Zililoquy is a research based project from my Design and Visual Communication II class during 2020. We utilized many of the principles that my professors have learned from the Stanford d.school. This project focused on what makes a Healthy City. We had guest speakers from the Milwaukee community come in and talk which inspired our ideas. I had remembered during my Print and Narrative Forms class that zines have a long history in Milwaukee. I had previous knowledge about Milwaukee being one of the most segregated cities in the United States to help me choose the topic of togetherness.
I interviewed many people in the community from professors in Print in Narrative Forms, the founders of Zinefest in Milwaukee, a radio host who focuses on community events, the owner of the Bindery, and an
architecture professor who was doing similar things. The thing that impacted my project the most was when one of the professors said, “many people in the community avoid student projects because students will come in do their project and then leave without any long term plans for the community they assisted.” That’s when I decided that my project can’t focus on how I can impact the community but about how the Milwaukee community can impact my project. That’s how I decided and actually implemented an instagram account in which people could share their personal stories through zines. I started out by posting my own personal work which created a vulnerable space. After a couple of weeks people started submitting their zines.
Overview
Zililoquy encourages community connections and shared empathy using zines. Zines are radical self-published small batch art-based books that share ideas and emotions. Zilioquy offers a subscription zine package that features artists from your region, school programming ideas, and a platform for sharing personal zines to elevate the voices of zinesters all over the world.
Zines have a rich history that can be traced back to the 1930s. Zines have such a diverse following because of how accessible they are. The materials needed to make a zine can range random pieces of paper to very expensive crafting paper. UW-Milwaukee has a zine collection in special collections and used to be the original host of Milwaukee Zinefest. We have the resources and the history, it’s just a matter of making people aware that this is something they can be a part of. Zilioquy wants to highlight the unique stories and diversity of the zine community, creating a safe space for sharing.
Process Work
