Creating a Zine
My thesis (Btech Graphic Design) was written about the influence of media (mass and alternative media) on youth (ages 18 - 30) in South Africa and what role media plays within youth identity formation. I found that local media, especially mass media, was becoming a replica of media from other countries, especially from the USA, which, in return created a replica of style and expression within South African youth.
Therefore, I developed a magazine looking specifically at Xhosa culture and modern Xhosa style within Xhosa youth and how this could be translated into a bilingual magazine that was to promote local, intellectual, thought-provoking and ‘out there’ ideas from fashion to articles to photography within young Xhosa culture.
The magazine’s name ‘UMQOLO’ is the Xhosa word for ‘backbone’ and is about standing for what one believes in without adapting the identity of a more accessible and modern subculture or culture.
Through collaboration with a number of people I managed to create a 72 page magazine that follows the aesthetics of old-school print (ie. halftone and zines) and also adapt modern aesthetics through photography and typogaphy.
http://issuu.com/inchka/docs/umqolo_magazine
and for the complete campaign (Launch, roll out, etc): http://prezi.com/ntrtbf4mtk6c/grow-a-backbone/
The cover of issue one
