Flyers, magazines and counterculture: How Phase Zero captures New York’s creative scene

Phase Zero is an open submission magazine initiated by Maya Valencia and Sydney Maggin, two New York-based graphic designers “obsessed with the encapsulation of culture through print ephemera”. The publication’s aim? To try to document the ever-evolving “visual language of contemporary counterculture in NYC”.

With five time capsule-like issues under their belts, the duo have self-published hundreds of artist works with the aim to share an “accurate insight” into the city’s alternative scene, leaving nothing out in the process. Leading with the idea that it isn’t their “role to curate what content gets included and what doesn’t” says Maya, the publication accepts, prints and distributes all of its submissions. The expansive joy of this editorial inclusivity manifests itself in the wide ranging content of each 32-page-issue, jam-packed with “an eclectic mix of comics, poetry, writing, illustrations and photography”.

Maya and Sydney are inspired by the production methods of 70s punk fanzines, giving the magazine a distinct DIY aesthetic. Unlike the complete open door policy on submissions, some things had to be thrown out when it came to production methods. Sydney says: “We gave the publication some specific constraints”, which resulted in a 32-page black-and-white letter-sized magazine, printed on copy paper and staple-bound. These restrictions gave their broad range of content a uniform home and “some sort of system to work within”, says Sydney, facilitating efficient production in a very independent, hands-on process. “The two of us are the printing press. We print, fold, and staple together all 300 issues with love.”

Each issue of Phase Zero includes a two-colour screen-printed foldout poster on newsprint, as well as a custom contributor-designed typeface that is screen or Riso printed on the cover, as well as a “different contributor design for every new issue’s colourful quarter-page cover”, says Maya. The cover design itself, acts as a constantly reworked, overlaid manifesto for the project, continuously annotated and edited by the designers, pointing to the fact that the project is “always subject to change”.

In line with their hands-on approach, the pair don’t focus much of their energy on social media. Instead, they post flyers all over New York City guerrilla style as a call out for contributions and a way to spread the word about Phase Zero. Sydney says: “Using flyers as our main method of communication has allowed us to reach a wider audience”, rather than relying on social media and its algorithms, which, in their opinion “often boosts information into an echochamber of users who engage with similar online content”.

The pair have found great success with this old school style of advertising, noting that most of their magazine’s contributors have found them through their flyers rather than their site or their Instagram. “We like to say that our target audience is anyone who stops and reads things on the street,” says Maya. With anyone who passes by able to contribute, this might be the perfect democratic advertisement for such a free-spirited magazine.

With their seventh issue well underway featuring “over 60 contributors so far” there is no shortage of new and exciting things to come for Phase Zero. When asked about the future of the project Sydney says they are going to continue with distribution events, community meetings, and launch parties to continue to “make a personal connection with each contributor and reader”, through print.

If you are New York based you can find Phase Zero at Bungee Space, Human Relations, Village Works and Desert Island Comics and grab yourself a copy. You may also come across some of Phase Zero’s colourful flyers made by friends and contributors on your travels, that is, of course, if you are the kind of person that “stops and reads things on the street”.