Recipe Zine
Using typography to guide a culinary experience for readers.
This project won:
TIMELINE
1 month
MEDIUM
Printed Zine (5"x8.5")
OUTCOME
-Wait, but what's a zine?
A zine is a handmade, self-published, small-batch booklet created for personal expression and passion.
My childhood food memories at Eden Center in Falls Church, VA with my mom, and recreating much of that food at home, inspired me to create this recipe zine about Vietnamese cuisine.
MOTION
Project extension: Social motion graphic
PROCESS
Grid system and type explorations
The art direction I leaned into was an early 2000s digital camera photo shoot, but I knew that being away from home, without accessible ingredients and an expensive camera set up, I had to resort to stock photos, illustrations, or generated ones.
For my visuals, I utilized MidJourney for image generation
Sacrificed: Unrealistic & unhelpful depictions for a cookbook
Inaccurate textures, but getting there + room for exploration
Prompt:
Photo of a white and blue bowl of 6 individual vietnamese sesame balls (bahn cam). one is cut open in half with yellow mung bean filling. Its outer shell is made from tan glutinous rice flour, and covered with white sesame seeds. background is white. grainy texture. Harsh, on-camera flash that creates sharp shadows Bright, high-saturation colors Slight overexposure / glossy highlights Unpolished, in-the-moment vibe Looks like a point-and-shoot or early 2000s digital camera Feels playful, chaotic, and nostalgic.
After rounds of prompting, I tried experimenting in Photoshop with textures and filters.
Sacrificed: Felt too amateur
Sacrificed: Lost vibrant colors and depth of the food
Finalized photos with accurate and realistic depictions
Motion graphic process (After Effects)
