Are either layout offerings better than the other? Uh, no. Well, in my personal court of opinion, I have my favorites, but on an existential level, no. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is it not? What matters the most is that we record our memories in a way that pleases us and that we remain true to ourselves while we do it.
So why is there such an emphasis on design priniciples? It seems that everyone and their brother's brother has an opinion on how to pull off an aesthetically sound layout. We've had that pointy visual triangle shoved down our throats and the color wheel is now a staple in most scrapbooking shops and on many a scrappers hind end. It's not bad to have this arsenal of information, don't get me wrong. What is bad is that there are some who find it necessary to pick apart every layout that comes across their path in search of design flaws. It's bad when scrapbookers fall in love with a page but are reluctant to share it because it fails to play nicely with those design principles. It's bad when people are subjected to criticism or disregard because they are perceived (by those who chose to cast judgment) as flawed on some ridiculously superficial design level. I cringe every time I hear someone complain about a gallery being full of crappy layouts because of the sheer audacity and the foundation of unacceptance that comments like that are founded upon.If absorbing design principles and color theory is of interest to you and will allow you to take your scrapping to what ever level you want to achieve, fine. If it cause your brain to numb just thinking about it, then perhaps it isn't all that important to you. We are a society that likes to feel good...that should carry over into our hobbies as well. If you like the way that your cobalt blue and bubblegum pink layout looks...get your sunglasses out and do your thing! Don't let some silly color wheel stop you!
The use of designing principles should be a personal choice amongst scrapbookers, not the cost of admission into some exclusive community clique. It's one thing to want to use those tools to please yourself, it's another thing to expect anyone who is "serious' about scrapbooking to choke on them in order to fit in some preordained mold.
Just another brick in the wall that keeps the meat and potatoes of the industry (that's us) divided...
8 comments:
I appreciate & agree with your call for freedom.
When in the middle of a creative process I don't ask myself all these questions because I'm just trying to have fun !
However, I do think that all those design rules are like a success formula : your LO is garanteed to be understood and not disliked. Also, in order to be able to discard these design rules you must first KNOW and master them a little.
Finally, I find them useful sometimes. When I don't like one of my LO's and don't quite know why, I start analysing it with these "rules". If necessary I can fix it up in a second
I totally agree with your statement about knowing the principles of design in order to purposefully discard them and still pull off an balances layout; you are so right there!
On the flip side, that is not saying that those who choose not to endulge in the principles of design can't crank out a good layout. It's more like, since there is more focus on design principles in the online communities that I frequent, the layouts that toss the principles in the wind are sometimes frowned upon or its creator is offered unsolicited "advise" about how to 'fix' it.
Criticism is indeed a 2 way street. One can learn a lot or be destroyed by it.
(Disclaimer : I am by no means comparing the art of painting with scrapbooking with what will follow. i'm just comparing attitudes)
I just finished reading this book about Suzanne Valadon's life. Besides being a model for the great masters like Renoir and Co., she was also a shy painter without any art education. She learned a lot from her friends Degas, Lautrec, de Chavannes. Most gave her genuine and constructive crticisms. Only a few were extremely mean.
When you think about it, most of these painters were living on rice and beans and yet they were helping one another. The only big and sometimes mean critics back then were the journalists.
How come we witness a lot of pettiness in the SB world when we don't even depend on it to put food on the table ? Why are there so many Scrap Police officers ?
My eyes always start to glaze over whenever I see the words "the law of thirds"-I can understand that a sound understanding of design principles could be very useful, but I've always had problems grasping abstract principles, so my personal "design" process boils down to sitting down with my photos, some cardstock, and playing around with them til the design looks right...It works for me.
IMHO some scrappers wield design principles as a kind of cudgel with which they smack other scrappers ....
I use some of the design principles...and honestly now it's out of sheer habit. I do the rule of thirds and the visual triangle..but now it's without even really knowing that I'm DOING it. But I'm also not one who will criticize any other scrapper because she does not follow the same rules as I do. I believe that scrapbooking is a personal thing....we are all...let me rephrase that...MOST of us are creating layouts in order to preserve memories and create a legacy. The story and the photo SHOULD be the focal point not how many buttons are on the page.
signed-d.fish
Here here! D.Fish
Kind of following up on d.fish's comment... there are a lot of people out there who just have a good eye for design. You don't have to have taken classes or read tons of books to know what looks good. Same thing with color. Some people can just naturally put together great color combinations without a color wheel.
I think having a good knowledge of design principles can help when you get stuck and it just doesn't "look right." I also think that if you're a sketcher, knowing a few design principles can really help out during the planning phase. But is it necessary for a good layout? I don't think so.
Sometimes I think that getting overly involved in trying to learn everything you can about design could be a handicap. I know that sometimes I get so involved in trying to make sure that I've got good use of line, or whatever, that I lose the creativity and artistic flair (lol, for me, at least) that was so much fun before I bought those stupid books on design.
I get so involved in trying to make sure that I've got good use of line, or whatever, that I lose the creativity and artistic flair (lol, for me, at least) that was so much fun before I bought those stupid books on design.
I love that statement! That is exactly how I feel.
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