Gathering your Materials
Zines are meant to be creative works and as such are completely open to your artistic interpretation (within the parameters of the assignment). This means that the materials you use to create your zine can vary widely. In general, however, you want to use inexpensive materials that are easy to access. Some materials you may consider using are:
- Printer/construction paper
- Drawing tools (pens, markers, etc.)
- Glue sticks (use sparingly)
- Magazines for collages
- Scissors and staplers
Visit the Cline Library MakerLab for access to all of the above materials (and more).
Consider your Creative Elements
Just like the in materials you use, you should feel empowered to express your creativity in your zine by incorporating different kinds of creative elements. No matter what you choose to include be sure to focus on hand-created elements and artwork. Most importantly, always draw/write using thick lines that can be easily recreated using scanners and photocopiers. Your zine might include:
- Hand drawn artwork
- Illustrations
- Text graphics
- Poetry
Formatting your Zine
Zines also come in many different shapes and sizes, but a few formats are more common than others. The three most common zine sizes are based on standard printer-sized paper: 8.5” x 11”, 5.5” x 8.5”, and 2.75” x 4.25” (see examples below). Plan for pages in multiples of four and bind your zine by “saddle stitching.” Zines are typically reproduced via photocopying/scanning (scanners and printers are available throughout the Cline Library).
16 page “saddle stitched” zine 8 page “folded” mini zine



Extra-long staplers are available in the
MakerLab to help you saddle-stitch your zine.
Formatting a Zine in Microsoft Word
- Open the Page Layout tab and select “Page Setup.”

- On the Margins tab, change the setting for “Multiple pages” to “Book fold.”
The orientation of the page will automatically change to Landscape.

- You can also use the Paper tab to choose between A4, for a 5.5” x 11” zine, or Tabloid, for an 8.5” x 11” zine.
- When you print the booklet, check the print settings to make sure you print on both sides of the paper and flip the papers correctly for the printing to work as intended.
