top picks for the binding of my zine. It matches my Chinese influenced zine well and had great aesthetics.

would be confusing to browse.

PAGINATION FLATPLAN LAYOUTS

However, after binding the pages, I realised that it was pretty hard to flip through and the zine kept on closing upon itself.

Many changes were made along the way!

12

反馈

FEEDBACK Using a balance of Chinese and English to communicate to viewers

➔ might be a

disadvantage for non-Chinese speakers/non-English speakers vice versa but I would really like to incorporate both languages without excessive translation.

Very hard to guess the meaning

behind this page,

does not explicitly scream 'REBELLION'

➔ decided to add text to bring across my point better!

Experimenting with typography layout, sizing and form! I really like the way Chinese characters look when they're big and bold, or spread out across a page/spread.

WORK CHECK-IN

FEEDBACK

Lecturers suggested enhancing the tactility of my zine, instead of using these mockups, I could print them into physical stickers/cards to be stuck on the pages.

Also suggested printing different pages on

粗糙！

different kinds of paper, basically making the zine more

Suggested using a rough

industrial stapler for the bind.

13

PAGES OF THE ZINE

This first page shows a library record card. The name of this zine can be seen written on the card, and its status remains unreturned (since it's in the viewer's hands hehe)

This is a spread about the doubts and distrust

This is a spread modeled after retro Hong Kong signboards and magazine layouts. It contains words associated with my zine as well as the contents page.

people had in me when I applied to NAFA. I was choosing my own education pathway, but in a conservative Chinese household, studying the arts almost equates to being a failure in life.

催婚

This spread talks about the food we eat, and how

Here, I aim to highlight the phenomenon of

teens enjoy eating unhealthy food despite the

(pressure to get married), and how teens should be

health warnings/our parents making us home-

able to decide who they would like to spend the rest

cooked food. It's a form of rebellion which

of their life with and when they'd like to do it. I

involves doing something even though others tell

believe that they have the freedom to love and that

you not to. Additionally, instant food provides

their lives should not be controlled by adults. The red

something that's quick and tasty, similar to instant

string attached signifies giving them the freedom of

gratification which is popular among youths.

choice.

14

PAGES OF THE ZINE

If given the chance to work on this zine again, I would definitely include more pages as there is so much more I would like to research on/talk about! I qm passionate about this topic since I believe that freedom of expression among youths should be taken seriously, especially in a conservative society like Singapore.

This spread talks about Asian queer representation,

Rebellion among students in school is very common,

and how very little of it is seen. The Rabbit God

and in this spread I would like to mimic a student's

might be considered taboo to some people since

POV by including handwritten rebellious messages,

it's the god of queer love, but for some, they

squared paper and a detention notice, all of which

worship this deity religiously and believe in him.

are very commonly seen with students.

未来我来决定

我的美好

This final spread sends the message of "

" which translates into being in

没好少年

This is the front cover (right) and back cover (left)

没好少年

of the zine. I used tigers in the front to resonate

control of your own beautiful future. It's a

with the title

callback to the title of the zine,

tigers are known to be ferocious. On the other

.

(no good youths) since

美好少年

hand, I used a crane in the back to resonate with the wordplay of the title

(beautiful

youth) since cranes are known to bring happiness.

15

TEST PRINTING

COVER: 290gsm Majestic White



I decided to settle for saddle sittching as it is easy to flip open and will not swallow up content

CONTENT: 150gsm Maple Bright

close to the spine of the zine.

BINDING: Saddle Stitch

I initially tried Traditional Chinese binding for this mockup, but it was difficult to open up the zine fully. Next I tried metal rings, but it gave a similar problem of having the pages stuck while flipping each page. Hence, I

COVER:

decided to forgo

250gsm Maple Bright

these two binding

CONTENT: 100gsm Matte BINDING: Thread/Metal Ring 16

methods as they were unpractical.

MAKING OF

PRESENTATION BOARD I wanted my zine's presentation board to be compatible with Term 1's board, hence I decided to go for a similar colour scheme, but with a different orientation. I decided to make it portrait as I wanted to explore how I could layout the various elements in different ways on the board.

TERM 1 (POSTCARDS)

For this term's presentation board, I had to familiarise myself with using mockups since I did not possess adequate photography skills to photograph my zine under professional settings.

TERM 2 (ZINE)

Besides finding a mockup that's of the correct binding and size, I also noted that different mockups have different paper textures, lighting, shadows, highlights. These should be taken into consideration when selecting a mockup, as I need to find one that looks the most similar to how my actual zine looks like in real life.

17

MAIN TAKEAWAYS This term's project has taught me a lot, from the

existence of zines to the many ways of binding to how publications can be kept consistent with the use of grid systems! It was really eye-opening for me as a newbie to the design world, and I'm excited for the other projects I will get to embark on in the future.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! Using grid systems as a form of organisation and to maintain consistency across the publication. Saving designs as spreads and learning how softwares arrange pages when saving as a booklet for printing. Different types of binding, including creative ones! The tactile pleasure of zines and how increasing viewer engagement with your work can make a longer-lasting impact on them. Adventurous typography and layouts across spreads. Types of printing, including risograph and screen printing, both of which I didn't get to use this time round but hope to have the chance in the future!

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