Punk Fanzine: Sniffin’ Glue

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A punk fan holding a copy of the fanzine Sniffin' Glue
A punk fan holding a copy of the fanzine Sniffin’ Glue, Hope and Anchor, London, November 1976. (Photo by Erica Echenberg/Redferns)

The DIY style was one of the novelties that British punk introduced in the 1970s. A fresh perspective on music, fashion, and design that questioned the status quo challenged the notion that design was the exclusive domain of designers and design processes. One of these experiments involved the publication of many fanzines, which were made using straightforward methods, including cut and paste, hand-drawn lettering, rough marks, cropped photographs, and photocopying. There were hundreds of these fanzines, the most well-known of which being Sniff in ‘Glue. Despite their brief lifespan and little circulation, they had a big impact on mainstream publishing. In the 1980s, one little fanzine, i-D, published by the art director Terry Jones, evolved from a fanzine into a big publishing success. By doing this, i-D brought these methods to the world’s attention, where designers from all over the world translated and applied them.

Sniffin' Glue Punk Fanzine Compilation
Sniffin’ Glue Punk Fanzine Compilation

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

McDermott, C. (2011). Modern Design.

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