For a while now, I have been interested in zines. I’ve always thought that the internet and zines were very closely related. Both spread ideas, are low-cost to the consumer, and have unique limitations in design.
I found a couple of online zines, some more successful than others. Here are two and what I think does and doesn’t work:
http://www.toosexyandweird.com/
I zoomed out in my browser to capture the following screen. This zine is awesome, with animations, videos, photos, and short writings all displayed on a single page. To me, it feels like a zine, and really incorporates a similar aesthetic. That is where this zine differentiates itself from a blog or artist website.
I found this zine to be less successful. With links to all of the content, it was certainly less creative in its layout. Even though the content was hosted on this site, it feels less related, simply because of the navigation to new pages, none of the content can be viewed together.
Is this new media art? I think that the first definitely qualifies. It is using the browser as a medium, and really considering its strength, limitations, and of course, the SCROLL. The second, not as much. Just using the web to store and display the work. Here, the site is not the work, it is just a vehicle.
I am interested in web browser environments and an online zine-making is an awesome approach to content generation.