Digital Scrapbooking/Graphic Design

Hi there - I have just been looking at some digital scrapbooking on the web.

There are some really talented people doing design stuff which looks REALLY complicated and I was wondering - is there a "formal" difference between digital scrapbooking and graphic design?

Maybe it's the content/process and not the tecnique/medium that defines it as scrapbooking?

To those who do a lot of digital scrapbooking - do you have graphic design training or do you treat and approach it in the same way as your regular scrapbooking?

Personally I just love the feel of handling (or is it buying!!) all the bits and pieces so I don't think I could ever completely "go digital" but I am going to give it a go for a mini-book with some freebies I found. I can get a whole collection too for $10 which seems like such a bargain compared to the paper products, stamps, rubons, etc etc which come with a regular collection!

Has anyone gone completely "digital" and if so - why and how did you do it OR do you combine both - and if so - how do you choose what to do digital and what not?

I have gone to the other side, lol. Total digi now and absolutely loving it. Do not miss the paper and glue. It is just as creative and alot less frustrating when you cannot "find" that perfect piece of paper you bought or know you have the best embellie but can't find it amongst all the "stuff" you have. I was really organized too but still overwhelmed with products.

I love being able to turn off my computer and my scrap area is clean.

Check out my gallery and see what digi can do for you!

I use a program called memory mixer and I also have photoshop elements but memory mixer is easier for me.

Just bought the memory mixer and started fooling around and there it was!

I have zero knowledge of graphic design but I have gone from paper scrapping to digital completely. The paper stuff was just starting to overwhelm me and I was spending a fortune.....buying a kit and using it multiple times really appealed on that level plus I love that tidying up consists of hitting 'minimize' I also just came to love the effects that can be achievd digitally that couldn't be done with paper...more sophisticated somehow.

I thought I'd miss paper but I don't. Occcasionally I might look at my old pages and get a surge of nostalgia for Basic Grey papers but not enouigh to ever make me go back.

Scrappercaz - hmm yummy yum yum - Daniel Craig!!

I looked at your gallery - I just love the effects you can get with the digi that you just cannot get with the regular - I LOVE this for example http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/146545/view /2687775/...

Your layouts look awesome on screen - but do you then print them out or do you keep them digitally?

If you print them out do you do it yourself or take them to a printshop - or is the whole idea of digital that you keep them to look at "electronically"?

I know you say you don't miss the "stuff" but what about the being able to "touch something that you created" thing - or am I just being overly sentimental after a glass of wine (it's 9:30pm here in New Zealand!)

I'm a digi scrapper, and I also do a little kit-making. I have NO training in graphic design, though I may, at some point in the future, pursue a degree. I went to digi because, first, my son gifted me with photoshop cs3, and challenged me to learn to use it before he got back from Iraq, and second, because I was out of work and could not afford to get all those lovely supplies I wanted for paper scrapping. I had the basics, but I just couldn't go all out like I wanted. So I searched and searched, and accumulated a HUGE stash of digi freebies, and played and played until I figured out how to get the effects that I wanted with all that "stuff" that is conveniently stored on a tiny little external hard drive...stuff that, if it were real, would take up two rooms of my entire house, I'm sure, lol! I don't miss paper scrapping....digi's for me!

Glad you share my appreciation of the gorgeous Mr Craig and thanks for the compliments on my gallery!

• lmcnabb Said:

I do print a lot of them out, yes. Some I just put in a regular scrapbook album, my favourite ones get framed. I know a lot of digi scrappers get them printed as photobooks which I haven't done yet. I don't print myself as I don't have a 12x12 printer but I know some people do.

I scrapbook digitally and with paper. I am on digi and paper design teams as well. You can take a look at my gallery if you'd like.

http://www.scrapbook.com/myplace/index.php?mod=gallerie...

I tend to digi scrap when I don't have time to pull out my paper stuff and make a huge mess. LOL I love the undo button in Photoshop Elements. Much easier than Undu in the paper scrapping world.

I get my digi layouts printed into 7x7 books at Blurb.com where I'm able to customize the covers and everything. My kids LOVE looking at their digi books as much as their paper books.

I also love handling the paper and glue so I'd never give up paper scrapbooking, but there are so many things you can do with digi that you can't do with paper. I approach my digi layouts the same way I do my paper ones. With cute papers and a design or sketch in mind.

Another plus about digi scrapbooking is that it's SO much cheaper and you can reuse the supplies! I love that! There are so many beautiful freebies out there too.

Digital Scrapbooking/Graphic Design

It's a very interesting question...as it leads into that age old question of what is defined as "art" and what is a "craft". I am sure many would argue that "traditional material" scrapbooking has risen to the ranks of being a fine art.

And it opens the discussion concerning education/training, now that everything is digital.
My college "art" training is old school, I learned how to paint using PAINT (oil, acrylic, watercolor) and how to draw using actual pencils, pastels, markers. Is my education different (better or worse than) someone today who is learning how to draw on a computer?

and is my "graphic design" and computer Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver training better or worse than someone who has gone to a formal "graphic design" college? and even if they went to a formal "graphic design" college they could still stink.

so in a very long winded answer to your question,
My best guess is that most "digital" scrapbookers are "home schooled", they taught themselves how to digitally scrapbook through books, videos, tv, classes, trial & error,. And the percentage of digital scrapbookers that have formal "Graphic Design" training (which really depends on how you define that) is somewhere around 10%.

PART 2
I having started to scrap more & more digitally because I just don't have the time I typically need to complete a project using traditional scrapbook materials.
And I am becoming less & less patient after spending HOURS/DAYS! working on the project (using traditional materials). So what if I got some weird "creative juice" justification because I used real paint or real ink. At the end-of-the-day I just want to be DONE so I can enjoy looking at my pages!

okay,....I'm not sure how to respond because I am actually a consultant for a digital scrapbooking company and I don't want to get 'in trouble' on here - but here goes - the reasons WHY I scrapbook digitally:

books, etc. are done easy and FAST - and I'm in a rush with everything in my life!
no clutter from supplies, etc.
no 'running out of' supplies in the middle of a project
scrapbook stores are over an hour from me
if I make a storybook about someone, I can make many copies by the push of a button!
I did not have to download any special software
Everything is stored on 'their' computer, not on mine
with digital you are not restricted to scrapbooks - many other things you can do!

Hope I've posted this in such a way I don't get 'in trouble'.......

SHERYL

I'm always amazed at you digi scrappers who say one reason you do it is because it's so fast. I do both paper and digi and they both take the same amount of time for me - sometimes pretty quick but usually slow.

I think digi scrapbooking is a certainly a form of graphic design. "Graphic design" I think more often implies a professional or commercial endeavor, and scrapbooking is on the hobby side of things.

I like both paper and digi because they do different things. I approach both types of LOs with the same creative process, but the materials of course direct and influence that process. And I really like to combine both mediums, and I use a lot of digi techniques on traditional all-paper LOs (editing and altering photos in photoshop, creating word art titles and journalling, creating a digi-background paper and printing it to use as a traditional paper background).

I do find it faster...but I also miss the hands-on - more of a stress reliever, I think...but right now my life is so hectic and since my main objective is to capture the memories I just find digital is the fastest way for me....at this point in time.....

That being said, I do have a few scrapbooks I've been working on for years and am bound to finish them so I scan the photos I had put aside for the book, upload the digitals of them, make a quick 12 x 12, "publish" it, and then put it in my scrapbook. I'm coming close to finishing three of them! Excited about that!!