Friends back home kept asking the same questions:
“Zé, you never post anything online. What have you been doing? How are we supposed to know?”
Instead of a social media account, I decided to create something more personal, more tangible: a print magazine. That decision meant wearing my very first hat: self-publisher.
One hat quickly became many
What began as a personal experiment soon transformed into a full-scale creative project. CHIMPAN zine became a way to capture stories, share inspirations, collaborate with others, and build a community around creativity.
Each stage of the project asked me to wear a different hat:
- The Editor – interviewing, writing, and curating content that balanced personal storytelling with contributions from others.
- The Designer – shaping the magazine’s editorial identity, designing layouts, building the website, and creating sponsor pitch decks.
- 🎩 The Printmaker – hand screen-printing 50+ pages per copy, layer by layer, at Print Club London.
- The Marketer – building a social media presence, promoting the launch, and finding ways to reach beyond my own circle.
- The Fundraiser – pitching to sponsors and advertisers, securing funding before the magazine even existed.
- The Producer – overseeing timelines, coordinating contributors, and managing distribution.
Design as the glue
The hats were many, but design tied them all together. It shaped the magazine, made sponsorship pitches convincing, guided the website experience, and built the brand around CHIMPAN. Design wasn’t just one hat, it was the thread stitching all the others together.
If the flatplan doesn’t tell it all, the designer in me quickly emerged, securing its own hat. It reached far into editorial, website, social media and pitch decks that I’d send to sponsors. Design can truly shape the project!
Printing the cover, layer by layer
Finally, the printmaking hat was put into effect, allowing me to screen print every copy of 50+ pages each.
From idea to bookshelf
Three issues later, CHIMPAN has grown beyond its first experiment. Copies have been sold online and in independent bookstores including Athenaeum Boekhandels (Amsterdam) and Cahier Central (Paris). Each issue continues to evolve, balancing the tactile craft of screen printing with the reach of digital platforms.
But how can this project scale with it’s online counterpart?
See how I’ve worked on the CHIMPAN zine’s online presence and strategy ➡️