Brand Zines Back Consumers’ Desire to Disconnect

Published 17 September 2024

Author

Chelsie Hares

6 min read

As the oversaturation of digital content continues – 67% of Americans long for a time before everyone was “plugged in” (Harris Poll, 2023) – brands are responding with analogue print zines. Examples include Hinge’s narrative-rich dating success stories, U.S. Bank’s commemoration of Black creatives, Weekday’s celebration of Sweden’s young creatives, and Uniqlo China’s hyper-localised city guides.

Hinge’s Success Story Anthology: Following the US dating app’s established marketing strategy of documenting its successful matches, Hinge (tagline: “designed to be deleted”) released an 80-page zine retelling the relationships of six Hinge couples. The publication is being distributed across London and New York throughout September.

The real-life love stories are retold by a diverse cohort of esteemed contemporary writers. Irish author Oisín McKenna (whose work tackles modern LGBTQ+ life in London) has penned Nothing Serious – depicting the casual origins of London-based Rahul and George’s (now official) relationship. McKenna’s reflections encourage daters to forge connections beyond the label of ‘nothing serious’.

Meanwhile, Haitian-American feminist writer Roxane Gay (known for her 2014 bestselling essay collection Bad Feminist) covers New Yorkers’ Chanti and Najib’s relationship. Largely focusing on Chanti’s perspective, Gay depicts the couple in a dispute as Chanti experiences internal feminist conflict – desiring more romantic gestures from Najib, but not wanting to have to “teach a man how to love her right”. Gay reconciles the friction with a retelling of Najib learning from his ignorance and greeting Chanti with a bouquet of her favourite flowers.

Alongside the text, the zine features editorial shots of the couples, as well as ‘love relics’ from their relationships – including flirtatious doodles, handwritten apology notes, and a personalised Lego mini-figure given as a gift.

Hinge

U.S. Bank’s Black-Centric Zine Examines Intergenerational Wealth: Continuing its commitment to building wealth in underserved communities (previously highlighting an alarming 8:1 wealth gap between white and Black American households – U.S. Bank, 2021), U.S. Bank launched a 12-page zine within The New York Times in August 2024. The Legacy zine prominently features the Bradford family, who run a Black-owned fourth-generation ranch in Oklahoma, and their cultivation of ancestral land to provide food for American families.

The content and aesthetics of the zine commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance – a 1920s movement that saw a boom in African American literature, arts and music. It centres creative works from an all-Black cohort of contemporary American creatives, including author and poet Mahogany L. Browne, photographer Ivan McClellan, and graphic designer Tré Seals.

U.S. Bank

Weekday Zine Spotlights Young Creatives: Launched in July 2024, Swedish fashion brand Weekday’s zine – available in its Amsterdam, Berlin, London and Stockholm stores – promotes the launch of its A/W 24 collection alongside interviews with Swedish creatives.

Tailored to its primarily Gen Z demographic (in the UK alone, 89% of Gen Z consider themselves creative– Qcontent, 2023), the zine taps into Swedish youth culture with a diverse cast of Stockholm-based emerging creatives. These include Brazilian Royal Swedish Ballet dancer João Felipe Santana, actress Yandeh Sallah (who starred in 2019 Swedish TV series Eagles), Swedish musician Kendra Egerbladh (known for her lo-fi, genre-blurring music), and surrealist make-up artist Emma Eastop.

Uniqlo China’s Hyper-Localised City Guides: Responding to China’s preference for domestic fashion brands over foreign ones (89% of consumers do so – Statista, 2023), Japanese brand Uniqlo is demonstrating its culturally attuned knowledge of Chinese cities with hyper-localised zines for Shanghai and Wuhan.

Launched in May 2024 in collaboration with Chinese photography publisher Jiazazhi, the zines were available in limited runs of 1,400 copies – given to customers who spent over 500 yuan ($70) in-store. Both editions feature city-specific walking and cycling routes, interviews with local families, street-style photography, and spotlights on local businesses.

Uniqlo