An automated zine generator for printing personalized publications on-demand.

Zine-on-Demand is a p5.js application that generates zines from user-uploaded images and AI-generated text.

We’re interested in the changing relationship between the designer and the machine, in which the machine automates the production process and the designer acts as curator. The zine-on-demand program goes a step further by facilitating an automated collaboration between the viewer and the machine. In this case, the designer is the system architect and the viewer assumes the role of curator. Once the designer has set up the system, creative authority is relinquished to the user and machine.

We sold zines printed-to-order at the 2017 Publications and Multiples Fair in Baltimore and hope to improve the system and participate in more print fairs in the future.