VANESSA LAM Q&A
Hello Vanessa. You live in LA. How’s that?
I’ve lived in LA for about seven years now, and it took about four years for me to really start loving this city. But once I gave it a chance, Los Angeles has a lot to offer and there are always new places to explore. It’s a strange place with so many microcosms of culture that its own identity is undefinable in just one particular way.
On the recommendation of Gym Class Magazine friends Daniel Gray and Corey Thompson, I recently purchased a copy of your UFO infographic zine Society for Scientific Inquiry of Paranormal Atmospheric and Cosmic Anomalies. And I’m glad I did, it’s brill. Love it.
It’s a self-promotion project. How has it been received?
Thanks! It didn’t start explicitly as a self-promotion piece, I originally did it out of my own fascination for the subject matter. I never really intended it to be a publicly sold zine, but I had people asking if it was for sale so that’s when I started considering getting it printed. It’s been a great experience to have folks contact me and tell me their thoughts on UFOs, design, zines, what have you. It’s always nice to connect with others whether it be in the form of conversations, trades, collaborations, work, etc. I think, especially as a graphic design student [at LA’s Art Center College of Design], it’s important to network and continually learn, learn, learn. I’m glad others are so interested in the project as well. Curiously, most people who have bought the zine are males.
Have you had any feedback from anyone who claims to have seen a UFO?
I’ve had a couple people tell me they’ve seen UFOs, they were pretty excited about the piece. I imagine many who buy the zine are at least open to the idea of something else being out there.
Why did you choose UFOs? Are you a believer?
I loved X-files and fantastical books as a kid. It only made sense to translate this interest into a design project. I believe in the possibility of other life forms, but it’s not my intention to push that agenda into the project. The zine is left more open ended and ambiguous, the conclusion is up to the reader.
I read over on For Print Only how you achieved the zine’s distressed/worn vibe. You first laser printed the artwork, crumpled it, photocopied it and scanned it. Genius! What’s the rationale behind this process and did it take a long time to achieve the end result?
I definitely wanted the zine to merge analytical data with a do-it-yourself, low brow aesthetic. When dealing with conspiracy theories, secret government files, questionable data and the absurd, I don’t think that the design should be too ‘clean’. To get the look a lot of it was just experimentation and letting the material and process drive the end result. For example, on one of the pages I spent a long time making a composition and then when I printed it out something went wrong with my laser printer and it came out completely skewed and unrecognizable. But I loved it, it was way more interesting and compelling than what I had originally. So I scanned the printout back into my computer and used that one instead. Ultimately this way of working can get somewhat tedious, but that’s the fun part of doing something like this and seeing what you discover along the way.
How long did it take for you to research all the information and create the infographics?
The whole project took about two months.
Have you got any more zines planned?
Not at the moment, but I have a few ideas floating around my mind..
Thanks for your time, Vanessa. You rock!
Thank you, Steven!
More information: Vanessa Lam