Well Done, Grasshopper! The State of the Primedia Scrapbook Magazines....

We have reached one of those points in the Scrapbooking style cycle where there is widespread speculation about "what direction the magazines are taking." The two Primedia Scrapbook Magazines, Creating Keepsakes (CK) and Simple Scrapbooks (SS) recently updated their layouts, with new typefaces, design, and article organization, which has added fuel to the discussion.

Now, I'll admit up front to being a bit of a SS partisan -- I love both CK and SS for their unique forms of inspiration, but my own style and philosophy has always been more akin to what I see in SS than the more technique-and-embellishment focused CK.

Lately, I have seen some hue and cry that "SS is turning in to CK!" But I'm honestly not seeing it. A big part of this problem stems from a basic misunderstanding of the Simple Scrapbooks editorial mission as I see it. SS was never intended to be "average," a sort of CK-with-training-wheels for the technically challenged. Rather, from its beginning, Simple Scrapbooks was about a basic philosophy: First, The Land of "Caught Up" is unreachable and no fun, anyway. Seriously, it's like trying to go bar-hopping in Salt Lake City. Don't do it, sister. Just choose your favorite photos and stories, and express them in the way that makes you happy. Screw chronology. That, dearie, is mountain biking in Moab. (I've never even been to Utah, but I felt I should be "keepin it real" for scrap mag discussion.) Second, don't fret, enjoy the process. Third, for extra help in making layouts that please you visually, adapt the ideas of others, whether by scraplifting or taking advantage of the coordinated and premade products available today. (Scrapbooking has gotten so huge, there is no need to reinvent the wheel if you don't want to!) Finally, smaller themed albums and layout collections can be quicker and easier than encyclopedic chronological records of Everything We Did. The "Fast, Friendly Formula" worksheet makes it easy to make a theme album using coordinated products and design. All in all, I think that this Scrappin' Wisdom rocks.

Now, I do see some evolution in SS over the recent issues. (Sadly, SS is only bi-monthly. Attn: advertisers -- I buy lots of stuff. I read SS. Send some lovin to them so I can have more to read. Thank you. ) The new organization makes it easy to find specific features and columns (Although I'd like to point out that just because digital scrappers use computers doesn't mean that we want that "Virtual Page" column to be online only -- bring it back to the paper mag, pretty please?) Most notably, there has been a move towards showing and discussing more individual layouts. The theme album concept has not been abandoned, but as one who does primarily stand-alone layouts, I welcome the growing balance I've seen in SS over the last year.

What I *don't* see is this mythical "SS is becoming CK" phenomenon. Flipping through my May/June SS and my April CK, I just don't see it....SS does not have a "new technique" focus at all...I see nothing in there involving exotic tools and supplies, long drying/curing times, or chemical concoctions. Those topics are interesting to me, which is why I like to read CK, but SS knows its audience and sticks instead to design topics like Balance, Color Theory, and Typography...concepts that, for me anyway, are more useful in the long run. The new "Simple Schemes" feature is somewhat similar to the CK-staple Becky Higgins sketch column, true. However, although Becky may have pioneered the widespread use of sketches for "lay" scrapbookers, a quick review of graphic design books at Borders will reveal that the sketch concept is a common tool of the design industry. So, "Simple Schemes" alone does not a CK clone make.

And, then, I flip through my April CK again. And, for the first time, I stop and really read the Editor's Note. It seems Tracy White has a new philosophy of scrapbooking to share! It further seems that Tracy White has been reading a lot of Simple Scrapbooks back issues, as this new philosophy is almost word-for-word the SS philosophy I described above. Whaaaa? This startling read, coupled with the scuttlebut among designers soon-to-be-published in CK, (watch for simpler layouts with more color and a graphic style...sound familiar?) leads me to a shocking conclusion:

Simple Scrapbooks is not "turning into" Creating Keepsakes.
Creating Keepsakes is turning into Simple Scrapbooks!

Yes, I would prefer to get my simple, graphic inspiration in a fatter monthly mag -- but, honestly, I would prefer that SS grew and CK retained its unique niche.... Perhaps CK is struggling to find new techniques to showcase, after the glut of product and techniques that we all experienced during the heyday of the collage style. But, I don't think that an abrupt change of editorial focus is the answer. To thine own self be true, CK....your core audience is full of scrappers who love your focus on new techniques, find ways to build and grow within that!

Wow. I wrote a lot more than I intended.