Risograph vs Zine
リソグラフ / ジン／自主制作冊子
Risograph comes from Stencil Printing and Zine from Publishing and Editing. Both are read here as technique. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Risograph
Keeps the per-color plates and their happy misregistration, giving each copy its own body heat.
Zine
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Circulates personal and communal voices without publishers, through small runs, low budgets and DIY reproduction.
| Risograph | Zine | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1980s– / contemporary revival | 1930s– / 1970s revival |
| Family | Stencil Printing | Publishing and Editing |
| Kind | Technique | Technique |
| Cues | Misregistration / Spot-color inks / Halftone dots / Paper show-through | Photocopiers / Handwriting / Cut and paste / Small print runs |
| Best used for | Handmade heat for zines and event notices · Memorable print with very few colors | Booklets for a small readership, made and handed out entirely by the makers. · Subjects no commercial magazine will take, made fast and cheap and passed hand to hand. |
| Type | Bold letters or homely serifs, separated by color plate | Mix handwriting and typing, sizing letters by loudness rather than by grid. |
| Composition | Large planes where overlap and slippage stay visible | Treat the spread as one sheet and favor filling it over leaving margin. |
| Material | Two or three spot colors, coarse halftones, uncoated paper | Coarse photocopy tone, staple binding, the shadows of cut edges left in. |
| Caution | Don't fake it with a noise filter. Design how the colors overlap first. | Copying only the coarse photocopy look misses the point. Who is sharing what with whom comes first, and the roughness is a result of small runs and low budgets, not a goal. |