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Manga Zine Design

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Manga Zine Design

Create a short manga-inspired zine set among rock pools at low tide. Plan a clear story, make deliberate choices about panels and visual techniques, then reflect on how your design guides a reader. You can develop the idea here or adapt it for your own zine.

Read the brief

A zine is a small, independently made publication. For this project, Amira and Hamish are making an eight-page manga-inspired zine about an unexpected discovery at a rock pool. They want readers to follow the action easily, even when the page layouts become dramatic. Manga artists can use close-ups to emphasise emotion, wide shots to establish a setting, varied panel sizes to control pacing, and motion lines or sound effects to suggest movement and sound. The creators will choose a reading order and use it consistently. Their story needs a beginning, a problem or turning point, and an ending.

1.According to the brief, what is a zine, and what makes it suitable for a short personal story?

2.Which visual choice would best establish the setting before the characters notice the octopus?

A wide shot showing the rocky shore and pools
A close-up of a character’s eye
A speech bubble with no image
A tiny panel showing only a sound effect

3.Amira spots movement in the pool, but the reader should not see what it is until the next page. Name one layout or pacing choice that could build suspense, and explain how it would work.

4.True or false: using a close-up of Hamish’s face could help readers understand his reaction without adding dialogue.

TrueFalse

Plan the zine

Use your own ideas or build on the rock-pool discovery brief. Make choices that help a reader understand the story.

5.Write a one-sentence story premise for your zine. Include the main character, the discovery or problem, and what is at stake.

6.Give your main character one visible design feature and one personality trait. Explain how the visible feature could help express the trait.

7.Plan what happens across all eight zine pages. Use short notes; make sure the story has a beginning, a turning point, and an ending.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Sketch a rough page layout for the moment of discovery. Draw at least three panels, use arrows or numbers to show reading order, and label one choice that guides the reader’s attention.

8.Choose two techniques for your discovery page from varied panel sizes, close-ups, wide shots, motion lines, and sound effects. For each, state what it will help the reader understand or feel.

9.What reading direction will you use for your zine, and what can you do with panel placement or arrows to make that order easy to follow?

Review your design

Think about the experience of someone reading your zine for the first time.

10.Identify one possible clarity problem in your layout, such as crowded panels or an unclear reading order. Describe one change that would fix it.

11.How could your setting, character details, or dialogue reflect an Australian coastal experience without relying on stereotypes? Give one specific example.