Hi there 👋 I'm Michelle and this is Edition 093 of Design Insight. A weekly newsletter about creativity and design.
Let's get started.
Observation
Collage as a way to tune out the world and still be creative.
Context
I finally took the leap recently and started Collaging.
The whole process is a super relaxing way to spend a few hours. It's a manual craft that allows me to completely tune out the world.
Every time I work on a Collage I enter a flow state. Time passes like magic and an hour feels like a few minutes.
I'm always looking for activities that take me away from my computer screen and allow me to "be creative".
Turns out Collage hits for me on a number of levels. I can recycle any old scrap of paper in the house, I can collect interesting bits and pieces, I can assemble a Collage without much effort (not the best at drawing as much as I try), and the end result is something tangible.
Learning
I watched lots of videos on how to Collage in my learning journey.
The more videos I watched the more I realized there are no rules to Collage, just different tools and techniques you can use to create different effects.
You can lift entire photos or chunks of text from magazines. Or you can create glue books from old magazines or old used-up notebooks (or even old passports - I'm not kidding)
There is no one right way to Collage and there's no wrong way to Collage. Create whatever you want!!
Some of the best YouTube videos I watched on Collage and its many forms:
WHY I MAKE GLUE BOOKS and Why You Should Too | Easy Magazine Glue Books - YouTube
How To - 002 - How to Cut Out Images for Collaging - YouTube
Magazine Tape Transfer Tutorial for Translucent Mixed Media Collage - YouTube
A Pretty Normal Day with Collage Artist Luis Martin - YouTube
Watch this artist turn pages of magazines into surreal collages - YouTube
Outcome
For me, Collage has become an excellent craft/hobby I can do away from my computer desk and it always produces something tangible and beautiful even if it's not perfect.
It's also an outlet for my obsession with collecting things. Every old magazine, newspaper, or piece of junk mail is a potential subject for my Collaging. Hopefully, it won't turn into a hoarding situation 😅
I'm still evolving my Collage process. I've learned I'm really fascinated by typography (the designer in me is always there) and love to collect little scraps with cool or interesting fonts & words.
🔗 Curated Links
A collection of links I found interesting this week:
Another great video from Nicole van der Hoeven: How to learn stuff you have no business learning - YouTube
Tempted to pre-order this game now 😅 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Mr. Aonuma Gameplay Demonstration - YouTube
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Til next week 👋
Michelle