Alone in New York

Description

The story follows a girl who moves to New York City alone. No family, no friends, no familiarity, yet somehow, she feels less lonely because she is exactly where she has always wanted to be. As the story unfolds, the city becomes more than a setting. It becomes a symbol of independence, possibility, and the courage it takes to choose a life for yourself.

The visual direction was intentionally dreamlike. I used a limited palette of blues throughout the zine to create the feeling of a world suspended somewhere between memory and imagination, like stepping into a what if space. The imagery moves between recognizable New York scenes, crowds, silhouettes, and moments of solitude to reflect the emotional shift from feeling alone to feeling found. I wanted the images to capture not only the city itself, but the way the city exists in her imagination.

Typography became an important part of creating that intimacy. I chose a typewriter-inspired treatment to give the zine a personal, almost handwritten-in-spirit quality, as though the story had been typed out by the girl herself. It also nods to New York’s retro character and the feeling of discovering the city through an older, romanticized lens. The imperfections, texture, and repetition make the piece feel personal and tactile, like a story created slowly and intentionally.

Ultimately, Alone in NYC isn’t really about New York. It’s about becoming the person brave enough to choose the life you’ve always imagined for yourself. The city becomes a metaphor for that transformation: leaving behind what is familiar, embracing the uncertainty of the unknown, and giving yourself the possibility of discovering something, and perhaps someone, you never knew was there.