Make a Page Monday | Classic Edition, Designing with Togetherness

STORY OF THE PAGE: I wanted to make a very Stacy Julian–inspired page, one that takes images from across a span of several years and combines them into one layout. In 2010, my gathering point was Cole and his love of baseball. I wrote about this page in 2010, but I didn’t dissect it from a design perspective. As I go through older pages there are some that just standout as designs that I love and ones I would use again and again. Ergo, hello Make a Page Monday Classic.

DESIGN STUFF: If you’ve ever taken a class with me, you’ve likely heard me talk about scrapbook page content that hangs together. What I mean by this is that all of the content—the photos, the titles, the journal blocks—are actually connected to one another by placement. It’s the Gestalt theory in action. I like to say the whole IS the sum of the parts. On this page, if  you took away one of the photos and left nothing in it’s place, it would not feel complete. This design combines photos and journaling on very linear planes, topping it off with a title on top that is reflected and flipped on the bottom of the design. That, of course, is repetition at work. It’s a subtle way of framing the core design with a repeating element. Also repeated are the dates, both in style, size and typography. And speaking of typography, while this page is not all one font (I used Avenir for the journaling and the dates), all the type is sans serif. The unity of font style creates a peacefulness to the design. I know type is fun but I’m telling you from the bottom of my design-loving heart: type should serve to support your story, not be the star of it. And yes, that’s coming from a soapbox. Moving right along.

TECHNICAL SHIT: This is a fully digital layout. I created it in Photoshop and printed it out at Persnickety Prints. I don’t do a ton of fully digital pages, but when I do I most definitely make an effort to get them printed and into my albums. I chose a very simple background cardstock for this page and used one other sheet in the pack for the journaling. Simple, elegant, zero fuss. It’s a boy page, after all. It really didn’t need a baseball sticker to drive this story home.

You don’t need to make a digital page to get this same effect. Think of  your design as a puzzle that needs to be filled up. Crop and cut photos to fit. Add in a journaling block. Find an embellishment or two if you so desire and gather it all on the center of any background cardstock and voila! See how your story comes together.

SENTIMENTAL SHIT: It is hard to fathom that Cole’s baseball playing days are a thing of the past. Of course, he’s found a new sport, Ultimate Frisbee, and he’s as passionate as ever about it. But there is always going to be a sentimental spot in my memory for how much this boy loved his baseball.

PAGE SUPPLIES:
Layered Template No. 58
Avenir Font
Just Linens No. 01 Paper Pack
Photoshop Elements

A NOTE ABOUT MY CLASSES PAGE: I’m going to be making some changes to my classes page over the next month. As of today, there are no live classes you can take, but I’m working to get some ready to offer again. Thanks for your patience.