5 ideas to create a zine (and why having less space can actually help)

Looking for zine ideas? Here are five simple ways to turn photos, memories, drawings or everyday observations into a small self-published booklet.

A small folded format, often just eight pages, doesn’t give you the luxury of including everything. And at first, that can feel frustrating. Eight pages are not much. You have to choose, reduce, leave things out. But that limitation is also what makes the process meaningful. It forces you to ask a simple question: what really matters here?

Over time, I’ve found that this small constraint doesn’t take anything away. It actually helps memories become clearer, more intentional, and more alive.

Here are five ideas to create a zine. A starting point for those of you who feel overwhelmed when starting a new project.

Before you start

You don't need a big idea to make a zine.

Start with something you already have: a handful of photographs, a collection of drawings, a trip, a place you keep noticing, a list, a question.

Then give yourself a limit.

8 pages. One sheet of paper. One small idea.

That’s often enough.

Here are my favorites

1. A family trip

Trips tend to generate an overwhelming amount of material. Photos, tickets, notes, small details that feel important in the moment and then disappear into a camera roll.

A zine doesn’t try to document everything. It becomes a selection of moments: a place you stopped, something you carried in your bag, a color that stayed with you, a small scene that felt real. Instead of a full archive, it becomes a distilled version of the experience.

Try this: choose 8–12 moments from one trip instead of trying to document the whole thing.

2. An anniversary

   
   

Anniversaries are often marked with words or celebrations, but they can also be translated visually. An eight-page zine can hold fragments of a relationship: places, objects, habits, shared memories. Not a timeline, but a collection of moments that define it.

The limit of the format helps avoid over-explaining. What remains are the essentials.

Try this: collect places, objects, phrases or tiny memories that belong to the relationship.

3. A collection of children’s drawings

   
   

Children produce an incredible amount of drawings, and it’s almost impossible to keep everything. A zine offers a way to gather a small selection, not the “best” ones, but the ones that feel meaningful. You can combine drawings, small notes, maybe a sentence they said. It becomes a way of preserving a moment in time, without trying to archive an entire phase.

Try this: don't choose the “best” drawings. Choose the ones that make you remember something.

4. A small photo album

Instead of keeping hundreds of images, a zine asks you to choose just a few.

Eight pages mean maybe ten or fifteen photos at most. That choice can feel difficult, but it changes how you look at images. You stop asking “which ones should I keep?” and start asking “which ones say something?” The result is not a complete album, but a more intentional one.

Try this: choose 10 photographs from your camera roll and tell the story in eight pages.

5. A theme or a place

A zine can also revolve around something very simple: a place you walk often, a routine, a recurring detail. It doesn’t have to be an event. It can be something quiet and ongoing. In that case, the limitation of the format helps you notice patterns and repetitions that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Try this: photograph or collect the same kind of thing for a week.

Want to see how I actually make one?

I made a little tutorial showing how I turn photographs into an 8-page zine using Adobe Illustrator, and I've included a free template to help you get started.

Final thoughts...

Working with a small format means accepting that something will always be left out.

But maybe that’s not a loss. In a world where everything accumulates, photos, files, information, having less space can become a way of seeing more clearly.

A zine doesn’t try to hold everything.

It just holds enough.