A Mini Puzzle Zine

Like the ones in the grocery store checkout aisles

I love a good puzzle. I love a good riddle. I love figuring things out. I love cutting up paper. I just love making things.

My work as a graphic designer in production can be very detailed. My efforts are technical and precise, as we prepare creative to be released in the world of print.

One of my goals on my 2025 bingo card is making more independent physical creations. Working with my hands again, sending creative out to friends and loved ones¹, cutting paper, making stickers, journaling, designing my own physical collateral.

When I started creating the concept for my project, I wanted something that was quick and dirty. Loose guidelines, more organic movement, placement and composition. No long sprints of work, but creating on a quick timeline. Something that didn’t need multiple rounds of revisions or overthinking elements of design. A bit of a challenge, but also something that came naturally to me. Design something, put it in production, make it real, and that’s it.

It’s created.

Over Christmas break, I bought a book of puzzles from the grocery store. You know, the ones near the tiny bags of chips and candy bars in the checkout line. I started doing them before bed, after I was done reading for the night. An alternative to scrolling on my phone. As I finished the sudoku puzzles, I kept thinking of how these publications could be a lot cuter and my brain started concepting from there.

Enter the zine. Zines are small, diy/self-published creative works, usually photocopied and distributed in small batches.

A Mini Puzzle Zine is my first physical, self published zine. It is a small book of four puzzles; sudoku, word search, crossword, and hidden objects.

It was created with the intention of taking a break from digital spaces and exercising the mind with pen to paper puzzles. There is no pressure, no completion times, just simple puzzles.

Main themes center around the cosmic universe and wellness, in true Alchemie form. It’s all very silly and unserious. I illustrated the hidden objects puzzle of space and aliens at the end.

It’s crazy to have this tiny book in my hands—from a random idea in my mind, created in a little corner in my home office, from my own experiences in life and design.

I’m excited to share this publication with you, and look forward to making more physical things this year! You can get your own copy here in my shop.

As always, thank you for being here.

1. I recently started sending snail mail to a friend, so that’s fun!