Digital Memories Magazine - First Edition Quick Review
Monday, November 7, 2005 at 03:52PM 
Two thumbs up (and a couple of big toes too) to the editor and team of Digital Memories. Jennifer Pebbles and the Creative team and writers have done a wonderful job on the premiere issue of the second fully digital scrapbooking magazine on the block.
Digital Memorie’s first edition is now available, as a free download from the website, once you have registered for the e-newsletter. It comes as a pdf download, readable in Adobe Reader, and with a separate freebie kit also. Annoyingly, the file (and download for the kit itself) are password protected. The password comes down in a text file, but it’s a little annoying to have to open that each time you want to open and read the pdf magazine itself. Hopefully eventually the password need will be relinquished with further editions.
But that’s the only negative I can find with the publication at the moment. The edition contains 51 pages of digital news, articles and layouts. This first premiere edition is advert free also, which is a bonus because it allows the reader to get a general feel of production quality and how the magazine looks and feels without being impacted by the sometimes design-craziness of fullpage or partial advertisements in the middle of things.
The magazine is formatted with a lot of nice white space, and isn’t afraid to stick an image in the centre of a double page article, meaning that the image transposes both pages. Using Adobe Reader in this double spread read, the magazine looks like I’ve opened up a physical magazine across my lap.
There are articles by Shabby Princess on Copywrite etiquette, an article on Katrina relief, and another article by Jen Strange on blogging (which is at too base a level for this seasoned blogger, but I understand the need), a spotlight on four designers and their latest winter digital kits, a font section, a colour swatch selection for the Christmas season, a short article on Adobe Elements 4, and one telling us which photographs we might like to take for the season. The wintery and Christmasy layouts and ideas in this edition are spot on, as I contemplate my own slightly late present making requirements, and how digital might help me out here a little also.
The announced Design Team is reasonably large, but readers do have an opportunity to see themselves published by entering the challenge issued on pages 24-25 and sending in one layout. The winner will be published in the next edition, due in the New Year.
Bree Clarkson provides some sketches to use, and inexplicably a whole page is dedicated to horiscopes in this edition. The quotes and poems for the season are perhaps a little more useful, and more standard fodder for a seasonal issue of any scrapbooking magazines.
The gallery of winter layouts look fabulous, and I hope that actual readers will have an opportunity in the future to see their layouts published regularly via this magazine. I look forward to seeing where this magazine goes to in the future.
View Printer Friendly Version
Reader Comments (3)
Thank you for your review! I am glad you liked it. I know the password is a hassle, once we have the site that we want with the security in place, it will be easier to use. Just FYI, the horoscopes are geared toward your creative side, so you can use them for direction or inspiration, or what ever, just a little NSBR fun.
Oh, and we welcome reader submissions for each issue, we will have more info for the JAN/FEB issue on our site soon.
Thanks again!!