I researched into lighthearted and satirical magazine features to follow the fun, approachable tone I want FILLER to have. My main inspiration came from Bay Garnett’s Cheap Date magazine, which focuses on going against mainstream, mass-produced fashion and has a DIY zine feel. More recently, Mushpit magazine features satirical adverts and interactive elements such as quizzes and diagrams that comment on our contemporary society.

This made me want to take a lighthearted approach to other elements of trends I have observed. For example there is a youth trend in astrology and spirituality, with more and more young adults taking notice of horoscopes – Instagram alone is filled with “memes” dissecting our signs and how that explains our behaviour and personality traits. A popular app called Co-Star gives users daily astrological updates, and also allows you to add your friends so that you can view their natal charts and read in-depth compatibility results. So I created a satirical horoscopes feature in the zine, which turned knowledge of each star sign into lighthearted guidance on lifestyle and food habits, for example suggesting that Scorpios should “stop comparing your foodie Instagram pics to everyone else’s”.

The rise in “mindfulness” colouring books for adults’ mental health inspired me to create a “self-care must haves” colouring page, which used my personal illustration style to depict typical self-care products and behaviours for readers to colour in.