I spent most of my recent working time polishing up the system and putting together the subsequent issues using the content I have prepared. My original aim was 10 issues completed to constitute a ‘substantial body of work’ but due to some elements outside my control (delays in receiving interview responses etc) this is looking to be closer to 6 or 7 for the time of submission. This includes two A3 poster issues, one of which has been translated into Chinese so will have two print runs in two different languages.
I began thinking about how I’ll construct the website, which will run adjacent to the print zines. Originally I had considered keeping a minimal online presence, or not having one at all, to wholly embrace the idea of taking a digital discourse offline. However, gradually I have decided to take a less dogmatic stance. Simply put, I want people to read the articles. If accessibility is a part of my ideology for this publication, it only makes sense that it is online, too. Ultimately there are only so many countries that I will be able to find stockists in, therefore this will help the publication to reach a bigger audience.
I’m thinking closely about what the website’s relationship is to the print version. There were a number of suggestions to adopt the zine’s five column format online. I will likely test this out but I’m not fully convinced as I don’t consider the five trademarks to be some kind of trademark. I want to leave all doors open for evolving the format as is required as this is a project I expect to continue beyond the end of the course.
Print-ready files for the completed issues of PLAYSTYLE: