As an undergrad, a graphic design course prompted me to create a zine, so I dedicated it to one of my favorite things: punctuation. I started with practical considerations and broad goals to define design rules:

• Form: A 12-page booklet printed on 3 sheets of letter paper

• Printability/Colors: A color palette of CMYK and simple ink combinations is printable in inkjet printers, risograph printers, or linocuts

• Consistent type: Bold, all caps type clarifies the central punctuation theme.

Each punctuation mark I chose inspired different questions and visual representations. (How do dashes, hyphens, and semicolons convey separation versus connection? How does punctuation characterize text?). I moved concepts from thumbnail sketches to Photoshop and Illustrator. There, I refined my linework, colors, and texture.

This zine was risograph-printed at Max’s Garage Press in Berkeley. I found other distributors of similar zines and reached out to them. This zine has been sold at Silver Sprocket in San Francisco, Verbatim Books in San Diego, and Skylight Books in Los Angeles.

Below are a few highlight pages from the zine. If you’re interested in seeing the rest of the zine, please contact me via email to purchase a copy.