Simple is hard!

The trend in scrapbook design at the present seems to be swinging back towards clean and simple after spending a year or two in the neighborhood of collage and shabby chic. We are seeing pages that are less heavily embellished, with more and brighter colors, and with more straight lines and geometric shapes. Does this mean publishable page design is getting easier….or just simpler?

The untrained eye looking at a clean, graphic page design assumes that page is easier to design and execute than the heavily embellished, complex design of a collage or shabby chic page. It is for that reason that a simple style of example page is preferred by many for the creation of scrapbook marketing materials aimed at hobbyist scrappers. In addition to the fact the design more easily highlights the product used, the simple style also is non-intimidating and the average scrapper can look at it, say to themselves, “I can do that” and become a customer for the product. By contrast, a collage or shabby chic page looks very complicated, time-consuming and intimidating to most average scrappers, thus possibly turning them off from purchasing the product being promoted.

But is simple, despite the perception, really all that easy? Appearances are deceiving. When a designer uses only a few embellishments on a page, they must each be very carefully selected and positioned to provide balance and movement to the page. When bright colors are used, they must be very carefully selected and matched to not overwhelm each other or the photos. When only a few elements are on a page, a minor design error can become glaring! Although to duplicate a simple page usually does take less effort than duplicating a collage or shabby chic page, to design them originally takes the same amount of time and effort, as design decisions must be carefully weighed in both cases.

I know Simple Scrapbooks magazine is sometimes viewed by hobbyists and non-scrappers as the “beginner’s” magazine for scrapbookers. I have to say I strongly disagree with this view. Simple Scrapbooks is a publication that ‘simply’ reflects a different type of style than can usually be seen in it’s sister publication, Creating Keepsakes. While the simple style is less intimidating to many, it takes as much talent to create for one as for the other.

The simple page may have fewer elements on it, but simple does not equal easy…appearances are definately deceiving!