Those paying keen attention to our publishing schedule may notice this blog post is a little later than usual; I’ve been busy getting my family’s new puppy settled in! Meet our Argyle:
Anyway! Without further ado:
Starting a spec fic journal
It started with a conversation between Lauren and myself over lunch, mid-last year. I—in the process of trying to get a short story published—was bemoaning how few Australian speculative fiction journals there are. Lauren—in the midst of her Masters in Professional Writing and Publishing—was agonising on what to do for her major project. Our complaints muddled together, until we concluded the only thing for it was to start our own new Aussie spec fic publication.
Lauren began researching speculative fiction journals, and reaching out to journal editors. I, meanwhile, concerned myself with the very important matter of our journal’s appearance.
Choosing a colour scheme
From the start, we knew we wanted to focus on publishing Australian writers. So, for design inspiration, we looked to Australian literature, and landscapes.
An early idea for our journal title was Everlasting Stars and Fences, referencing Banjo Patterson’s Clancy of the Overflow, and Henry Lawson’s Up the Country. A title that conjures images of vast Australian outback stretching out under the starry skies.
And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
Banjo Patterson
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wond’rous glory of the everlasting stars.
`Sunny plains’! Great Scott! — those burning
Henry Lawson
wastes of barren soil and sand
With their everlasting fences stretching out across the land!
Desolation where the crow is! Desert where the eagle flies,
Paddocks where the luny bullock starts and stares with reddened eyes;
Where, in clouds of dust enveloped, roasted bullock-drivers creep
Slowly past the sun-dried shepherd dragged behind his crawling sheep.
Stunted peak of granite gleaming, glaring like a molten mass
Turned from some infernal furnace on a plain devoid of grass.
But for me, ‘everlasting’ also brought to mind the flowers, everlastings (flowers frequently come to my mind).
They’re also known as paper daisies, which I thought tied in nicely with stories, and writing. During spring, they pop up all over Perth; they also have that connection to place we wanted.
Only, everlastings are pink and white. Which is a lovely colour scheme; I think they’re very pretty. But, Lauren and I both agreed, it is not a colour scheme which lends itself to speculative fiction. Imagine, for a moment, Lauren’s short story “The Debutants” against a backdrop of pastel pinks.
If we had intended instead to publish gentle romances, maybe… but no. So, we scrapped that idea.
We also decided Everlasting Stars and Fences was a too much of a mouthful. That was scrapped too.
Still, we liked the idea of using Australian flora in our design. We have a lot of unique and striking endemic plants, from grass trees to grevilleas, and kangaroo paws to bottlebrushes. And that’s just in my front yard.
As we say on our about page, we wanted a symbol to represent the unique voices of Australian authors, so what better symbol than an example of Australia’s unique endemic flora?
The colour of banksias
The design inspiration did come from my front yard; from a banksia right next to where I park the car. It has lovely orange and yellow flowers—just click over to our home page to see.
I put together a colour swatch based on this banksia, then sent it over to Lauren. I was a little nervous about what she’d think, because she’d recently said she wasn’t fond of the colour orange. But, I was pleased to hear back that she did in fact really like it!
I tweaked and expanded the banksia colour palette. As well as vibrant banksia flowers, I was also still thinking about paper, and made sure to include sepia creams and browns.
I collected photos of banksias: some of the one in my front yard, some from King’s Park. There’s a section dedicated to banksias in the botanic gardens. You can see these photos all over the website, for example there’s a photo from the King’s Park Botanic Gardens at the top of our submissions page.
Through this process, I began thinking of the journal as Banksia Journal. The name stuck.
What was your first impression of the banksia themed colour scheme we went with for the website?
Lauren
The nature theme appealed instantly, I think – it stands out amongst other online speculative fiction journals and has a unique colour palette that fits with our mission of representing new, preferably undiscovered authors. A family member also commented that it almost looks like the Australian Olympic colours, which aligns with our goal of boosting under represented Australian authors of speculative fiction. Note, though, that no-one in my family has any artistic sense whatsoever (me most of all!) so in case of possible offence taken at this completely incorrect interpretation I’ll refrain from naming said family member. Brittany can probably guess, however.
Designing a logo
Once we’d settled on Banksia Journal, the logo of course had to be a banksia.
I started scribbling banksias.
I settled on a design I think has a fun, stylised shape. The jagged edges radiating outwards look something like an explosion—this was one of the first comments Lauren made to me about it.
I did think, when working on the logo, it looked something like an exploding spaceship, giving it something of a science fiction edge. I’m not sure this lands, though. With the colours, and the context, it definitely reads as a banksia flower.
I also wanted the logo to have something of a hand drawn look—again subtly connecting to the idea of paper—while not looking like a scribbled mess.
So, I kept the line art quite smooth, but also uneven, with places trailing off, and not quite connecting. While perhaps not quite reminiscent of hand drawing, I do think this gives it a more natural feel.
What was your first impression of the banksia logo?
Lauren
Much the same as above, really! Unique, like the banksia flower and our mission, but bold and eminently professional. It’s instantly recognisable, and works in multiple colours but isn’t too complicated. There are DEFINITELY plans (that have just gone live) to have it printed on shirts/tote-bags/stickers/etc… for promotional (and just plain supportive) purposes which I may or may not be unnecessarily excited about. More on that at the end of this post…
Designing genre symbols
The banksia theming is all well and good—it captures the Australian flavour we want for our journal—but it doesn’t exactly scream speculative fiction.
So, I also designed fantasy, science fiction, and horror themed symbols, which you can see on our stories page. My aim was to create simple images, with distinct associations with speculative genres.
Simplicity was a key consideration. I briefly considered drawing a little dragon for fantasy, but the magic wand won out by virtue of being a much simpler shape.
But, it was not the only consideration. Skulls have a distinctive shape, and are readily associated with horror. But, they are not exactly simple. Did you know there are 29 bones in the skull (depending on how you count them)? I did not draw them all. I considered a little cartoon ghost for horror, which would have been much simpler. But, it was not as striking as a skull. So, the skull won.
Get my designs on a t-shirt
Or notebook, or tote bag, or phone case…
Banksia Journal has just launched a Redbubble shop! Show off you love of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and/or banksias with the wide range of available products.
Is the Redbubble shop working? Let us know if you encounter an issue!
All money we make will go towards paying our authors, so we can keep publishing a new story each month.
On that note, keep your eyes peeled for a new horror story coming up at the end of this month—if you don’t want to miss it, you can join our mailing list.
Brittany Lee is the co-founder, and editor of Banksia Journal. She is a writer from Perth, Western Australia, with a BA in Linguistics, and Postgrad Diploma in Journalism. Her work has appeared in AntipodeanSF, Dusty Attic Publishing, and Perth’s Raine Square Story Dispenser. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, knitting, and taking photos of flowers (such as banksias).
You can find her online at brittanyerinlee.com.