We are finally at the beginning of the end of year 1! Here’s a gif to help us with our final step:

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Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t be. Because even though your work might be “rubbish” to those people, it is called a TRASH CAN, not TRASH CANNOT.


 

Anyway, since Project 3 deals with publication and more specifically Zine magazine, I thought it will be appropriate to discuss a bit about typography again. Before that though, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Yes Comic Sans I am looking right at you.

This stunning workplace argument.

And this in no way ironic presentation.

If you want to cringe even more, you can view more inappropriate use of Comic Sans here (http://www.buzzfeed.com/sophiegadd/absolutely-beautiful-examples-of-comic-sans-in-the-wild?bffbuk&utm_term=.nwVzbNVPd#.coxWx3Aqz).


I found this interesting Lifehacker article and this article, on how the choice of font actually have an impart in an office environment. Apparently some font consume more printer ink than others!

Print in Century Gothic Font for Ink Savings

Here’s an extract:

Print in Century Gothic Font for Ink Savings

Looking into ways to save money on toner cartridges, a University of Wisconsin, Green Bay professor suggested the previously mentionedEcofont to his IT department. IT came up with an even easier solution—the commonly available Century Gothic font.

Tiny changes in the amount of ink used to print each character adds up in the aggregate—whether that’s your ink cartridge costs or Green Bay’s nearly $100,000 in toner costs. Century Gothic uses 30 percent less ink in printing than the typical Arial setting, but there is a slight trade-off in paper use.

and

Three Fonts You Should Use Instead of Arial to Save Printer Ink

Three Fonts You Should Use Instead of Arial to Save Printer Ink

While it may seem like the only difference between fonts is style, some fonts have a much higher rate of ink consumption. According to Patrick Austin at Consumer Reports, Arial is one of the worst offenders:

“While it may seem like the only difference between fonts is style, some fonts have a much higher rate of ink consumption. According to Patrick Austin at Consumer Reports, Arial is one of the worst offenders:”

We’ve mentioned Century Gothic in the past, but now you can add Calibri and the classic Times New Roman to your list of ink-saving fonts.

Both articles also talk about this font called Ecofont, specially designed to help user save cost.

Ecofont Saves Your Ink

Website to purchase Ecofont: http://www.ecofont.com/en/products/green/printing/sustainable-printing-using-ecofont-software.html

Ecofont Saves Your Ink

Ecofont is the brainchild of Colin Willems, a font with tiny circles placed within the characters to reduce the total ink/toner laid upon the paper.

How Ecofont Software works

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I think it works similarly to how the words decal stickers on buses. Tiny holes allows less use of printer ink will keeping the legibility intact.


 

Speaking of legibility, here is an article that discuss “Typographic Readability and Legibility“.

Legibility

It’s also important to keep in mind that different typefaces were designed for different uses. For example, the original Garamond was designed to be highly legible when printed in a large body of text. Some also say it was the most eco-friendly font of its time, conserving ink usage.

Display vs. Text

display

serif-sans

Readability

Readability is about arranging words and groups of words in a way that allows the readers eye to access the content easily and in a way that makes sense.

paragraph-spacing

I recommend those going into Visual Communication to take a look at the article. I also think this will be generally useful for the final project if your Zine uses a lot of body test and so on! 🙂


Zine Time!

Here’s an article with step-by-step images on how to make the 8 fold zines: How to Make a Zine

Zines are self-published, small-circulation, often nonprofit books, papers, or websites. They usually deal with topics too controversial or niche for mainstream media, presented in an unpolished layout and unusual design. Everyone, from a major NGO to a teenager like you, can be an author (and also an editor, art director, and publisher) of a zine, and that’s part of what makes them so awesome.

Since the invention of the photocopy machine, zine-making has been one most popular forms of independent publishing, especially in underground communities. But it’s hard to generalize about zines, the same way it’s hard to generalize about culture. Not just hard—impossible. Because like all art and media, zines can be anything and everything. And they are.

Here are some interesting Zine ideas that I found online:

You can find more ideas from this article on Creative Bloq: http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/indie-zines-4132490