Blog 9
For my Zine, I have decided to do an informational zine about the Duke Men’s Basketball program. When thinking about what I am passionate about and things that contain information, this was a good topic that came to my mind. I knew I would be able to find lots of information on this topic, and would also have fun presenting it and constructing my zine. The cover of my zine will be pretty simple and include my name, one of the many Duke Basketball logos, and a picture of one of the past Duke rosters.
I already knew quite a bit about this topic, as I have always been a Duke fan growing up. A lot of the stats and notable players I already had memorized, so I decided to use those in my zine, as I had a lot of knowledge on it. I also included some new research about how many contributions Duke has made to the NBA and how many of those were 1st round picks. Along with this, I did a deeper dive into Duke’s previous coach, Coach K. I included his record and a short background about how he got to be as successful as he was.
To create my cover, I used Canva as I am not the greatest artist. One of the sample zines I read in class used printed-out words and pictures, and I thought it was much easier to read and gain information from. It also looked cleaner and more organized. This inspired me to do the same, and I used pictures from various sources across the internet to comprise my zine. I am excited to continue working on my zine as this is a topic I enjoy, and this assignment has felt like a nice break in all the hard writing and papers that have consumed me the past few weeks.
Best of luck to everyone on their Zines,
Cullen
Cullen,
“I’m not really into team sports like basketball, I’m more into individual ones like snowboarding, skiing, and surfing, but reading about your Duke Men’s Basketball zine actually piqued my interest. I don’t know much about basketball, but I’ve heard of Duke because my friend’s husband got his MBA in Finance there after undergrad at Notre Dame. I agree that picking a topic you care about makes this assignment easier and more fun. It sounds like you already knew a lot of the stats and players, and adding new research like Duke’s NBA contributions and Coach K’s background gives your zine a great mix of personal knowledge and deeper info.
I also liked your design choices. Using Canva was a smart move, I might give that a try too. For mine, I pulled some images from Google, but now I have to go back and cite them, which adds extra work I’d rather avoid. Seeing how clean and organized your layout sounds made me realize how much a simple design can help people focus on the content. That said, Professor Baldwin mentioned in my meeting today that the zine should look more like a scrapbook, so I’m thinking about how to add that handmade, layered feel while still keeping things readable.
I did something similar with my zine, Ledger and Lies, which is about forensic accounting. I love detective stories and solving problems, so I wanted to show how forensic accountants are like financial detectives. I used a mystery storyline and noir-style images—like crime scene tape, fingerprints, and magnifying glasses, to make it feel dramatic and fun.
Even though our topics are really different, we both used what we’re passionate about to make something creative and informative. I also talked with a classmate about image ideas, and it helped me figure out how to make my zine more engaging. Sounds like you did the same, thinking about what looks good and is easy to read.
I agree that this project has been a nice break from regular papers, and I look forward to seeing yours and everyone else’s finished zines. I’m sure I’ll learn something new about Duke Men’s Basketball and what others care about. Good luck finishing it!
—Hannah