In a world where many of us are immersed in digital, it’s extremely refreshing and exciting to see the next generation of creatives going back to basics and embracing analogue. We’re talking a surge in sales on vinyls, cassette tapes, handmade items and zines, it’s awesome! Zines have been around forever, they aren’t anything new. What’s really interesting is watching the increasing popularity of having and holding a physical thing versus the digital world that many people of my generation, who grew up on Myspace and forums, are so used to now.
Sadie Bailey is one of those youngsters who have found their creative outlet in zines, a physical, tangible, collectable format rather than the fast moving, click baiting content that is more commonplace, thanks to the popularity of blogging and Buzzfeed style simple, light hearted content. Sadie and Josh have been travelling the world, collecting their experiences on film and pulling it together into a zine known as
Project Upcoming, the first issue of which sold out! Issue two is out now and I’m very excited to see what’s next for this dynamic and effortlessly cool crew. Now over to Sadie for more info on that makes them awesome.
For those reading who don’t entirely know what a zine entails, how would you explain it?
A zine is a self published collection of work- mainly either collaborative or personal.
Why did you choose to create a zine as opposed to a blog or another format?
Our issue with online publications is that we find them to lack substance. Your news feed is constantly filled with a swarm of half-assed click bait articles that don’t differentiate from the other. We wanted to create something tangible, something that had character.
Which zines inspired you to take this creative route?
Josh is a major fan of Ed Templeton and avidly collects his photography zines but besides that- it’s hard to pinpoint which specific zines inspire us. Together we have around 100+ publications that we constantly turn to for inspiration, and make an effort to visit independent magazine shops in every city we travel to.
How do you find creative people to collaborate with in such a crowded arena?
A good majority of people featured in Project Upcoming are those of whom we know personally, either from growing up or traveling. Once you stop focusing on your self and start acknowledging other peoples talents, it’s crazy how many inspiring people you know.
Besides that- a lot of the time we find people through random browsing on Facebook/ Instagram. “The Designers League” (facebook group with 4k+ members) is a great place to find raw and unique talent.
What’s next for Sadie and the Project Upcoming Zine?
We’ve just come back from a very inspirational trip to Bordeaux, and have a lot of interesting ideas we’re going to be playing around with in the next couple of months. Part 3 has been confirmed but that’s all I can say for now!
If you want to know more about Project Upcoming you can find them on
Tumblr and
Facebook as well as finding Sadie’s awesome photos on
Instagram too.
Do you have a project that needs a little bit of added awesome? Get in touch with me and Miz and find out how we can help you kick ass.
Co-Creator @wearefoodscouts & @KitschInc. Digital Marketing & Creative Direction. Illustration, writing, creativity & style. Fan of films, TV, cartoons, colourful hair & clean beauty. Blogger since 2009.