2025 09 26

Solo cloud. Somewhere west of Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

In designing my new zine project, I wanted the size to be Goldilocks; not too large but also not too small. I like the idea of letting the images shine on their own, and printing too small can remove some of the magic, in my opinion. That said, going bigger gets expensive and becomes a hassle to ship and handle. I settled on 8” x 10” vertical layout, despite the fact that I would’ve preferred a less wide (ie: an even smaller) form. The two factors that led me to compromise, in a sense, were: a) I much prefer horizontal images and get triggered by how much I’m almost forced to shoot vertical these days because of the cell phone. The winder aspect ratio allows for more room for horizontal images; and b) the added room on the page allows for some creativity in layout design. While the aim is to keep things relatively simple, I love the fact that zines are lower stakes productions and you can have a bit more fun with them. My goal is to partner with designers on future issues and explore more possibilities.

This image will likely get printed in a future zine. Be on the lookout for it in the year 2027. Seriously though, the “visual journal” zines I will be producing will be running a few years behind when I actually made the images. They gotta cook, slow!

You can pre-order my first zine drop and snag a free (8x10) print in the precess here.

-Clayton