The billion-dollar scrapbooking industry may be cheesy, but ...
Several years ago, Jessica Helfand wandered into the scrapbooking area of a crafts store and stumbled upon a multibillion-dollar industry. An alternative universe of visual accessories greeted her: flair and foil, lace wraps and eyelets, glitter and "word fetti." An eloquent design critic and graphic designer who teaches at Yale, Helfand was flummoxed by this close encounter with the scrapbooking community and decided to write about her ambivalence for Design Observer, the Web site she co-founded.
"It's at once horrifying and fascinating to witness the degree to which design is being discussed online by people whose concept of innovation is measured by novel ways to tie bows," Helfand confessed. Unable to resist a further jab, she continued: "I could write an entire post just on the scrapbooker's predisposition toward fonts like 'Whimsy Joggle' and 'Pool Noodle Outline' but I will try and restrain myself."
Helfand couldn't dismiss scrapbooks altogether, however. Although they were often cheesy and sentimental and generic, this was also hands-on design as practiced by regular people rather than artists -- an attempt to represent everyday experience through visual culture. Digging through archives, she was amazed by the medium's rich pedigree. The result of all this research is her captivating new book, "Scrapbooks: An American History," which explores American life over the last two centuries through the prism of the humble scrapbook.
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"It's at once horrifying and fascinating to witness the degree to which design is being discussed online by people whose concept of innovation is measured by novel ways to tie bows," Helfand confessed. Unable to resist a further jab, she continued: "I could write an entire post just on the scrapbooker's predisposition toward fonts like 'Whimsy Joggle' and 'Pool Noodle Outline' but I will try and restrain myself."
Helfand couldn't dismiss scrapbooks altogether, however. Although they were often cheesy and sentimental and generic, this was also hands-on design as practiced by regular people rather than artists -- an attempt to represent everyday experience through visual culture. Digging through archives, she was amazed by the medium's rich pedigree. The result of all this research is her captivating new book, "Scrapbooks: An American History," which explores American life over the last two centuries through the prism of the humble scrapbook.