Teal Triggs Lecture

14^th October 2010
Teal Triggs – Fanzine: A DIY revolution

I wasn’t very familiar with the term ‘fanzines’ and hadn’t really seen examples of the hand processed form before. The lecture by Teal Triggs was very informative and quite inspiring; the idea of self publishing ‘-zines’ celebrating a theme or topic someone is passionate about is exciting and clearly quite easy to do. We were shown many examples of fanzines ‘Crowdaddy’ by Paul Williams, ‘Sniffin Glue’ by Mark Parry, and ‘Feverzine’ to name a few. All fanzines combine journalism and less conventional design; handwritten type and copy, incorrect grammar and crossing out are all common within the design visually showing tracks of progress.

The fanzines create a community between the producers, whether it be teams or individuals, and the readers. ‘Cut + Paste #2’ shows a real ‘community’ concept; the free radical fanzine includes stencils for the reader to go out and spray artwork on the street. This reiterates the idea of a fanzine being ‘freedom of self publication’. My favourite example was ‘Hey 4 eyes’ a zine celebrating people who wear glasses!