Last week I shared Dirty Little Zine, a small web app to make foldable zines. The response was way more than I expected. Thank you to everyone who tried it, shared it, and sent feedback. It’s the reason I’m still working on it.
It also got me thinking about the next step. A tool to make zines is only half the story. The other half is the zines themselves, and right now most of them live on people’s hard drives.
So I built a place to fix that.
The idea is simple. Make a foldable zine in whatever tool you want (Jill’s, Cedric’s, DLZ, InDesign, Photoshop, you name it) as long as it’s US Letter or A4. Upload it. It goes live. Anyone, anywhere, can download and fold their copy.
There are three zines up so far (don’t miss my Holbox one if you’re in an island mood), but a library of three isn’t really a library. It becomes one with your help.
Submit a zine here whenever you have something ready. And if anything feels confusing or broken along the way, please let me know. I make these tools for the community, so feedback shapes where they go next.
Dirty Little Zine v1.3
A few improvements landed this week based on your feedback.
- Drag to pan. After you upload pictures and hit FIT, you can now drag to reposition them inside the frame for better composition. Suggested by Dan from okayfoto.
- QR code (beta). You can now generate a QR code on the back cover pointing to any URL: your portfolio, Instagram, Substack, or wherever you want readers to find you. Idea from George. Still in beta, so let me know if anything misbehaves.
- Swap pages. You can now swap spread pages around to test different orderings before exporting.
Special Thanks
- Marcel Borgstijn and Luz Mendes for pushing me to build the library in the first place.
- Pavel Petros for helping me test the upload flow. Check out his beautiful Winter zine.
- Naked Prose for sending some coffees my way.
- EVERYONE who has used or shared any of this. This stuff only works because you show up.
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Do not miss the worldwide zines exchange!
After the success of the postcard exchange event, cool Cedric is organizing a zine exchange. Check out details in the Photography Zine Exchange Launch post and secure your spot! We’re so ready for Cycle 1!