Paper Cuts
Art direction and layout for an independent magazine about collage and small-press printing, with hand-cut covers for every issue.
- Concept project
- 2026
- Print & Editorial
- Editorial design and art direction
The brief
Paper Cuts is a twice-yearly magazine about collage, zines and small presses. Each issue has a theme, a new colour and around eighty pages of interviews and studio visits.
Design direction
The masthead is set tight in a high-contrast serif; everything else sits on a strict twelve-column grid. Covers are built from hand-cut shapes in three spot colours, so no two issues look alike but the shelf still reads as one series.
Production
Printed offset in Pantone 803 and two process colours on 120 g uncoated paper, with the cover on 300 g board. Contents and interview spreads share one set of type styles so the magazine can be laid out quickly every issue.
3 issues
One masthead, one grid and a new hand-cut cover every issue.
Let the scissors make the mess. Let the grid clean it up.
Shae-Lynn McKenzie
Graphic design
