"The Unbeatable Airwair 2976 acts as a stepping stone under a bigger umbrella titled "Stories From Our Wardrobe." I was tasked to write and design a zine based on a chosen fashion object. My zine has been sold and exhibited at Thryft, Peace Centre, and showcased at locations like LASALLE College of the Arts, KL Art Fair, and even made its way to Waste! Store in London. I had to think of a way to narrate my personal story through my fashion object and design the zine cohesively and interestingly. I went through many design iterations leading up to the final design, which was a monochromatic red colour system. The zine talks about a journey from the perspective of my Dr Martens boots as we walk through our lives together."
Initial Design and Experimentation
I had to design within a set of boundaries for my zine, as the project was envisioned as a collective, where different designers and their zines would be collated into one book consisting of different zines. Hence, one of the design requirements was to use the same typeface, dimension, font size, and layout for the cover page. Before my design change, I experimented with different textures and type treatments to give it a rugged look. There were 3 different themes on which I could base my zine:
Buy Yourself, Milestone, and Occasion.
Final Photographs For The Zine
I chose the theme, Milestone, because it reminded me of the miles my Dr Marten boots have gone through. The Airwair is like a representation of myself, and I wanted to show that through my storytelling and design. I ended up overhauling my initial design system because it started looking a little too much like a poster, not a spread with continuity. Ultimately, I adopted a monochromatic red color system with black and white images to fully represent my story.
Final Design For Print (A5)
In this red monochromatic design, I played around with shapes and lines to create a sense of structure and found a way to incorporate the red overlay on the images so that it would look cohesive throughout the zine. Apart from the cover page, the final page really got me thinking — how do I end it? As it is not a spread, the space is tighter for design freedom, and I wanted to maintain my header's size. Eventually, I decided to end with an image of my Airwair's sole, which supports my word play on soul, and sole."
Read my Creative Process Journal here.
