Behind the Zines: Building Community Through Print with Izzy Poirier and Caroline Sarrette
One of the things I love most about building a brand is the opportunity to explore creative projects beyond my core offering. Whether it’s a podcast, a book, or a YouTube channel, these projects allow us to share our work in new and exciting ways.
That’s why I’m so excited to share my conversation with Izzy Poirier and Caroline Sarrette, the brilliant minds behind the Ottawa and New York Design Clubs. In this episode, we go behind the scenes on their latest collaborative project: a beautifully designed zine. We discuss the entire process, from the initial idea during the pandemic to navigating difficult printers and securing sponsorship. Izzy and Caroline share candidly about the struggles of managing a huge project with lots of collaborators, but also the incredible benefits and sense of community it has brought them. If you’ve ever thought about launching a creative project to showcase your work, you’re going to love this episode.
Key TakeawaysPassion Projects Fuel Your Brand: Running the design club and creating a zine has been a huge undertaking, but it has directly influenced Izzy's business, helping her define her niche in community building and bringing her new client work.
Embrace the "Silent Work": A finished zine or a successful event looks effortless, but it’s built on a mountain of unseen work, from endless email outreach to speaker rehearsals and logistical planning. It's the underlying passion for the project that keeps you motivated through the long hours.
Challenges Build Resilience: Every hurdle, from finding the right speakers to navigating a tense negotiation with a printer that changed a quote by 50%, is a lesson. Overcoming this friction is what improves your processes and makes you stronger.
Print Creates Tangible Community: The zine began during the pandemic as a way to archive creativity happening during lockdown. It has since become a tangible way to showcase artists, create conversations, and even help contributors land jobs.
Episode Highlights
- 05:47: Izzy explains how starting the Ottawa Design Club at the exact same time as her freelance business was a strategic move to build a network and find her niche.
- 10:04: Discover how the zine began during the pandemic to create a repertoire of the amazing creativity happening in isolation, and how the first edition sold out in just three days.
- 17:10: Caroline discusses the specific challenges of building a community in a city like New York, including cutting through the noise to find speakers and sourcing affordable venues.
- 27:53: Izzy shares the incredibly intense story of a sponsorship deal with a printer going wrong, how she navigated a tense negotiation, and the importance of standing your ground for your community.
- 34:59: Learn about the theme of the latest zine, "Pivotal Moments", which explores the career-defining shifts that creatives experience and aims to inspire readers to embrace change.
Izzy Poirier is a brand designer and strategist and the founder of the Ottawa Design Club. Caroline Sarrette is a graphic designer and art director who runs the New York chapter of the Design Club.
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