Print Roundup: February 2021

Every month, we put together a roundup to show all the different ways our creative customers use newspapers. As you'll see below, little newspapers were a big hit in February — more than half of the projects featured here are printed on minis. From a cookbook celebrating Asian American culture to a zine filled with lockdown sketches, here are 8 newspapers getting us through the last stretch of winter (spring is in sight!)

Punchy portraits

London-based photographer Chloé Le Drezen takes a fresh approach to beauty in her dreamy digital tabloid XXI Girls, showcasing a series of 21 portraits experimenting with colour and movement.

“What was fun was to print [the zine] big, making all the portraits larger than life, drawing you to look at the little details,” Chloé recently told Another magazine about the project. The zine is printed on our 90gsm bright paper, a heavier and more luxe stock that’s ideal for subtle textures. (Psst, you can get free samples to feel it yourself.)

“I printed less than 100 copies...It was important that it remained a bit exclusive, something to treasure,” says Chloe. “You can treat it as a book, you can frame the pages, you can fold it, and if at the end of the day you don’t like the pictures there’s plenty of ways you can put a newspaper to good use! My hope though, is for it to be unique enough to be treated with care.”

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Comfort cooking

Inspired by the community cookbooks of the 1800s, Full Bellies, Full Hearts is a celebration of the “hyphenated experiences [of] Asian Americans” as told through 24 family recipes. Curated by Slant’d, a platform amplifying stories from Asian Americans, the mini newspaper is “a nod to our upbringing and a rallying cry against xenophobia and culinary imperialism.”

“This was our way of finding comfort and community during an extremely difficult year,” say the Slant’d editors. “It was a chance for us to celebrate the dishes of our cultures and the stories that feed them.” Slant’d is donating 8% of proceeds from zine sales to Heart of Dinner, a mutual aid organisation that supports Asian elders in NYC.

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Book bonus

Readers of The New Yorker will recognise the distinctive style of Barcelona-based artist Luci Gutiérrez, who regularly illustrates the popular Shouts and Murmurs column and recently did her third cover for the magazine. (You may also have spotted her work in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal...the list goes on.)

To accompany the publication of her new graphic novel, Manual de Autodefensa, Luci printed this digital tabloid to share a selection of whimsical drawings from the book as well a few sketches that didn’t make the cut.

“A newspaper was perfect to show the drawings in their original size and play around with the layout,” says Luci. “And I was amazed by the promptness — it took one day between placing the order and getting the printed copies delivered to Barcelona!”

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Artful activism

Two interns at NYC design studio ThoughtMatter created this mini newspaper as part of a self-initiated project addressing racism. Maya Braunstein, a recent college grad, and Luisa Gazio, a high school senior, used the zine to explore “how design can inspire action to break down systemic racism.”

Maya designed the zine, which features profiles of 3 prominent New York City activists who were interviewed and illustrated by Luisa. “The aesthetic of our zine is a tribute to the fight for equality in the 60s and the activists who started those movements,” explains Maya. “Zines have long been a tool of activism and resistance so it was a no-brainer to go with that format.”

The zine will be shared with local schools and cultural institutions to inform young people about activism happening in their community.

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Perfectly pitched

Offering a fun, irreverent take on football fandom, My Only Desire (MOD) is a new zine celebrating south-east London’s Charlton Athletic FC. The project was inspired by the “new lease of life and optimism surrounding the club” after it was saved — much to its supporters’ relief — from entering administration last year.

“Having total freedom and creative control over what goes in the mag and what it looks like is a great feeling,” says editor Gavin Billenness about making the mini newspaper. “I think there has been a hunger for a different kind of fanzine. The feedback has been really positive and sales have been better than we could have hoped. We've even had ad enquiries!”

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Creative connections

Founded in response to the pandemic, Work Show Grow is an online education platform reimagining how creatives learn and connect. This traditional tabloid is their first group project. The newspaper, titled United, showcases work from 108 Work Show Grow members — from 29 countries! — alongside advice for the wider creative community.

“We wanted an affordable physical outcome – much needed in this new digital world,” says Work Show Grow. “The newspaper is lightweight to post around the world and works to counteract the bad news in the papers throughout 2020. It’s full of positivity, inspiration and hope at a time when these are urgently needed.”

Contributors have been thrilled with the outcome — in the words of photographer Letizia Lopreiato: “Rewarding and beautiful to see our work published in an actual newspaper. The smell of it whilst holding it in your hands is a full sensorial experience in itself.”

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Juicy details

Based in East London, Square Root is a soda brand that uses only fresh, seasonal ingredients. Fizzy Pop is their new mini zine, with each issue focusing on a different fruit used in their drinks or element of their production process. (This issue is all about citrus!)

“We always wanted to have something in print — we felt it would have more impact than just doing the zine online,” says content manager James Beeson. “A newspaper gives us more scope to be creative with the design. We really enjoyed coming up with ideas based on nostalgic elements of magazines from years gone by.” One of those “nostalgic elements” is a cut-out competition: customers collect a set of 12 stickers from Square Root’s bottles and send them in to get a snazzy tea towel.

“The feedback has been great. We've already had two entries into our tea towel competition and everyone is complimenting us on how great it looks and reads,” says James. “It's definitely been a great marketing tool to communicate the story of our brand in a less sales-y way.” Designed by Ed Taylor and edited by Robyn Simms.

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Sketch artist

LA-based creative Mikey Burton describes himself as a “designy illustrator,” working with clients including The New Yorker, Airbnb and Converse. He filled a digital mini — all 64 pages of it! — with drawings from a sketchbook he used during part of 2020.

“I’ve always kept a tidy sketchbook for my clients but never used the process to further my own ideas,” says Mikey. “These pages are my first real try at doing that in an organized fashion. They were a way for me to cope during a very stressful year.”

Pro tip from Mikey: test the waters with a smaller order before your full print run. "I’d never used Newspaper Club before, so I wanted to see exactly what it would look like before putting in a huge order,” he explains. “The digital option is perfect — you can literally print one copy. I ordered 20 copies, which was enough to take some photos to do a pre-order and send a few to close friends as gifts.”

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