Size: A4 (297 × 210mm)
Pages: 40pp self cover
Stock: 120gsm Uncoated throughout
Printing: Full colour throughout (CMYK)
Binding: Staple bound (saddle stitched)
If a photo zine could be a 70s Hollywood film, it would look something like this. Peneloping Not Odysseying oozes cool from the opening cover — a hand-holding sunglasses-over-the-sea shot, overlaid with the title in bold yellow type you'd find on a film poster — and it keeps that energy for every single page.
The font alone deserves mention. Whoever chose it had taste. It's the kind of typographic decision that makes a zine feel like it came from somewhere specific rather than somewhere generic.
Peneloping Not Odysseying is a photography journal of a group of friends on holiday — sun, sea, evening beaches, tropical nights. But what lifts it above the ordinary is what surrounds those photographs: hand-drawn illustrations of fish, coral and tropical foliage, mixing with collage-style layouts and bold type statements.
The cover carries fish in flight between the letters. A full double-page spread of a man surrounded by cartoon fish is one of the most joyful images in any zine we've printed recently. The closing La Musique section uses slide-film-style photo inserts on a photocopied background — beautifully lo-fi and personal. Our guide to zine printing is a great starting point if you're planning your own travel or photo zine.
The self-cover approach — where the cover and inside pages are the same stock — is a quietly radical choice. At 120gsm uncoated throughout, the zine has a consistent, honest quality from first page to last. The cost saving is real, and on a zine where the design is doing this much heavy lifting, the unified stock feels intentional.
Staple binding keeps things simple. For 40 pages at A4, the wire stitch sits cleanly at the spine, and the zine lies flat when open. No fussing with a perfect bound cover.
The design is the work of someone with a strong instinct for atmosphere. Photographs aren't simply placed — they're arranged with other elements in a way that makes each spread feel constructed. The coral and seaweed illustrations aren't decoration; they're part of a world being built across the zine.
The La Musique spread — slide-film-style photo inserts against a larger image — shows a different mode: more thoughtful and deliberately lo-fi. That shift in pace is exactly what a good zine does.
Mix media with confidence. Photographs alone tell one story. Photographs with illustrations, collage elements and bold type tell a richer one.
A self-cover simplifies the print spec and keeps costs down. For a zine where the interior design is this strong, using the same stock throughout is a coherent decision.
Typography is as important as photography on the cover. The font choice here is exceptional — unusual, specific, immediately characterful. Spend time on your cover type.
Staple binding is right for 40pp at A4. It lies flat, it's honest, it suits the format. For zines under 64pp, it's almost always the correct answer.
