November 28, 2009

Time solutions: digital scrapbooking in skateparks, airports and on comfy sofas

More than any other comment, I hear the wistful “But I don’t have the time!” as the reason why people don’t digital scrapbook, as much as they think it’s a great idea and sincerely want to do it.

Let’s begin here to “find” the time in your 24-hour days …

First, envision how your life would be enriched if you had beautiful, up-to-date and accessible albums of your digital photos. Picture yourself enjoying the process of page creation and sharing those pages in albums and online …

Second, be very conscious of your time for a week or so. Watch for the spare 15 minutes here or there. That’s all it takes to get quite a bit of page creation done, especially once you get the knack of it. You’ll need to “exchange” the time you now use for something else; maybe it’s the 11:00 news (stream it while you create) or frequent checks of Facebook (reduce them to twice per day).

(How do you get the knack of it if it’s new to you? Get out your calendar and block out just two hours to learn using tutorials. It’s a great investment in your future!)

Before long, you will begin to see how, even with other important demands, you might have the occasional snippet of time for an activity that is fun for you and truly benefits others.

When do I find the time in my jam-packed days? Here’s my story.

Back in the days when I kept a paper photo album, I looked forward to our occasional weekends at a cabin in Seaside, Oregon, for my own personal “scrapbooking” sessions. I seldom made the time to do it at home.

I use the term “scrapbooking” loosely, because I can’t say I was ever a “scrapbooker;” that connotes someone with far more dedication than I ever had. I wanted to keep up with my photos, but I didn’t relish those hours—I tended to get cut photos slightly crooked and make dumb mistakes—like misspelling my own child’s name—as I journaled with a Sharpie. Dang! Another scribble.

Enter digital scrapbooking. Hooray! No messes on the table and trying to figure out how to do yet another fast layout with 4 X 6 photos. The day I gave away my Mat Stacks and unused 12 X 12 paper, complete with an organizer, was joyful.

So the mess was gone and I no longer had to lug my bin of paper and photos to the beach … now, where to find the time at home? I had created digital products that made the process fast and easy, but it wasn’t instant (nothing is!).

For me, the answer came in the form of a laptop and a 4 GB  jump drive. When I knew I would have some waiting time—like when I was supervising my son and his friends at the nearby skate park—I loaded my jump drive with some photos and page elements and stowed it in my computer bag. With the boys nearby, I’d move over to the passenger’s seat with my laptop on a breakfast-in-bed-tray, plug in the jump drive and create away. On sunny days (a bit rare in the Pacific Northwest), I found a shaded picnic table.

For you, airports and doctor’s offices may be another great source of “found time” ... virtually anywhere you need to sit and wait. And you don’t need to worry about an internet connection for modern digital scrapbooking.

I have another friend who uses her favorite night of television to do the simplest parts of page creation—right there with Michael Scott. It’s not a time to journal or be particularly creative, but it’s found time right there with the fam, on the sofa with a laptop.

About creating in front of the television: If you are familiar with my “production” method of page creation, you know that you can easily batch your pages (five at a time, for example) and do all of the basic layouts at one session—just dragging over the photos into the templates and saving as .PSDs. You can totally do this while a little distracted by music or television.

At a later, more creative session, have fun adding digital paper and page accessories … and finally, when you’re in the “flow” of reflection and writing, add descriptive words, journaling and captions.

My other creative time is at night on my regular computer. The house is dark, even the dogs are asleep, and I listen to iTunes and create to my hearts content.

Watch your own rhythms to see what nights you do well with. If you’ve got small children, you probably drop into bed at ten in exhaustion! But some of us might have a night or two a week where we feel awake enough to be productive.

Life is precious, and your time is a valuable commodity. With some thought and real intent … I believe your own “time solution” will emerge.

I’d love to hear about your personal time solutions. Post it here or email me at nan@nanscottdesignstudio.com

November 4, 2009

Learning page design from a beautiful handbag

Okay, I admit it. I am a handbag addict. Not that I own very many (although they are my gift of choice), but I am pretty obsessed with them—even when I have no intention of buying one, I love to browse the aisles and just admire. For a utilitarian object, they are amazing in their variety and complexity.

And as with all well-designed things, there are page design lessons to be learned by observing them.

Case in point: this gorgeous “Cornelia Street” bag by Kate Spade.

Kate Spade (www.katespade.com) is a designer I really admire. She doesn’t have a instantly recognizable signature “look” like Kathy Van Zeeland (heavy metals, rivets and a hanging silver zipper pull shaped like a purse) or Coach (the ubiquitous tiled Cs). But I usually know a Kate Spade when I see it  … because it’s designed JUST ENOUGH to be beautiful. Not flashy, not over-the-top, but just simply … beautiful.

Anything designed by Kate Spade—whether it’s dinnerware or thank you cards or a perfect weekend tote, has a great shape … maybe some great pattern … just enough ornamentation … and a sparkle of personality.

Take a look at this bag. Black, white, red. A perfect curved handle. A bold pattern of circles and a unique shape in perfect symmetry. Small silver ornaments in just the right spots.

Hmm … as a page designer, what could I learn from Kate?

Just for fun, I took a layout I had done sometime ago of my son’s graduation from Virginia Tech. I already loved this bold black and white Surboard pattern. It’s a little more delicate scale than Kate’s but it will be a good starting point.

To take a lesson from Kate, I did the following:

* Changed the frames from white to Primary Red (Celebrations Palette)

* Turned on the Accessory placeholder again and made it red as well

* Dropped in a quote from Quick Classic Quotes Series 1 and made it white

A fun and different look with just a few design tweaks.

Keep your eyes open for beauty, both man-made and in the incredible natural world. I’m excited to share my perspective on beautiful design in my blog, and would love to hear from you about the beauty you observe, too!

And now … SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN DESIGN

When perusing Kate’s site, I found that they are partnering with  a wonderful organization I’ve been hearing a lot about lately: Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org).

Their slogan is “Helping Women Survivors of War Rebuild Their Lives” and they are … amazing? Angelic? Admirable? There really is not an adequate word to describe people like this, who honestly make a HUGE difference in the lives of others, with creativity and compassion.

As for me, when I sit in my lovely studio with a view of a tree-lined street, my scented candle-of-the-season burning as I work at a job I adore, it is too easy to ignore that other women are struggling with life and death issues at this moment. Other women with hopes, dreams, aspirations and families they love. Women who live in war-torn countries like Afganistan, Bosnia, and Congo, to name only a few.

As an organization, Women for Women International provides all kinds of support to women so they can gain job skills (and build on existing ones) to become strong, independent, and active citizens. And they provide a way for women who want to make a difference to other women a way to do just that.

If you want an uplift and to get a two-minute glimpse into the kind of impact one caring woman can have, go to http://www.oprah.com/media/20090925-tows-lisa-shannon-congo, Lisa Shannon, from right here in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, put her money where her heart is and really DID SOMETHING.

Thanks to Lisa and all of you out there who do wonderful things every day to make the world a better place. You are truly BEAUTIFUL!