Step 1: Overcrowd the Layout
Who needs breathing room when you can suffocate your layout with an overwhelming amount of photos, embellishments, and text? Forget about visual hierarchy or balance – just cram as much stuff as possible onto the page. Who cares if it looks like a tornado swept through your scrapbook? The chaos adds character, right?
Step 2: Ignore Composition Principles
Composition principles like balance, symmetry, and focal points are for amateurs. Embrace the randomness and throw everything onto the page with reckless abandon. Who cares if the viewer’s eyes don’t know where to focus? Do not mat any focal photos- and absolutely do NOT vary the size of your photos! Confusion is the new aesthetic, after all.
Step 3: Use Low-Quality Photos
Why bother capturing precious memories with high-resolution photos when you can use blurry, pixelated images instead? Embrace the graininess and lack of detail – it adds a certain vintage charm, right? Pro tip- screen shot photos and then download them!
Step 4: Skip the Journaling
Journaling? Who has time for that? Let your photos speak for themselves, even if nobody knows what they’re about. After all, who needs context or personal stories when you can leave your viewers scratching their heads in confusion? Your memories are better off remaining a mystery – it adds an air of intrigue to your scrapbook.
Step 5: Choose Clashing Colors
Color harmony is overrated. And don’t get me started on the Color Wheel! Embrace the clash and choose the most eye-searing color combinations you can find. Absolutely do NOT let colors reflect mood or season- and do not pull any photos from your photos to draw attention to them.
Step 6: Embellishment Overload
Why settle for themed embellishments when you can drown your layout in all the things.? ho cares if they obscure your precious memories? The more bling, the better! Bonus points if your layout is so heavily embellished that your photos are no longer in the spotlight. And please! Never use embellishments as a support for your story. Word art should always be avoided- as should any type of double meaning or symbolism.
Step 7: Typography? What’s That?
Legible text is so last season. Mix it up with Comic Sans, Papyrus, and Curlz MT for maximum confusion. Who cares if nobody can read what you’ve written? It adds an air of mystery to your layout. Pro tip: always use more than THREE fonts! and if you can, make them all the same family. You can never get enough Sans serif on a page!
Step 8: Skip the Planning Stage
Planning is for suckers. Dive headfirst into your layout without a second thought and start sticking things on the page randomly. The more haphazard, the better! Never ,ever work to bring one photo into the spotlight. And sequencing photos to tell a story is absolutely frowned upon!
Step 9: Avoid Personalization
Who needs personality when you can make your layouts as generic as possible? Forget about adding personal touches or unique elements – your memories are just like everyone else’s, right? Why bother infusing your layouts with your unique style and personality when you can play it safe and blend in with the crowd? Take a template and copy it, step by step, being sure to ignore your own sense of style..
Step 10: Fear of Experimentation
Why bother trying new things when you can stick to the same tired old techniques? Stay firmly within your comfort zone and never dare to push the boundaries of your creativity. Nothing looks better than a scrapbook full of pages in all the same style and color. After all, who wants to risk actually enjoying the creative process?
Thanks Becky! I think one of the hardest things to do is hit redo on a layout- especially when you pass that halfway mark! But it’s so much better than living with a page you really cringe at!
LOL! I’m glad you had fun!
You had me at typography. Love your humor! It was a great read ๐๐
Thanks for the chuckle this morning! I am so grateful for all those who taught me color theory and design strategies, who extolled the power of journaling and photography. I am not a perfect scrapper but I think I can tell a story. I definitely know what I like, even if it is a variety of styles. And I am OK with blowing up a page if it is not working because I didn’t do some planning. Love the flipped script here! A fun way to get the points across!