Making the one-sheet zine: eight pages, one cut

The one-sheet zine is the classic first project. It needs a single sheet of paper, a pair of scissors and a pen, and it makes a little booklet with a front cover, a back cover and six pages inside. It is also a clean way to understand imposition, because you can fold it and see everything in your hands.

The fold

Take a sheet of A4 and fold it in half three times, to make eight panels. First fold it in half across the width. Fold that in half again the same way. Then fold in half a third time the other direction. Unfold it and you will see a grid of eight panels, four across and two down, with creases between them.

The sheet is held landscape. The cut goes along the middle fold, but only through the central two panels: from the fold at the left, cut in along the centre line until you reach the middle crease, then stop. Do not cut through to the edges.

The push

Fold the sheet in half the long way, so the cut is on the fold. Hold the ends and push them towards each other. The cut opens into a diamond, which you keep pushing until the panels meet in a cross. Flatten the cross into a booklet, with the spine on one side and the page edges on the other.

That is the whole trick. It feels like magic the first time because a flat sheet becomes a booklet with no glue and no staples.

The page order

The pages on the flat sheet are not in order, and half of them are upside down. If you hold the sheet landscape with the cut line running across the middle, the top row, left to right, carries pages 5, 4, 3, 2 and they are upside down. The bottom row, left to right, carries 6, 7, 8, 1, the right way up. Page 1 is the front cover and page 8 is the back cover.

Treat that as a pattern to copy, then check it in the Folding Table by choosing the one-sheet mini-zine option. The table shows the two rows and marks the panels that are upside down. Make a rough version on scrap paper, number the panels by hand and fold it before you draw the real pages.

Drawing and printing

You can draw straight onto the sheet. Keep the page numbers in pencil as a guide, and rotate the sheet when you draw the upside-down panels, so the images come out upright after folding.

To print, make eight pages at A7, since each panel is an eighth of an A4 sheet. Set the layout on a single A4 sheet, with the top row rotated through 180 degrees. If your printer prints on one side only, you do not need to worry about the flip. This format uses a single side, which is the main reason it is so easy.

Tips

• Crease each fold firmly with a fingernail or a bone folder, and the booklet will sit flat.
• Draw or print light colours near the cut, since the cut line will interrupt the picture.
• Leave a margin of about 5 mm around each panel, so the folds do not clip your work.
• Use a heavier paper, about 100 gsm, if you plan to hand it out, because standard paper wears quickly.
• Photocopy your master. A black and white original copies well, and a run of twenty takes minutes.

Where to go next

Once you have made one, try a version where each panel is a chapter, a recipe or a portrait. Add a hand-lettered title on the front cover. When the eight pages feel small, move to the two-sheet saddle-stitched booklet, which has the same cover and back cover but gives you twelve pages inside.

Why it works

The one-sheet zine works because of the way a rectangle divides by halving. Eight panels fold into a stack of eight pages with one cut, and the sequence of folds sets the order. The same logic applies to bigger booklets, only with more sheets and more care. If you understand the little one, the larger layouts stop being mysterious.