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Typographic Manifesto

Spring 2024
This zine, designed and fabricated in a junior typography class, is a manifesto on my creative process as a designer. Always one to feel out of place in the world of graphic design, I constructed my zine around imposter syndrome and self preservation.











The zine is based around the image of the dandelion- a common weed in North America. Despite their negative reputation,  weeds like the dandelion are inspiring to me. They are persistant and stubborn survivors who contribute to the ecosystem like any other plant. Dandelions are especially high contributors and are completely edible. I made the connection between my drive to grow as a designer and the will of the pretty yellow dandelion to grow in cracks in the pavement, using it as my central theme for the zine.
   




Drawings of dandelions sprout from a thin line that travels across the pages of the zine. This imagery references the weed’s tendency to grow in concrete and my resolution to grow and succeed where I’m not expected to. I bathe the zine in a golden hue- a colour representing dandelions, hope and courage.

The belly band is black in the front to create a bold contrast against the yellow of the zine. It contains a drawing of blooming dandelion framed by dandelion leaves. The back of the band contains a drawing of a dandelion in seed representing transformation. 





This zine saw a multitude of versions and alterations before reaching its final form. I began with finding the words that would best sum up my manifesto and sketching compositions around those. I presented the thumbnails to my classmates and narrowed my direction down to five sketches to pursue. 

While exploring these compositions digitally, I found myself drawn to bold typography and colours. I designed the composition of the zine from a distance, making sure all of the elements worked well together unfolded before narrowing in on the design on each individual page. I played around with grid systems, incorporating the golden ratio and overlapping elements. 

The project brief required us to incorporate a tuck-in and I decided to make a seed packet as mine to further emphasize the dandelion theme. Inside the packet, I put real dandelion seeds for users to plant as a layer of interactivity.

The full front spread of the zine
The full design of the seed packet tuck-in