Is it me or is the direction of kits going more for the 'real' look than anything else? Don't get me wrong, I love the look of real as the next person. I do use some of them on some of my layouts, but as far as designing, I love to create. I spend many hours trying to come up with some things that are unique. To me, designing means to design your own 'art' and not how many items you can scan. Maybe scanning and putting things together is the design? I have even seen kits where the papers look like wallpaper or contact paper that have been scanned to sever as the paper for a kit.
I have not been doing digis for very long and maybe it's what has evolved over the years. If so, maybe I need to rethink the kits I design(?).
Would love to get everyone's thought on this.
The direction of designs
Fri, 01/31/2014 - 13:40
#1
The direction of designs
I'm not sure if I understand exactly ...do you mean real vs cutesy? ...do you mean scanned items vs digitally desinged?
Thanks for the clarification Andene.
Shawna- Yes, I mean scanned vs digital. Sorry about the confusion. My typing usual can not keep up with my thoughts. HA
I think it is more of a wave thing, action/reaction: people get fed up with things looking to digital and they start going back to real-life looking elements. Once we are all done with that, we will probably head back to the more clean and digital look. Mind you, I am just offering my opinion; I have not been scrapping long enough to have actually experienced any "wave" yet
I, too... wonder if it's kind of a fad... you know similar to clothes design, I'm sure there will be cycles that form in digital design and then the whole "shampoo, rinse, repeat" happens.
Too bad my size as a teen in the 80's isn't the same as now! 
LoL
Personally I like both... I'm not so much into the fantasy style but that was very big in digital for about a year or two. I notice lately it's not as heavy as it was. But there have been many styles through the 7-8 years I've been around digital and it seems to go back and forth, round and round.
I think creating what YOU like and what your clients seem to like is best. I know a lot of designers that I've been following for years sent out survey's of sorts this past December (for the first time) asking for what people wanted to see from them as a designer this coming year. I think that type of feedback is good for any business. So, I think the industry sees the need for close feedback from the end user in the digital realm.
I think the digital Project Life and Art Journaling have become more the big fad right now which I really dig both styles for totally different reasons.
But even IRL paper scrapping I was (am) very eclectic in my scrapping style since the late 80's. That's a good thing now to be eclectic, or at least considered ok. But it wasn't always cool and you were considered lost and undefined as a scrapper without a specific style... So I had a bit of a forced feeling that I didn't belong in the digital scrapping world. So, don't let other people's styles or ideas squelch your creativity and who you are. That's what still matters most is that YOU love what you do! 
I don't know if I really stick to a particular style but them I haven't been scrapping for very long. I just use what I like. I have purchased kits that have some scaned elements and some that have been drawn. I am not really a fan of the fanasty stuff either because it doesn't seem to fit with my everyday family photos even though some of it is beautifiul to look at. I don't generally follow fads and just go for what I like. If you are designing for other people a survey with some examples of different styles might help you out. or what seems to sell best and stick to that.
I very much enjoy the drawn, paper-look. I know that hyper realism seems to be a thing (lots of silk-flowers as an example), but you'll notice that my gallery images are fairly flat looking, with just a few things like brads or a ribbon being the exception.
I like the look of realistic papers and elements. I've been doing digital scrapbooking for only 4 years or so, but I've always been drawn to the more realistic kits for some reason. Maybe because I started with actual scrapbooking?
Thanks for the inputs. I'm usually the same way...if it's cute or pretty and it fits with the look I'm trying to accomplish, then I will use it. No fairy styles, I have 3 boys!!
I was wondering for the creative side of me. I will just continue to create what I enjoy and if people like it, then they will download my kits and use them. If they don't, that's fine and dandy too. To each their own, as I always say.
Generally, I think there are enough people on the internet, that you can find people who like the same things you do. You can't please everybody, so better to just work on what you like.
I want to "LIKE" Marisa's comment.
I wholeheartedly agree.
I work in mixed media and therefore like elements/assets to be a real object rather than a flat image and mixed media is becoming very popular with digital artists as well. Maybe the realism is being fed by that as many of us also play with paper?
I also agree with Marisa. There seem to be so many different styles and fads and everybody is different in terms of what they like. I was talking to a lady in Hobby Lobby the other day and asked her if she had ever heard about "digital scrapbooking", she said she has, but prefers the hands on feel of real elements and likes her scrapbooks to be bulky, she said that's what "scrapbooking" was all about. She knows what she likes, yet, when I scrapped before digital scrapbooking, I hated the bulkyness of my albums, but loved the elements, so digital scrapping was right up my alley, I got realistic looking elements AND a flat book.....everyone is different. Also, some elements are made to look realistic, but were never scanned at all, some can take anywhere from 1 to even 4 hours to make to "look" real that was never real to begin with....so sometimes, some of these realistic elements are designed and not just scanned...and sometimes they are not. That is what is so wonderful about designing, is that you can design what you love, and even change it up and go out of your comfort zone and try something that you would never try before, and somebody will like it! That's what I love about DigitalScrapbook.com, the versatility of the community with so many talented designers that there is always something for everybody:)
I agree, we need 'Like' buttons! You are right, Sheila, some things do look real that are not. I have created things that look, well to my eye, pretty real.
I will chime in with the "fad" view. Styles go in cycles. I have ALWAYS loved the grungy paper look and the doodled look with some realistic flowers and ribbons. That is just what I like for my day to day albums. But I love going out of my comfort zone occasionally and trying a color combination or element that normally just is not "my style".
All that to say, you never know what type of mood someone will be in when they find your designs.
I design in a more realistic fashion, though I love to create my own papers or use overlays. I have never gone for the cutesy type of kits. I often take pictures and extract an element or scan in leaves or any other flatter type thing I can. I do design some elements with my program too though, most recently a flag banner....but I think there is room for all kinds of preferences. I see sooo many layouts that are made with the "cutesy" type elements and papers and just as many that are realistic!
I have noticed a huge trend in labels with words on them...some kits are just chock full of them! Love them, though haven't caught up with that trend yet myself.