A5 Booklets
4pp Cover onto 170gsm Uncoated
16pp Inside pages onto 120gsm Uncoated
Four colour printing (CMYK Ink)
Staple Bound
When Kerrang came to us to print Hardcore Nation, the brief was clear: move fast, keep it sharp and make sure the zine still feels worth collecting. This neat A5 format, paired with uncoated stocks and staple binding, gave the project exactly that balance. It is lightweight, easy to hand out and easy to keep, yet still packed with the raw charge of live hardcore photography.
What makes this piece land is how direct it feels. The cover throws you straight into the crowd, the spreads switch between dense gig photography and big blocks of capitalised text, and the whole thing keeps moving with the same urgency as the scene it documents. For anyone planning a similar project, our zine printing service, this guide to choosing the right zine size, our advice on paper for zine printing and this walkthrough on setting 3mm bleed for print are useful places to start.
Hardcore Nation is an A5 music zine aimed at Kerrang readers, hardcore fans and zine collectors who want something they can flick through in one go, then come back to later. It captures a thriving UK hardcore scene with the right amount of noise, speed and physicality.
The front cover does a lot of heavy lifting. One full-bleed live image, a distressed masthead and a bold badge-style title at the foot of the page make it feel immediate and loud. It does not overcomplicate the idea. You know what you are picking up before you even open it.
Inside, the visual rhythm shifts nicely. Some pages are packed with photographs from concerts and festivals, while others slow things down with strong editorial statements in oversized capitals. That contrast stops the zine from becoming a blur of similar shots. It gives the reader peaks, pauses and punch.
We printed the project as A5 booklets with a 4pp cover on 170gsm uncoated stock and 16pp of inside pages on 120gsm uncoated stock, all in full colour and staple bound. Those specs suit the format brilliantly.
A5 keeps the zine compact and cost-effective, which matters for music titles that need to travel well, stack neatly and feel easy to pick up. Staple binding also helps here. It keeps the piece simple, dependable and quick to produce, while letting the spreads open out well for image-led layouts.
The uncoated paper choice is a smart one. It takes the edge off the glare, keeps text comfortable to read and gives the publication a more tactile, grassroots feel than a shinier finish would. Combined with the relatively light cover and inner pages, the result is a handy collector’s piece that feels true to zine culture rather than overbuilt.
Because the schedule was tight, we switched from the original litho quote to digital printing so we could hit a Monday morning delivery. That is exactly the kind of decision that matters on music projects: protect the deadline, keep the quality strong and stay honest about the trade-off on price.
From a printer’s-eye view, the strongest thing here is the pacing. The layouts are punctuated by bold live photography, then sharpened with all-caps statements and cut-out style text boxes. That editorial treatment pulls the reader through the zine rather than letting the images do all the work on their own.
There is also a nice toughness to the visual language. Black grounds, red accents, halftone textures and high-contrast type give the pages a poster-like edge. Even the quieter spreads keep that tension. One interview layout, for instance, balances dense copy with a portrait, a live image and a quote panel, so the page still feels active.
The photography carries plenty of movement. Crowd shots, stage dives, close performance frames and backstage portraits all work together to show a scene that is bigger than one band or one event. That sense of community comes through clearly, and it matches the line on the opening spread about integrity and support for one another.
We also like the decision to let some spreads breathe. The double-page line “THERE WAS A WANT AND A NEED FOR LIVE MUSIC AND ENERGY” shows restraint in the right place. Big words, a dark background and small images placed around the spread give the statement room to hit.
The print journey moved quickly from first quote to finished delivery. Luke at Kerrang first asked whether we could beat the usual seven working day turnaround. We priced the original run litho, then came back with a faster digital option for 1,000 copies when the deadline tightened.
Once the final PDF came in, we checked the files and spotted one issue: the artwork needed a proper 3mm bleed on all edges to avoid any risk of a white border after trimming. The file was re-exported, checked again and passed straight into pre-press.
From there, we kept things moving with the same steady updates we give all clients. We sent a final proof for sign-off, confirmed payment, booked the job on press and arranged an AM delivery slot. The zines left us on Friday and landed with Kerrang on Monday morning, right on schedule.
That balance of speed and reassurance matters. Fast-turnaround jobs still need clear communication, proper file checks and a calm hand on production. Our team kept the process simple, direct and on track from start to finish.
This project is a good example of where we add value beyond putting ink on paper. We helped Kerrang weigh up litho versus digital in a way that made sense for the deadline. We flagged the bleed issue before it became a trimming problem. We also kept the delivery promises tight and specific, right down to the morning drop.
That is what a strong print partnership looks like on a music zine: friendly account management, quick file support and production choices that fit the brief rather than slowing it down. If you are mapping out your own title, our print journey, our file set-up knowledge base and the instant printing quote calculator are all built to make those decisions easier.
We also know when to keep things simple. This zine did not need extra finishes or a heavier format. Its strength comes from getting the basics exactly right: size, stock, binding, pace and colour, all working in service of the content.
