Digital Scrapbooking - What Type of Scrapper Are You?

I have been involved in the world of Digital Scrapbooking for over five years now, and it has been my observation that there are basically two distinct kinds of scrappers. While some variation and crossover does occur, people seem to either be photo scrappers or design scrappers.

Photo scrappers will get one or more of their photographs together that they want to use, and then look for materials to design a layout around them. They look for colors and presentation styles that match the photos, either by color scheme or content of the events depicted.

Design scrappers, on the other hand, often design a layout they like and then look for photos that will fit that design. Certainly, there are many people who do both, but most people tend to fall primarily into one category or the other.

It can perhaps be surmised that mothers (and grandmothers) of small children, who are constantly taking pictures of their little darlings, and archiving the precious moments of their family's special times tend to fall into the photo scrappers category. Certainly anyone who has a special event to scrap, such as a wedding, birthday party, graduation, trip to the beach or what have you, will also be a photo scrapper, at least at that given time.

But what type of people fall into the latter category?

In general, artists are more likely to create a design just for the sake of the design and use the addition of a photo or two as a means of showing it off. Like many digital designers, I fall into this category. I make designs because I like them, and often have a hard time finding a photograph that fits it. Nevertheless, people who use my designs often have the perfect photo in mind to scrap when they run into my design. As an artist, I like this, because it means the final totality of the creation is better than than what I could have created myself, not having the perfect photos for it.

In the world of digital scrapbooking, this tendency is a good thing. The artists who are creating their designs often do not have photographs in mind while doing so. But those who are browsing through the catalogs often do. This merging of the two types of scrapper has the delightful advantage of producing final layouts that show off both the design and the photos to excellent advantage.