How popular is digital scrapbooking?
Only a small percentage of UK scrapbookers are digital although it is definitely growing in popularity, especially in the past year or so. Digital scrapbooking is much more established in the USA and is very popular in Brazil.

What is drawing people to it?
Scrapbooking itself is a wonderfully creative way to record your memories and photos. I think there are two main factors that draw scrapbookers towards the digital option: value for money and the lack of mess! Most people have computers capable of scrapbooking digitally so the only start-up cost is often the image editing software. Digital scrapbook supplies are very inexpensive (or even free) and can be used over and over again and pages can be printed at home or from the online printing services. The lack of mess is a big attraction for me! I can have a layout open on my computer all day and spend ten minutes on it here and there without having to clear away my supplies every time. It’s also so easy to share your completed layouts with family and friends across the world.

Who are the people doing it?
Generally people come to digital scrapbooking from one of two directions – either from graphic arts or from paper scrapbooking. It appeals to graphic artists who want to create more personal images along with scrapbookers looking for a quick, cheap and easy way to record their memories. There’s also a connection with bloggers, after all blogging and scrapbooking have memory preservation in common.

What are the most popular techniques?
The beauty of digital scrapbooking is that a huge range of effects can be achieved very simply and cheaply. There’s a wide range of styles and products available, from those that emulate paper scrapbook layouts, to clean graphic styles reminiscent of magazine pages, and full-blown fantasy style pages that would be impossible to create traditionally. I’m seeing a lot of fantasy style pages around at the moment and conversely more and more traditionally styled “realistic” pages that appear at first glance to be paper scrapped.

How does it compare with traditional scrapbooking, and is there competition between the two?
I think that digital scrapbooking tends to appeal to scrapbookers who enjoy the design process and the composition of the page (every part of a digital layout can be modified in terms of shape, colour, size etc) along with all the possibilities that working with graphics software offers. Paper scrapbooking appeals more to those who enjoy the physical process of crafting, the feel of the paper and materials in their hands and the tactile experience of the finished page. Rather than competition towards the two, I’m seeing the boundaries between the two becoming more blurred as more people experiment with hybrid projects. Of course there are some die-hard paper scrappers who can’t see the appeal of digital and vice versa but generally I think that digital is becoming more accepted as a legitimate form of scrapbooking.

Has technology made an impact on the way people view their crafts?
Hybrid scrapbooking (printing digital papers, alphabets and elements for use in paper scrapbook pages or cardmaking for example) is becoming more and more popular as traditional scrapbookers discover the huge array of digital products on offer. I think it is becoming more acceptable to mix computer generated items, such as printed clip art or journaling, in with traditional supplies, especially in the current economic climate. Scanners open up a whole new range of items for scrapbooking too, from delicate vintage items to children’s drawings. It’s easy to scan, resize and then print personal items for scrapbook pages whilst keeping the original safe.