Here's What Jane Austen Taught Me About Smartphones

‘In the News’ collage making + my first zine

Feb 08, 2025

When I followed a girl to Ann Arbor in 2018, I left my job as a newspaper designer and copy editor at The Holland Sentinel in West Michigan.

I wasn’t sad to leave behind my entry-level newspaper salary, but I did miss the job as I figured out what I was going to do next. Wanting to continue to support local journalism, I subscribed to the twice-weekly paper edition of The Ann Arbor News. Shortly thereafter, I discovered the joy of collage.

In addition to cutting up Life and National Geographic like every other collage maker does, I decided to cannibalize my newspapers to create new “stories” from its pages, leaning on my experience with newspaper layout at The Sentinel. The only rule I had was that each collage needed to be from a single edition of the paper.1

It’s been a few years since I’ve made what I called an “In the News” collage, but looking back at these, it’s the perfect exercise for an entry point into collage and art-making in general:

No skill or experience is required.
Newspaper is cheap, ephemeral, and intentionally both.
The only materials needed are newspaper, scissors (or an x-acto knife), glue and a sketchbook (or even just a piece of paper).
It’s loose and messy by default. You can’t get too caught up in aesthetics or craft when you’re cutting out headlines from newsprint, so you don’t even need to worry about it. Just make something.
Searching through the newspaper to make one of these teaches you to look for relationships and juxtapositions in your materials—a practice that is at the heart of collage making and, I’d argue, art and design in general.

I would also argue that this practice can help you process the news with humor—something I think is increasingly important.

Have I sold you yet? Here are some more that I made.

And, if you’re so inclined, you can turn these collages into a zine! This is the first zine I’ve ever made. I’ve always wanted to, but wasn’t sure what to make. I see many more in my future.

If you’re interested, you can purchase a copy here:

Buy a zine

What do you think? Writing this newsletter made me want to go run out to the newspaper stand and make some more.

If want to try this exercise, I’d love to see it.

News

I am now offering book design critiques to paid subscribers! Read the announcement here:

Introducing Book Design Critiques

Nathaniel Roy

Feb 5

Read full story

I scheduled my first How to Design a Book Cover guest post! It’ll be available to everyone toward the end of the month.

What I’m Reading (books)

I’m dipping in and out, seeing what sticks …

How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer by Debbie Millman
The Memory Palace by Nate Dimeo
The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman (for my book club with my mom)
Lover Man by Alston Anderson

What I’m Reading (links)

A cheery bunch this week. I’m doing great, why do you ask?

New segment alert! Every so often I will see a writer share their sparkling new book cover via their newsletter or Substack Notes. This segment will be where I occasionally feature some I stumble across.

Note: Chances of a feature improve exponentially if you include a designer credit.

A Paper Orchestra by
Michael Jamin
(self published)

Cover design by Jenny Carrow.

Bonus: Read about the process here.

A Dog in Georgia by
Lauren Grodstein
(Algonquin Books)

Dogland by
Tommy Tomlinson
(paperback cover, Simon & Schuster)

Thanks for Reading!

Thank you for reading! I mean it.

If you’d like to keep this newsletter going and help me say no to designing soul-sucking books about corporate events, email marketing, and raising capital, consider becoming a paid subscriber or buying me a coffee.

Paid subscribers get access to How to Design a Book Cover, a bonus series illuminating my book design process, and Book Design Critiques, a bonus series in which I kindly and candidly critique a paid subscriber’s book design.