Lessons 9 through 12 in this class focus on the five primary parts of a scrapbook page (photos, journaling, embellishments, title, and canvas) and the application of design principles when incorporating these parts into your scrapbook page designs.
This lesson is about your scrapbook page journaling.
When your family and friends open your albums, it’s the photos that grab their attention first, and it’s the journaling they look for next. Here’s a process for making sure you thinking about journaling as you create layouts.
1. Ask: how much space do you need for your journaling?
Your journaling could be:
- a brief listing of the names of the people in a group photo
- a caption addressed to your subject; for example a note to your son that when he was learning to walk he liked to carry something heavy and that’s why this photo of him carrying a 2-liter soda bottle is a treasured memory
- the extensive telling of how an event unfolded
- an anecdote
- a personal message about your feelings on the scrapped topic
- a stream-of-consciousness list related to the topic
Having a general idea of how much space your journaling will need on the page is a good way to start thinking about a composition that will incorporate all of your elements in an appealing design.
The journaling on “Glass” is not long, but I used a variety of font sizes to add to its visual interest and to maximize the space it fills. This journaling fills a 2-inch-wide border along the left side of the layout and, thus, defines a rectangular inner canvas which holds photos and title. It is, thus, an important part of the page design.
design principle: balance
In the Balance Lesson of this class I wrote about the idea of visual balance. The way in which you render and place journaling on a scrapbook page affects how much visual weight it takes on.
The journaling on “These things are true” is a block made dense by several choices: the black type, the small and tightly-packed type, the amount of space the journaling takes up relative to other elements, and the block defined by strong lines around three sides of it (left, top, and bottom). As a result, this journaling is heavy enough to balance a larger photo sitting higher up on the page.
2. Ask: how will you render the journaling?
The number of ways you can render journaling on the scrapbook page are limited only by your creativity. I detailed and illustrated several ideas in 10 Ideas for Placing Scrapbook Journaling on Your Scrapbook Page. Here’s a quick list of ideas:
- type your journaling–and the font choices are huge
- handwrite your journaling
- put journaling on a tag (see “Decked” below”)
- get journaling onto the canvas background (see “Celebrate the Everyday” below)
- find a spot with some free space on a photo, and put the journaling there (see this recent and excellent article by Ali Edwards for ideas: Creating Room to Write with Photos.)
- use journaling strips (see “Meet Me” below)
- create a border (on one or more sides of a photo or mat) with your journaling (see “It WAS About” below”)
- create or complete a shape with your journaling (see “Change of Plans” below)
- hide your journaling
- include multiple, smaller chunks of journaling on your page (see “My Mom is So Cool,” “Day 3,” and “Too Many Dishes” below.
- fill a large area on your page with journaling (see “My Elusive Dreams,” “Change of Plans,” and “Clarissa Dalloway” moments below.
The journaling on “Celebrate the Everyday” is printed to the background canvas. By right aligning the type, the block has three strong edge lines (top, right, and bottom) – all of which end up creating nice gutters between the journaling block and the photo above and the paper strip to the right. The result is a design that looks “right” – that has unity.
A small bit of handwritten journaling sits on a decorative (and embellishing) tag on “decked.
The journaling on “Change of Plans” is extensive and has a shape that gives it a strong presence on the page. This shape fills all of the space REMAINING in a stitched square after the other elements are placed.
On “My Mom is so Cool,” a whole bunch of journaling bits sit on individual journaling spots that are layered along the entire right edge of the two-page layout.
A border of journaling runs in a square around “It Was About Being Moms.”
“Day 3” is another page with several bits of journaling (compare it to “My Mom is so Cool above”). Each chunk of journaling here fills a block within the grid underlying this design.
Journaling strips are easy to make and fun to place for a casual look. Print them to a piece of cardstock, trim. You can glue them down or mount them with something visible like staples,brads, tape, or stitching.
design principle: emphasis
If journaling is going to be your focal point, find a way to emphasize it. Revisit the Emphasis Lesson from this class for a refresher on ways to achieve emphasis. These include: placement (in a sweet spot or isolated by white space), embellishment, contrast, and content.
The only photo on “My Elusive Dreams” is subdued. The journaling fills a vertical strip on the right and is rendered in white type on a black background. While it is not the most dominant element on the page, it is still, a strong and important piece of the page.
design principle: contrast
If you’d like your journaling to stand out on the page, think about ways to give it not only space but an eye-catching look. Take a look at the Contrast Lesson from this class to jumpstart your creativity and figure out new ways to make it stand out. Below are a few ideas ranging from layering a bunch of journaling spots to using a variety of fonts, colors, and font sizes.
design principle: repetition
Every element on the scrapbook page-including the journaling-offers potential for including repetitions. Check back to the Repetition Lesson to remember the ways you can get repetitions on your page. The journaling on “Clarissa Dalloway Moments” is shaped to repeat the curve on the strip of patterned paper along the right edge of the layout.
3. Ask: where will you place the journaling?
Journaling provides lots of opportunities for interesting page design approaches. You can vary aspects like its shape, density, styling, and color.
design principle: alignment
Revisit the Alignment Lesson for reminders for incorporating alignments on pages AND take a look at Scrapbook Page Journaling: Justification that Strengthens Scrapbook Page Design for more ideas.
The journaling block on “Jolly” Hike” is printed to the canvas background with edges that align with the photo below. It has a shape that echoes that of the otehr two smaller photos and that gives the page strong lines.
design principle: flow
As I’ve said in other lessons, flow should be on your mind throughout the design of your page. Check out the Flow Lesson, and keep the techniques for achieving it in your mind. On “You Use Too Many Dishes” the journaling is shaped around the other elements and contributes to the strength of the diagonal flow going from top left to bottom right. Contrast this with the journaling on decked which takes up a very discrete spot and draws the eye to one spot in combination with the other elements on the page.
What are your typical approaches to incorporating journaling on your pages? Do you have favorite techniques for rendering and placement? Is there anything new here you might try?
P.S. Look for Lesson #11 in your inbox in a few days!
P.P.S. Did you find this page via Twitter or a link from a friend? This lesson is the tenth lesson in a 12-part course called “Where Scrapbooking Ideas Come From”. Click here to start receiving all of the lessons—it’s free! Of course, if it’s not for you, you can unsubscribe with just a couple of clicks. And I’ll never rent or share your information with anyone.)
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I’ve enjoyed your pages each week and am saving them, to refer to when I get back to scrapbooking. I’m sorting pictures now by decades. (We have been married over 50 years.) I want to do a book of my life. And then something of my two children’s early years. I’ve done three scrapbooks and I very much enjoyed the process. I especially like your good ideas on journaling today. Thank you so much for giving us this free class.
you’re welcome. I love hearing how you’re putting it to use.
I am loving this series on scrapbooking, it is just what I needed. I did not get lesson 9 on photos in my email and when I click on it from the email for lesson 10 it brings up lesson 8, Page Parts. Where can I get lesson 9? Thanx again for this awesome resource for simplifying scrapbooking for me.
Hi, Martha, Thanks for leaving a comment. Here’s the link to #9 http://debbiehodge.com/2010/06/sbideas-9-photos/ — and I’ll go fix things in the mailings. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for the headsup.
I am loving these lessons…only thing about this one, specially since it’s about journaling, I would love to be able to read the journaling. Thanks for all the ideas :)
that’s a agreat point about the journaling — i’ll put it on my todo list to link to larger versions or else the get journaling in a footnote.
Hi Debbie,
These lessons are great. I have read over them quickly but plan to go back over in detail.
My question has to do with the actual typing of the journaling. Are there tricks for doing this especially if you want to do something other than just using a separate layer of blocked typing. I am not into digital yet and would rather for now use my computer for the journaling. Hope I am making sense. Thanks for any help you can give.
I realize that journaling is an integral part of a layout. How often do we asked the question when we are viewing old photosbooks and say, “who is that person”? Again, the visuals reinforce the written lesson, and I can only profit from your individual scrapbooking lessons. Thanks again for giving.
I usually just type directly on the page background, using alignment to tie it in with the other page elements. Thanks for the ideas – I might try shaped journaling now that I have the full version of Photoshop.
Hi Debbie,
Journaling has been one of the most difficult techniques to include in my scrapbooking. My pages always have a title and people are usually identified, but I never write out a story or anecdote. The most I’ve used may be tags or strips. But now you have given me great ideas on how to approach this technique in a more creatie way. Thank you so much. Take care.
Patricia
Hello there! :D
Thank you for sharing these with us ;)
Hi, and welcome :) So glad your’e finding these helpful.