With South Side Zine Fest + Carnival 2026 upon us this weekend, I’d like to pull back the curtain for a moment to give y’all a peek at my co-organizer Jamie Kadas’ process to design this year’s logo. She started with a pencil sketch, which she transformed into a beautiful full-color illustration that truly places our event at the crux of two places so many of us call home: The zine community and the South Side of Chicago.

Here’s what Jamie had to say about the logo:

“I had a lot of fun creating this illustration. I kept a blue zine as the backdrop for the text to pay homage to Aim Ren Beland’s 2025 South Side Zine Fest logo design. I used a combination of primary colors, candy pieces, and zine supplies to add a carnival feel to the logo. Lastly, the city skyline outline is the view from Palmisano Park in Bridgeport (I traced a photo I took so it would be an actual view from the South Side).”

Jamie not only designed our gorgeous logo, she created all of the stunning visuals for our fest, from digital and print flyers to the scavenger hunt cards you’ll receive at the door. And that’s on top of running off hundreds of copies of our program, building our Bozo buckets game, and handling a zillion other behind-the-scenes tasks that must be done to make a zine fest happen.

Since we launched our fest in 2025, Jamie and I have been a small (but, I like to think, mighty!) two-person organizing team. There honestly isn’t anyone else I could imagine doing this with, and I’m not saying that just because she and I are both Virgos who happen to share the same birthday. (Never underestimate #TeamVirgo.)

When you join us at SSZF2026 this Saturday, you’ll see the heart Jamie put into this fest all around you. You can also find her zines and artwork at the Curvy Girl Comics table and online at jamiekadas.com.

We can’t wait to celebrate zines with y’all in Bridgeport!

South Side forever,

Cynthia