Case Study: All Things New York – Zine
Role: Photographer, Designer, Editor
Format: Printed zine
Pages: 10
Format: Printed zine
Pages: 10
CONCEPT & GOAL
A playful, chaotic, and deeply personal guide to New York City—part love letter, part scrapbook. This zine explores the city through pop culture, history, street scenes, queer nightlife, and $5 coffee rants. It celebrates both iconic and overlooked details, showing NYC not as a skyline, but as a collection of stories, textures, and cultural obsessions.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
✦ Mood: Playful, nostalgic, chaotic in the best way
✦ Aesthetic Influences: Zine culture, pop iconography, 90s club flyers, lo-fi print media
✦ Techniques: Mixed typography, layered collage, saturated textures, intentional clutter, humor-driven curation
✦ Aesthetic Influences: Zine culture, pop iconography, 90s club flyers, lo-fi print media
✦ Techniques: Mixed typography, layered collage, saturated textures, intentional clutter, humor-driven curation
PROCESS
The zine was created using Adobe InDesign for layout and Photoshop for image editing, color treatment, and collage elements. I researched NYC culture through articles, YouTube archives, old documentaries, and interviews, pulling references from films, nightlife history, and everyday observations. Each page blends found media, personal notes, and design experimentation to build a visual narrative that feels both chaotic and intentional.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
✦ Storytelling Through Design – Used layout, typography, and collage to narrate personal and cultural perspectives on NYC.
✦ Research-Driven Creativity – Pulled from movies, articles, archives, and street life to ground the zine in real, layered context.
✦ Visual Experimentation – Mixed lo-fi textures, bold type, and pop visuals to create a playful, zine-inspired aesthetic.
✦ Cultural Commentary – Explored themes like queerness, nostalgia, consumerism, and NYC mythology through humor and visual chaos.
✦ Expanded Print Skills – Deepened experience with InDesign and Photoshop, and developed confidence in editorial storytelling.
✦ Research-Driven Creativity – Pulled from movies, articles, archives, and street life to ground the zine in real, layered context.
✦ Visual Experimentation – Mixed lo-fi textures, bold type, and pop visuals to create a playful, zine-inspired aesthetic.
✦ Cultural Commentary – Explored themes like queerness, nostalgia, consumerism, and NYC mythology through humor and visual chaos.
✦ Expanded Print Skills – Deepened experience with InDesign and Photoshop, and developed confidence in editorial storytelling.
