25 “Create Zine” Ideas & Tips for Everyone

Zines are a great way to get your message across. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned creator, zines are a great way to independently publish your artwork, poems, lyrics, thoughts, and anything else you want to express – without having to get permission from other people or the government.

Zines are fan magazines – you can draw and photocopy them or print them on your home printer. You can also create and publish your magazine using an online magazine maker . Below you can see a perfect zine example and proof that anyone can make a zine to get their creative juices flowing!

Digital zine example made with Publuu

You can learn more about zines in our post, but if you’re looking for ideas on what you can do in your zine, here’s a list of interesting ideas and examples of zine-making techniques!

Easy to-do zine ideas

Your zine can be about anything at all, if you want to share ideas with the community. Here is a basic zine idea list.

Personal zine

Write about your personal experiences, life, and what inspired you to make a zine. Describe an unusual story from your own life or something you feel strongly about!

Political issues

Zines were always about sharing marginalized voices and political positions out of the mainstream. Zine-making often involves anarchism, feminism, and radical leftist opinions.

Music

Write about albums, review songs, interview bands, talk about your favorite artists, and show pictures from concerts.

Fanzine

Writing zines about your favorite artists, comic books, and cartoon series is also a great way to create a fanzine. You can also write short stories or show your illustrations to the world.

Food

Food is as much an art form as music or poetry – share your recipes or foodie inspiration with the world!

Comic books

Many classic comics, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, were created specifically for zines. You may not be able to sell your character to Marvel, but you will get your message across!

Digital zine ideas

You can find a lot of digital zine ideas all over the internet but one of the most interesting platform is Publuu, that lets you convert ordinary PDF files into stunning zines. Publuu online magazine maker lets you convert PDF files into beautiful, realistic flipbooks that can be viewed on any device. To make a zine that can be viewed for free online, you can just register with the Publuu magazine creator website and upload the file. You can add multimedia content, like embedded music and videos, so you can enhance any zine you can imagine!

Here is an example of a multimedia magazine that can use interactive hotspots and GIFs to boost visibility:

Digital zine example made with Publuu

Publuu magazine creator is an ideal solution for your perfect zine idea! Here is another zine idea list to inspire you to use Publuu technology in your zines!

IT and computers

A lot of coding communities have strong ties with the indie scene – most notably the open-source movement. You can devote one page of your zine to IT comics or education in programming, for example.

Video games

Games moved beyond simple entertainment – many are works of art, and apart from game reviews, you can publish screenshots and images of gameplay or interesting achievements. Publuu lets you embed videos of gameplay or link to your own itch.io profile.

Retro scene

Designing a retro-tech-inspired zine is fun because you can stylize it to look like you printed it on a thermal printer, find fonts that look like they’re from the 1980s, and Publuu lets you play chiptune hits in the background.

Convert your blog into a zine.

A personal journal or photo gallery can make an interesting zine – and Publuu lets you embed your photos or art in separate windows or as interactive hotspots.

News and stories

Thanks to the Internet, you can instantly create a zine with top political events, lay it out, and publish it online using Publuu.

Gadgets and high-tech

In the age of artificial intelligence, many people misunderstand or forget what technology is all about. If you have a passion for science, a zine can help you show what you think is quite interesting!

Photography zine ideas

Photographers and other artists can use zines to share their galleries or photos on the pages of their publications. Publuu is perfect for these zine creators.

Photo Portfolio

If you are into the art of photography or nature photos, you can fit your photo gallery into a colorful zine. You don’t have to print your photos in full color if you choose to use Publuu, you can showcase your digital art online .

Chronicles

You can share all your pictures from a great event – road trip, birthday party, or festival. These images could tell a story about your experiences or show a history of an important event.

People gallery

A collection of beautiful photographs of interesting people you’ve met can be very interesting and a proper way to bring the reader’s attention to the individuals you want to showcase. Publuu lets you build a photographer’s portfolio online .

Art and illustrations

Images don’t have to be photographed – on the pages of your zine, you can print a collection of drawings, paper crafts, sketches, and paintings. You can also take photos of your sculpture to keep it fun.

Strange images

You don’t have to create your images yourself; feel free to publish images you’ve found online that inspired you to think – whether you found them in National Geographic or Instagram. Stories like that require crediting the original author if possible.

Memes and jokes

Political cartoons, visual gags, and comics that make you laugh Whether you draw it yourself or ask an artist friend for a collaboration, you can hope to make people laugh and pay attention to your ideas.

Zine ideas for students

It’s young people and creatives that can fully showcase what zines are all about. If you have the passion and free time to create your zines, self-publishing shouldn’t be a problem. Here are some more zine ideas for students.

Poetry

Your poems and other writing can be to the point. We have published guides on how to self-publish your poems, but zine culture lets you publish your poems or short story collection and distribute it online on your own.

A story of you and your friends

Describe the most important people in your life, your friends, family, or a group of other students. You can ask your friends to contribute to the pages of your zine, ask them to write essays or draw something for each page.

Criticism and random ideas

Students aren’t always encouraged to speak their minds. Zines let them publish their own musings and opinions on what they learned in history or civics classes – and with Publuu you can include links to social media where you can discuss these opinions!

Community building

Nothing brings a group closer together like a common project. You can describe your compatriots, neighborhood, or family – as long as everyone contributes.

Advice and tips

What is your personal hangover cure? What makes you excited about justice? Your zine can just be frequently asked questions or a bunch of advice about astrology and home medicine!

Puzzles and riddles

Apart from jokes and political manifestos, you can also devote your zine to puzzles. Crosswords, sudoku, riddles, and difficult questions – all are interesting and will draw the readers in.

Zine Ideas Generator

A zine can be about almost everything. Here is a simple idea generator for you: Take a topic from the list above and try to invert it. If we say ‘poetry’, think of the opposite of poetry and try to give your thoughts the most boring shape possible.

The list below is a random generator: Just pick a topic at random and devote the entire issue of your zine to it!

• Board games

• Interesting fonts!

• Traveling to your city

• History of comedy

• Origins of unusual sayings

• Self-publishing

• Punk rock

• 16th-century metaphysical English poetry

• Native American traditions

• Create a persona.

• Apes!

• Track down ghost stories in your region.

• Windows vs. Linux vs. macOS

• Your great-grandfather

• The oldest building in your city

• Black history

• Your shortest journey

• Craft or DIY

• A coloring book

• A top 10 list of something important

• Top 10 list of something random

• Parenting

Final thoughts

Making your own zine is a fantastic method of sharing your thoughts with the world and meeting individuals who share your interests.

Zines may be made by anybody, from activists to zookeepers. The freedom to be yourself is what makes zine culture so appealing, and Publuu flipbooks are an excellent way to publish and promote a zine.

You may also be interested in:
How to Create Interactive Magazine?
How to Make a Zine Online? The Best Ideas & Examples
The Best Digital Magazine Publishing Software in 2021