Initial research

1. Fanzine Research
James Gannon
10th September 2018

2. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
https://www.illustratedmonthly.com/products/trib
al-tattoo-fanzine-10

3. Existing Product
The First product I have chosen is Tribal
Tattoo fanzine because I am really
interested in tattoos and thought it would
be a good thing to have a look into.
Illustrated monthly only published 500
copies of Tribal Tattoo as a limited one time
Edition sale to promote a new product later
that year. The magazine front cover has the
colors of a typical tribal piece (black and
light brown)
The double page spread is oddly layed
out with text overlapping images while
staying in line with everything else. The
images are placed in odd positions and
aren’t always aligned with the text as we
can see on the first double page.
This fanzine is layed out in an artistic way
which really drew me into using it as my
first look into researching fanzines. The
layout and the colour schemes throughout
most of the pages is done perfectly to what
the magazine is about.

4. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
https://issuu.com/riccardo11/docs/gb_summer-
2018

5. Existing Product
The next fanzine I chose was about gaming. This front
cover stood out to me personally as a gamer of 7
years as a magazine that would hold a lot of detail
after just looking at what the magazines purpose was.
“Bringing new aspects of entertainment to the gaming
industry” This line is such an eye catching sentence
for gamers as they are always looking for bigger and
better ways of getting entertainment from video
games. The magazines colours throughout the front
page and the inside is the typical colour pallet of
newly released game box covers. This is a really good
way of catching someone’s eye to the magazine.
At the bottom it even gives you details of a Canadian
summit for gamers with the date it is on. Presumably
more info will be inside the magazine but a lack of
info on the situation is a bit disappointing when
wanting a sneak preview of what the inside of the
magazine would behold for me.

6. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
https://issuu.com/httpsebspac.blogspot.com/docs/
download_200__python_and_other_prog

7. Existing Product
For those who don’t know what python is, It is
an advanced level programming language. It
can be used for developing desktop
application aswell as allowing you to focus on
core functionalities of websites and apps on
your computer. The reason I picked this was
because I used to do programming for a
couple of years before I started going to
college. The use of the Python (snake) was a
really intelligent idea to give the page a
background that fit in with the topic of the
magazine. The fact that the snake is on that
page gives the title a double meaning which is
a really cool and exciting way to get
information across to the reader. The colour
scheme however doesn’t really match with
the rest of the fanzine as it is mainly white and
blue. Also the front page was a little bit plain
for me as It didn’t really draw me in as
something that would be worth reading. Only
when you open it do you realise that its
actually quite a good magazine

8. • https://issuu.com/catalogomega/docs/catalogo_
manicomix_luglio_2018
• https://issuu.com/catalogomega/docs/catalogom
anicomixmaggio2018
• https://issuu.com/migueleusebio4/docs/100_all-
time_greatest_comics__3rd_e (page110)
• https://issuu.com/twomorrows/docs/darkagepre
view
• https://issuu.com/11blabmagg84/docs/23scsdc

9. Research summary
• Summarise what you have learned about
fanzines.
• I have learnt that the fanzines don’t have any sort of rules
about layout or what they can include. They are not tied down
by rules on how to make the magazine or what they should
write about.
• There is no real structure to them which makes it so much
more unique and more enjoyable to read.

10. Initial Ideas

11. Idea 1
• My first idea of a fanzine I could make is based around tattoos. This is because I
really like them and could talk about them for ages. This in turn means I have a lot
of content I can add to the magazine. For the visual elements, I will try to add a
number of images correlating to what is being talked about on the page so that
the audience can understand what they are reading through photos which may
help people a lot more in the understanding of something.
To start I will have the first page dedicated to explaining
what the magazine is about and what content is inside. I
will make sure that my content is relevant and true in
order to not lead people to believe things that are wrong. I
plan to add posters and exclusives in the magazine to
widen my audience as well as a section explaining to
people that hate tattoos why they are not bad.
I will also include an interview from someone who has
struggled to get a job after getting tattoos on his arms.

12. Idea 2
• The next idea I had was writing a magazine about the popular Computer game
known as League of legends are more commonly known as LOL. The reason for
picking this as a magazine is because I play this game a lot. I know all the tactics,
best characters, how to play and win things. I was ranked very high on the leader
board in Eu West and I could give gamers tips and tricks to learning the game and
becoming better.

13. Idea 3

14. Bibliography

15. Bibliography
1. Interviewees, Name. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on
DATE)
2. Interviewees, Name. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on
DATE)
3. Publisher. (Year of Release) Magazine Name