Project Duration
Jan 2024 - May 2024
Team
Executive Director - China Qin
Designers - Octavia Zagoriec, Caroline Shen, Michelle Wu, Leilani Aggarwal, Vicky Kuo
Social Media - Cynthia Cao and Vanessa Peng
Photography - Octavia Zagorec
Copywriter - Emily Cheng
Mentors
Hua Dong - Principal Lecturer in Chinese; Coordinator of the Chinese Program
Project Background
My role as the executive director at Ganbei Zine, Northeastern’s first Chinese and Asian American literary publication, was to facilitate meetings and events, produce and direct the output of a biannual magazine issue, and manage the logistics behind the scenes to release a submissions-based edition bound together with the utmost attention and care.
For the Spring 2024 semester we asked our readers through the semesterly theme of Tea! to reflect on the cultural narrative of Tea as both a symbol, a storytelling vessel, and a cultural tradition through three questions:
Share your most compelling tea-time gossip or stories that intertwine with your Asian American heritage.
Exploring identity through the contemporary lens of 'tea' as gossip and shared stories, how do these conversations reveal, conceal, or complicate your sense of self and belonging?
Beyond the beverage, tea can be a form of art and expression. How do you interpret the aesthetics, rituals, or ceremonies of tea within the Asian American context?
Exploring Personal and Tactile Layout Formats
After deciding on a theme, we explored methods of making that personalized the submissions-based format of personal writings, photos, and illustrations. We considered envelopes and even teabags, but a tea menu caught our eye; many members had personal experiences dining-in with family at dimsum parlors while selecting from a sprawling menu of teas and entrees.
While combing through, curating, and organizing submissions we needed to make a decision on how to lay out this formatted zine. Initially, we wanted each submission to be a tier on its own, though we ultimately we divided two tiers in to chapters and tucked submissions under each chapter. This gave us flexibility when we had to order and arrange the submissions to best tell the story of Tea! and would also continue the tradition of each editing being divided in at least two chapters. A tiered tea menu, moreover, was a tactile and engaging medium to flip through. There was something about holding each page like a card on its own that made each entry all the more precious.
Menu Design and Construction
A 5.5 x 8.5 inch zine laid out and cut into a tea menu, where entries (entrees) are split between two chapters: “Signature Sips” and “Special-Teas,” cut in the same size as each section of the menu-themed zine. Layered sections of the Zine mimic a multi-tiered tea menu. Entries (entrees) are split between two chapters: “Signature Sips” and “Special-Teas.” Shown here are 3 entries from “Special-Teas.”
Pages and illustrations were created by Ganbei team members. Included below are some submissions from readers, designed to be stacked between the two chapters “Signature Sips” and “Special-Teas,” like menu inserts.
Launch Party and Community Release
At the end of each semester, we held a launch party to celebrate the release of the zine and book entires. Everyone had a chance to flip through the book and read each of the entries as well as enjoy jasmine flowered tea as a refreshment.
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