About the Ottawa Design Club Zine
The Ottawa Design Club zine is an annual print publication built around a single theme. Each edition begins with a call for submissions and grows through a year-long process that moves from open contribution to curation, design, and public presentation.
The theme sets the direction, but the content is shaped by the community. Submissions come from designers, artists, and writers working across disciplines, cities, and stages of their careers. Each edition is reviewed by a different guest jury, bringing fresh perspectives to the selection process year after year. From there, each issue is carefully curated to create a cohesive publication rather than a collection of disconnected works.
Once selected, the zine enters a full design phase. Layout, pacing, materials, and printing choices are treated as part of the storytelling. The goal is to create a physical object that feels intentional and considered, something meant to be held, revisited, and kept as part of a personal collection.
The zine doesn’t stop at print. Each edition extends into a public moment, whether through a launch event, exhibition, or gathering built around the same theme. This creates a bridge between the printed work and the people behind it, allowing conversations to continue beyond the page.
The Ottawa Design Club zine is a celebration of print. The content is not available online, and no digital version is released. Each issue is meant to be experienced physically, as a tangible record of the project and the people who shaped it.
Curators for Building Bridges, Pearly Pouponneau, Anthony Léger and Pooja Powaskar
BTS of Building Bridges Printing Proofs
Photo by Finn
Photo by Finn
What it means to be featured
Being featured in the Ottawa Design Club zine means becoming part of an official publication. Each issue carries an ISSN, which means contributors can list their work as a published credit on their CV or resume.
The zines are produced in limited runs and distributed through Ottawa Design Club, independent shops across Canada and beyond, and occasionally internationally. Contributors are presented alongside artists and designers with a wide range of experience and visibility, creating space for emerging voices to sit next to more established ones.
For many contributors, the zine becomes:
- a tangible piece of their practice
- a published credit they can reference professionally
- something they can point to long after the event has passed
For others, it’s a way to experiment, share work in a different format, or contribute to a larger conversation within the design community.
Photo by Uncommon Sessions
Photo by Uncommon Sessions
Photo by Uncommon Sessions
Why the process matters
The Ottawa Design Club zine is not a one-off project. It’s a process built around care, time, and collaboration. From choosing the theme to curating submissions, designing the publication, and creating a public moment around it, each step is treated as part of the work.
Owning the zine means holding a record of that process. Being featured means participating in it.
Photo by Uncommon Sessions