Fanzines - the conflation of fan and magazine - as a ‘novel form communication’ have long occupied a place in the history of underground and counter-culture publications. The status of fanzines as independent self-published forms has allowed producers to develop their own unique styles of writing and design outside the conventions of the mainstream. Fanzines often draw upon the ‘do-it-yourself’ ethos formalised by the early punks and picked up more recently by producers within the riot grrrl movement.

This talk explores the area of visual rhetoric of fanzines and takes into account meaning not only as it is constructed through visual images, but also through the symbiotic relationship found among image, text, and the graphic form itself. Collectively these elements communicate ideas and themes, and also subtly shape readers’ attitudes, opinions, and beliefs.

Teal Triggs is Professor of Graphic Design, Director of the research unit for Information Environments (IE) and Course Director, MA Design Writing Criticism at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. As a graphic design historian, critic and educator her writings have appeared in numerous international design publications. She has written extensively on punk and riot grrrl fanzines including as co-editor with Roger Sabin of ‘Below Critical Radar’: Fanzines and Alternative Comics From 1976 to Now (2000). She is currently working on a forthcoming book about fandom and the graphic language of fanzines (Thames & Hudson) and recently enjoyed debating the subject with Jarvis Cocker in his series ‘Zine Scene’ broadcast on BBC Radio 4.