This week we’re talking technology and I think this is a really interesting thing to think about when making zines in 2022. I want to pay homage to the past, but also utilize skills and technologies that are modern, creating something both digital and tangible. Let’s dive in.

Let’s Focus on One Technology.

The one technology I have chosen to discuss is the Kyocera printer I will be using throughout my project. Since my project is going to use a bunch of different mediums, meaning I will be collaging, drawing, cutting and pasting, using my own handwriting, and also creating images on Photoshop that will be printed out and manipulated, I thought it only fitting to use the printer seeing that it has to do with making digital things tangible and for distributing my zine. I am using this particular printer because it can print and scan and it is free to me because of its location in the art department.

How is the Printer “Social”?

The printer is social in a couple of different ways.

  1. The main use of it is to disperse information. The printing aspect of the machine is important due to its ability to spread information easily and cost-effectively. The Enlightenment was due to the invention of the printing press, underscoring the importance of being able to share one’s thoughts through print, therefore being built to be social.
  2. I’m able to use photographs and images taken by other people and actors, therefore sharing their work.  Through the ability to print out different characters and scenes from the movies that I am going to be using for my zine, I’m able to share the work of the directors, producers, actors, et. al who were involved with making this film, as well as able to rework them into a different context.
  3. The ability to scan and take paper things and make them digital is intrinsically social as well. In the reverse, being able to scan my work and make it digital is social too because it’s able to reach a whole new community of people who may not have been able to access the paper copies.

How does Kyocera Reflect our Modern Day Values?

  1. It emphasizes how we value sharing information tangibly. To be able to print things out and share them with others is important to us, to share our thoughts, feelings, knowledge, images etc. Books are printed, flyers, magazines, coursepacks, newspapers, etc., and all of these things are important to our culture even given our increasingly digital age.
  2. We value being able to archive digitally. Scanning paper documents and the like and being able to have them digitally immortalizes them. A lot of zines have been lost or destroyed so in order to have an online archive is really important which the scanning feature of the printer allows.
  3. We want to share things online with a different community. The reach of one’s online presence is often if not bigger, then different than the circle one has to distribute information by hand. It is the way the world is changing and we value being able to scan in our work and share it with others.

Affordances and Obstacles

Affordances
  1. It will allow me to distribute my work by hand cheaply. A big part of creating something for a lot of people to see is that it is expensive and this printer will help me in copying more versions of my zine which I can make into more booklets.
  2. It allows me to share my work digitally. I’m planning on my final zines to be tangible. This means whatever aspects that I make digitally will be printed out for the final product. I want to be able to share my work online after I finish it which I will be able to do with the scanning component of the printer.
  3. It allows me to use both digital and in-person art skills to create something. It’s cool to be able to create something using multiple mediums that will end up on multiple mediums. I do want to honor zine culture and use a lot of the materials they did, but I think it would be cool to use digital aspects as well that will be both digital and in print to modernize it.
Obstacles
  1. My images will be a little grainer. I really don’t see this as a constraint because maybe at the time people were making zines, they found this to be a constraint, I don’t because I am looking for that type of aesthetic for my final project.
  2. It might get a little complicated when it comes to replicating the zines on paper. Frankly, I haven’t figured it out yet because I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of trial and error but it may benefit me to use another printer to distribute my zine depending on how big it ends up being.
  3. I’ll only be able to print in black and white. Again, this isn’t really an issue for me because I was planning on making the series in black and white to pay homage to zine aesthetics but also to push myself design-wise to not use color as a crutch.