Steamed Egg Zine
Designer | Fall 2023
Adobe Suite
This zine is based on a bastardized version of steamed egg that my grandmother had taught me when I was super young. It was such an easy and delicious recipe to make that I ate it throughout my college years as well. Because of how frequently I made this dish, as well as its tie to my Korean roots, I thought this could be an interesting self-introductory zine idea.
I took a nostalgic approach to this project, as I wanted to explore how such a traditional Korean recipe could become an emblem of the Korean-American identity through its generations of adaptation.
My Inspiration:
While compiling the vibe I wanted to evoke, the graphic nature of South Korean ads from the 70s were particularly impactful. The loud colors, bold type, and half-tone imagery reflected a time beyond me, yet still fit the nostalgic, childlike vibe I wanted to bring to my zine.
Each piece of Korean copy is paired with an English translation.
Additionally, each image is cut in the shape of its respective bowl or microwave. Because of that I wanted to make sure that the front and back interior pages looked appropriate no matter what page the reader is on. I also ensured that all the text on the cut pages would have enough space.
The Recipe:
A core element of my zine is to demonstrate the adaptive nature of my version of steamed eggs. My grandmother passed this recipe down orally, which means that in some steps I’ve had to fill in what I don’t recall of her instructions. In other cases, I made deliberate modifications due to circumstances like not having an ingredient accessible at my college campus.
