Design boards

Brief 

Title

Garfield Minus Garfield ‘zine edition’

Background 

Garfield Minus Garfield is a niche webcomic launched by technology manager Dan Walsh in 2008. The site is dedicated to removing Garfield from original Garfield comic strips to portray the ‘existential angst’ of Mr. Jon Arbuckle; the bi-monthly updated comics exhibit the ‘journey into the mind of an isolated young everyman’ as he fights ‘loneliness and depression in a quiet American Suburb’.

Brief 

Produce a niche comic zine publication that translates Garfield Minus Garfield onto printed matter. Your design concept must reflect the interactive and personal nature of comic books and zines in order to build a playful user experience.   

Deliverables 

An A3 poster-zine printed publication with complimentary sticker sheet.

Research Aims

To transform the webcomic Garfield Minus Garfield into an interactive experience for target audiences. Consider traditional comic book layout design and choices in illustrative elements. Investigate how user experiences can be personal/ interactive in a contemporary format. 

Research 

Contextual 

The purpose of the final publication is to translate content from garfieldminusgarfield.net into a printed format; Garfield Minus Garfield is a comical blog that removes Garfield from original Garfield comic strips (Figure 1). The publication translates the fun nature of the site, whilst simultaneously communicating the dark intentions of creator Dan Walsh; According to the blogs ‘about’, Walsh removed Garfield from the comics to convey a sense of ‘existential angst’. As a result, the final outcome preserves both aspects of the blogs’ contents, whilst balancing such with added elements.

Contextually, attributes of the zine market were crucial in both subjects discussed in the second essay and the production of the publication; this involved researching the increasing popularity of zine fairs within the publication industry (Figure 2). The role of zine fairs being to create an open space for creatives to showcase their independent publications and share ideas; this personal nature of independent editorial design resonated with the origins of Garfield Minus Garfield, as it stemmed from a niche/ individual space, which informed aspects of the design process to convey an intimate experience. 

Conceptual 

A key concept discussed in the second essay was the increasing demand for niche printed matter within the publication industry, as a rebellion against the mass over-sharing of data caused by the internet/ social media. Consequently, the industry is seeing a spike in small independent publication stores, such as Village Books (Figure 3); this idea of niche zines serving as an escape from the internet heavily informed the final outcome, as it shaped the interactive elements of the design. 

An interesting strategy exhibited within contemporary zine design that related to the final publication was the concept of hijacking existing cartoons; Figure 4 displays a Simpsons parody zine by Josh Wayles (ZineTent) that illustrates the cartoon in a tattoo ink style. This trend in contemporary zine design inspired the final Garfield Minus Garfield publication, through the process of redrawing the original comic strips in order to add an exclusive style. 

Practical 

Regarding the practical aspects of the publications’ design, it was poignant that the zine should involve exclusive elements such as paper stock or packaging; this linked to the idea that tangible publications challenge the theory that the internet is ‘adept at compressing humanity’ (discussed in the second essay). An example that influenced the final outcomes’ use of materials was a zine created by Dr.Me Studios; the publication involved a coloured plastic overlay/ cover alongside reflective stickers adorned on the front page (Figure 5). This shaped design decisions to add more human interaction with the addition of plastic wallets and Garfield stickers. 

It was crucial that the final format of the publication needed to be informed by contemporary examples of zine layout and design; this would help push the zine to fit the criterias of contemporary audiences. The most influential example within this research was a poster-zine layout design by Aga Geiko; available in independent stores such as Village Books, the layout of the publication is visually intriguing as it allows the audience to choose the format of the zine itself (Figure 6). Due to this, the Garfield Minus Garfield publication had a more interesting/ interactive user experience through adopting a poster-zine format; as well as providing space to add exclusive illustrations. 

Positioning    

The positioning of the Garfield Minus Garfield had to be informed by existing comic zines within the independent publishing market; this provided a comparison against examples of contemporary zine design. Figure 1 exhibits an example of a cartoon parody zine, Flesh of The Simpsons by Benjamin Wright; the concept followed a similar design approach to the final outcome in the sense that it redrew existing cartoons in an alternative style. In contrast to this example, the final publication was a lot more stripped back in regards to the style added to the original Garfield comics; the decision allowed the poster-zine to stay true to the content of garfieldminusgarfield.net, thus maintaining familiarity to followers of the blog. 

Figure 2 considers the type of niche market that the final outcome appeals to within the publication market, which influenced design choices throughout the zines’ development. The brief was targeted towards artful 18-30 year olds, with an interest in independent publications; the consumer base for Garfield Minus Garfield are likely to be ‘edgy’ Western university students, and customers of zine stores such as Village Books. 

Regarding visual references for the print/ poster aspect of the final publication, the positioning was informed by the illustrative style of Ermsy; his work consists of warped edits/ manipulation of familiar cartoon characters. This allowed the design to feature exclusive elements, linking to the second essay in the sense of audiences desiring a more tangible product.  

Initial ideas 

The initial design process for the final publication involved playing with illustration styles for the comic strip element of the zine (Figure 1). This required redrawing the webcomic by hand in order to link to the intimate and handmade qualities of independent zines discussed within essay two; the result added a unique style to the original Garfield comics, yet still maintaining its’ recognisable elements. As well as this, the hand drawn illustrations offered playful undertones, thus appealing to a younger contemporary audience and conveying the blogs’ intended humor.  

Figure 2 exhibits the initial experimentation of cover designs for the Garfield Minus Garfield zine; continuing the handmade nature of independent publications through scanning in illustrations and layering them to form a pattern design. These initial tests considered alternative colour palettes to the original webcomic, with the juxtaposition of white paper stock with blue and pink inks. The overprinted effect worked nicely as a pattern, yet as a cover design it was arguably too ambiguous; the cover needed to be more recognisable with audiences, due to the niche aspect of its’ positioning. 

The format and layout of the publication was also crucial within the initial design process, as it considered user experience; the outcome needed to balance expectations of a zine as well as audience expectations of a comic. The first versions of the publication used a simple, traditional comic A5 format (Figure 3); to some extent, this worked as it followed the standard format, thus building familiarity with the consumer. However, the outcome needed to offer something unique; in order to build upon themes of interactivity and exclusiveness, the layout should be more immersive for audiences and push their expectations.  

Figure 4 explores the primary experiments with paper stock; as discussed in the second essay, the rise in popularity of zines may be a consequence for a greater demand for tangible publications. Within this argument, paper stock has a large responsibility; audiences of niche publications want an exclusive and high quality product, which boils down to the materials used in production. Consequently, the initial zines observed a variety of paper stocks, using both colour and plain white; the main consensus being that coloured paper offered greater exclusivity. 

Design development 

A key turning point in the development of the final outcome was the decision to create stickers to accompany the Garfield Minus Garfield publication; this intended to create a more immersive user experience, as well as conveying the energetic themes of the blog itself. Furthermore, the concept of the sticker element contributed to the witty nature of the webcomic through engaging the audience to put Garfield back into the comics; this provided an exclusive aspect to the publication, through adding more value to the product. The initial sticker designs (Figure 1) however, were printed on low quality vinyl, which pushed the design process to involve better paper stock/ materials in consideration of audience expectations. 

Figure 2 displays further experimentation into the layout/ format of the publication, as the final outcome needed to be informed by a multitude of visual investigations; this example showcases a one strip format, which transgressed against traditional comic formats. The interesting factor in this experiment was its’ fun and playful undertone, as the layout was reminiscent of a flip book; despite this, due to its’ size the format wouldn't stand out in the context of a bookstore, thus creating limitations to audience perception. 

As a result of the limitations of the flip book format, the design development investigated alternative layouts that would be more viable to fit content in; Figure 3 exhibits the initial A3 poster-zine format that was eventually used for the final publication. Due to the double sided nature of the layout, the design needed to feature an illustration for the poster element of the design; inspired by Ermsys’ manipulation of cartoons, the print for the poster consisted of a hand drawn illustration that blended the comics’ characters together. Consequently, this communicated the webcomics’ concept that Garfield is a fiction of Jons’ imagination, thus balancing a fun yet dark atmosphere associated with Garfield Minus Garfield. The main limitation of the initial poster-zines was their lack of a quality paper stock as they used standard white printer paper; this pushed the design to consider these materials more, as well as testing out different ink colours to build a colour palette for the zine. 

Figure 4 showcases the final improvements of the sticker sheet concept, through printing the designs on a glossy, higher quality vinyl; this contributed to a more professional and cleaner publication, thus considering the poster-zines commercial setting within an independent bookstore. The sticker sheet contained a variety of Garfield illustrations in order to provide more interactivity and freedom for the audience which linked to ideas discussed within essay two. 

Final outcome 

Overall, the final poster-zine outcome for garfieldminusgarfield.net successfully meets the brief for the practical outcome; with a strong focus on exclusivity and interactive aspects of zines, the publication fits audience considerations and aligns with the arguments discussed in the second essay. One of the most prominent elements in achieving this is the designs’ inclusion of stickers which provide a playful relationship between product and consumer; the audience have the freedom to play around, as well as sharing the playful nature of the webcomics’ themes.

Furthermore, another strong element within the final outcome is the products’ contemporary colour palette within the poster and the plastic wallets. Inspired by publications by Dr.Me Studio, the plastic wallets add more value to the publication in terms of the physical product itself; linking to the idea of consumers buying into the exclusivity of printed matter and higher quality materials. Visually, the plastic wallets also offer a consistent design, by creating a consistent monochromatic colour scheme alongside high quality paper stock and coloured ink; this fits into the contemporary audience considerations through providing a confident and clean physical outcome, as well as sharing a playfulness with alternative colour choices.

However, to some extent the final outcome has its limitations in regards to certain aspects of its context and audience considerations; a major issue being the inclusion of plastic within the design. Arguably, this may not align with the attitudes of a contemporary audience due to environmental issues of the recyclability of the publication; due to this, the outcome would have had a better ethical standpoint by using recycled materials. 

Additionally, based on final peer feedback, the plastic wallet element of the design could have been pushed further in regards to printing illustrations on top of it; this would have expanded the brand identity further and would have created a more consistent outcome.