Mixing Cultures

A Fanzine about hybrid cultures, Publication Studio, The American University in Cairo

Over the last centuries, the world has witnessed a continuous and growing state of multiculturalism that’s impossible to ignore. This has allowed world cultures to unite and connect to each other while creating new ways of individual expression.

This Fanzine examines the dynamics of racial and cultural mixture through Art & Design as a growing phenomena while giving many interesting examples of artists who managed to portray this in very diverse ways; as well as artworks that challenge typical cultural norms and intrigue the public. The idea is to expand the viewer's perception of culture and open their mind to the endless possibilities and ways of mixing cultures in such a globalized world.

For the design, I decided to create something that compliments the topic and, at the same time, interests the audience to interact with the fanzine and explore it. Accordingly, the fanzine was designed in a bold layout yet given an avant-garde style using sprayed typographic lasercut stencils on the covers and then binded together using a Japanese stab binding technique known as “Asa-No-Ha Toji”. This merge of techniques - the stenciling, the digitally designed layout and the Japanese binding - is, in a way, a mix of cultures itself, perfectly complementing the theme of the fanzine. Additionally, special colored paper was chosen to interact with light and add to the fanzine’s asthetic and concept.

For the layout, bold vertical titles and subtitles pararell to descriptive text were intended to make the fanzine more interacive and interesting. Accordingly, some images were placed vertically to encourage the viewer to rotate and explore the fanzine in different perspectives. Everything was placed in a way that allows for the pages to breathe and still give comfort to the eye, especially in contrast to the edgy covers.