How Hong Kong designer Charis Poon integrates zine-making into university courses
Hong Kong Free Press
Part of HKFP’s four-part zine scene series.
On the desk of Hong Kong designer Charis Poon were zines of various shapes and sizes. Among them was a folded user manual designed to resemble the popular Ricoh Auto Half camera, providing a step-by-step guide to operating a film camera. Another zine took the form of a pocket tissue pack crafted from parchment paper, containing sheets of paper that detailed the author’s allergies.
These zines were not created by the 32-year-old artist herself but by the students she taught at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) School of Design. Poon had assigned the class a four-week project, tasking them with producing a zine centred around a topic they were genuinely passionate about. Additionally, the students were required to make multiple copies of their zines to trade with their classmates as the final outcome of the project.
To the surprise of her students, Poon also created a zine for exchanging. It was a hand-drawn photo collage booklet following an alphabet theme about her dog named Koopa, whom she described as an “opinionated” canine with an “all-knowing gaze.”
“[The students] were really happy. Teaching-wise, I’m really happy with this setup… I wanted our relationship to be… we all make stuff. They can also interact with what I make and critique it,” the teaching fellow who joined PolyU in 2021 said in an interview with HKFP in March.
‘Low-risk’ art
Drawing from her extensive experience as a graphic designer, Poon has ventured into writing, editing, and audio production in recent years. She is also the managing editor of MAEKAN, a Hong Kong-based independent publication founded in 2015.
The Parsons School of Design graduate said she became interested in lightweight publications around 2018, when she pursued her master’s degree in Design: Expanded Practice at Goldsmiths, University of London.
During her study in the UK, Poon produced one of her earliest zines – a spin-off from a school project entitled What Was Made Before After Life. She explored the idea of “a possible eternity to spend making art” by scrutinising the last works of various artists from 1979 to 2018.
In the absence of artificial intelligence technology, Poon utilised Photoshop to bring to life her imagination of the artistic works that various artists might have created after their death. She printed ten pages, stapled them together, and shared them with her friends.
“It is such a low-risk way to be creative, and it also feels really rewarding,” she said.
Conversations and relationships
Although Poon modestly referred to herself as “not the most prolific zine-maker” in Hong Kong, she became better known in the city’s zine scene with a folded poster zine in 2022. Through this creation, she channelled her anger and frustration towards the notion of conforming to the structure of work in society. Poon called upon her readers to “take control of our lives” and “live for pleasure not pain.”
“This zine has made me friends. I love this piece of work… it’s so simple but it has done a lot for me in terms of relationships and conversations,” Poon said.
Zines represented “physical evidence of conversations or relationships,” the designer said. The gratification and sense of accomplishment from seeing people’s willingness to pay for her work were difficult to attain through other art forms, she said.
In her latest zine, Poon maintained a similar folded poster format but delved into a much more serious subject matter. The zine, using a green paper, presented a striking visual contrast as it featured a collection of poems, books, novels, articles, and essays related to Palestine, all printed in red ink.
Poon’s creation served as a response to the “very real situation in the world” that frequently left her feeling helpless. Reading the news was often the only action she could take, yet she also sensed that her growing awareness did not bring about any tangible change.
“I made this [zine] because I thought, okay, I don’t know if it will have any effect, but the smallest of effects is better than none,” she said.
Teaching with zines
The designer has been spreading the power of zines on campus by integrating zine-making as part of the class experience of traditional design courses. She had invited another zine artist to hold a workshop for students, in the hope that this art form would help students understand themselves better and enhance their progress in other projects, she said.
In addition to evaluating the craftsmanship of the zine, Poon told HKFP she graded the students’ work based on how well the final product manifested their vision. She avoided solely evaluating the zine’s visual appeal as this would be too subjective.
In contrast to Poon’s “serious” zines that placed a stronger emphasis on the text, the PolyU student designers were eager to push the boundaries by incorporating vibrant colours, experimenting with different paper textures, and employing cutting-edge shapes in their zines. Their work “challenged her in a good way,” Poon said.
Some students took to social media to share their zines, while others chose to sell their creations. Poon said the students’ aspirations to reach a wider readership beyond their teacher and classmates was proof of how much they relished producing their independently published works.
Zine-making had the potential to equip students with skills in colour sense, typography, and more refined storytelling techniques. While Poon was impressed by the creativity and exceptional craftsmanship demonstrated by her students, she acknowledged that the current job market may not provide abundant opportunities for young designers to create physical products.
“Many things have become virtual. Only very few sectors would still put such a strong emphasis on technical craft,” she said.
This interview is the second in a four-part series on Hong Kong’s zine scene. Tune in next Wednesday when we speak to Samantha Chao, who manages a zine library at the Asian Art Archive.
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