Banana Bread Zine

My first attempt at print media. I found the zine to be the perfect communication channel for the visually-inclined. The recipe requires a short format, intentional content hierarchy, and forced editing with the ultimate goal of creative expression.

Here, a community ritual of coffee and banana bread was the backdrop, while the friends and conversation acted as the real stars of the show.

After wrestling with my office printer and an extended stapler that truly tested my optimistic spirit, I finished the project with 28 copies to distribute to neighbours close and far away.

I don’t know about you, but there is just something so joyful about physical memories.

Bringing it all together.

Knowing I wanted to share the story of our ritual, I started with a simple structure: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How… like I said, I’m no writer.

Then the math came in (only kind of). After I landed the content, I moved on to laying out the pages to print. To visualize the final product, I made a mini version of the zine to figure what pages needed to be side by side, which would allow for central fold.

And finally, printing and binding. Here, I was again reminded that it’s not enough to have good ideas. One must persevere through the most finnicky of final steps: figuring out the right paper weight, knowing to flip on the short-side when setting up the printer, and keeping your sanity while being tested with a very uncollaborative stapler.

And if you do, the final product will be well worth it.

And of course… the recipe.

Banana Bread recipe.

Make your own zine template.