Suggested page order

Single issue
Joint issue
Get wild

Page order suggestions assume a monthly reflection practice.

looking for templates?

Single issue

Standard quarter sized zine (16 pages) - 1 issue

The real page order differs per zine, it just depends on how I feel at that moment. The most I do for strategy is try to fix what's in the middle spread to something I can explore in more depth and share less intense information after it. This way when my future self is reviewing the zine and feeling this moment it is followed by something lighter, like a shout out page praising the things I'm grateful for in life.

1. Cover: "Zine Therapy," with the Issue # and Month/Year

2-5. Survey x4: I fill out the survey a third time when I'm initiating the zine. I always put this first after the cover to introduce my mindset. (If you can fit the survey onto 3 pages, add another page to therapy.)

6. Explore topic: You get one two-page spread and four single pages for your topic explorations. Decide what to do here.

7. Explore topic

8-10. Therapy x3: Three pages of therapy visualization where you will interpret your feelings into a zine. Two of these pages should be the middle spread.

11. Explore topic
12. Explore topic
13. Explore topic
14. Explore topic

15. Note: When I'm done making the zine I like to add a 1-page note either to say thanks for reading or talk about my day or whatever else. A close-out statement, if you will. If needed, give this page to therapy reflection.

16. Back cover: If you have a lot to reflection on in therapy, you could sacrifice the back cover to that.

Joint issue

Standard quarter sized zine (24 pages) - 2 issues combined

I tried to find a fun way to do the joint issue where you read one month and the flip the book and read the other month. It was fun to try something new, but I'm not sure it worked out very well the way I did it!

With that in mind, page order may vary. If you create a joint issue to span two months, think of how you'd like to present the information first. I made one page for each topic/each month, then put them next to each other so they made a spread on that item.

1. Cover: "Zine Therapy," with the Issue #s and Months/Year

2. Instructions: Combined issue/how to read. This might be sacrificed for therapy reflection if you don't need instructions.

3-14. Therapy x12: This allows six spreads or one page per month for six items of reflection. Two of these pages should be the middle spread.

15-16. Explore topic
17-18. Explore topic
19-20. Explore topic
21-22. Explore topic

23. Note: 1-page note close-out statement. If needed, give this page to therapy reflection.

24. Back cover: If you have a lot to reflection on in therapy, you could sacrifice the back cover to that.

Get wild

Just kidding... don't get too wild.

I tried to build some flexibility into the page order for myself (and you) in case any month was much more intense than others. However, I think it's important to try to stay brief/succinct in the zine. You don't always manage to capture the sentiment you're going for, but when you do it's incredible.

The zine is here to provide a creative portion to the therapy, giving you full freedom of expression on how to present the demons in your head on a limited amount of paper. It's there to help capture this moment and what you're dealing with so that you can reflect on it later.

Typing and filling out the survey is when you dive deep and ramble on about every tangent.

Either way, do what you need to do! You can follow my process/limits or you can think outside your own box.