Review : DSP's Club Digital
Saturday, March 4, 2006 at 08:09AM Via some grace (ala Lauren and Amanda), I was offered a free three month subscription to Digital Scrapbook Place’s Club Digital . Although a frequenter of many Digital websites (including a frequent purchaser at DSP whenever a kit took my liking), I’ve never previously been enamoured with the idea of committing myself to a club like this - mainly because there are always offerings which don’t appeal amongst the lot - from either a personal taste value or a need for a themed kit (or no need as such). I used to find the same with paper-based kits in a pizza box - some you would love, some were a waste of space - literally. So, although aware of a few digital kit or subscription clubs out there, I’d not taken much notice until offered the Club Digital opportunity.
But then again - if I’ve just joined up for a monthly chocolate kit delivery, then there must be something in the element of surprise and the feeling of anticipation when knowing a new kit is coming. I love nice surprises.
My three month membership would normally have cost me US$17.97 - although the DSP site suggests that the $5.96 a month gives you around the $27 mark in normal retail value. You can join up for longer timeframes also, with additional discounts.
January’s Club Digital
You join up to this club - just like buying a digital kit from the shopping cart. The join-up payment will be confirmed shortly afterwards and you will be able to download the first monthly kit available at the time. For me, this was the January Club Digital - a thumbnail image is shown to the left. From the DSP website you can see larger shots of the Club Digital offering. January obviously had a New Years and winter theme to it. And I had an easy download as it had been split into two zip files of less than 20 meg each.
These are exclusive kits, so will disappear for the next month, to be replaced by that month’s Club Digital. I don’t think either the little thumbnail nor larger shots onsite do the kit contents justice on this one - the kit itself has a link to go to a gallery showing layouts created with the contents - and this is where the whole thing falls together. In paper-based kits, you normally get a newsletter, or some guidance in how to use the kit contents. The Club Digital’s link to this gallery is just such a thing.
According to the website -
"You will always receive 2 complete page kits , One plopper and an alphabet, some great word art and each month there will be one Programme specific item such as Paint shop Pro Tubes, Photoshop Brushes or some other goodie for your scrapping pleasure".
January obviously has a New Years and winter theme to it. This digital assemblage came with some PSP patterns (how kewl that I was given coincidentally something for my photo editor of choice - but they come in png form as well - for other photo editor usages), and a DSP DATC (Digital ATC) and a Truetype handwriting font called Jenna. The previews don’t do the Resolutions kit by Kim Liddiard any justice either - this dreamy blue kit was used in the DATC also. Lovely.
February’s Club Digital
On the 1st of February I received an email including the user name and password to pick up February’s Club Digital. A good thing too - I’d been busy at work, arrived home late, and the last thing I had in mind was to remember anything like this. You would have found me musing over what I hadn’t followed up on half way through the month without that email prompt.
February’s Club Digital has the pre-requisite love theme. Two kits came in this package, another font, and some love inspired word art, some overlays, an alpha and the photo editor specific addition this time around was some carved text styles - not usable by myself unfortunately. Valeri Brumfield’s SWAK kit is perhaps my favourite of the February kits - particularly with some of the elements provided - a set of lips and XOXO element. Kim Liddiard’s Cutwork Heart Alpha is a keeper also - it is usable for many things, and is different from other alphas I have on file. However, despite being in the month of February myself, I was feeling particularly tired and had been overly valentine-kitted out there. I just had no huge inspirations coming from the February Club Digital in total.
I was proposing suggesting that it would have been a nicer surprise to receive something other than the whole love thing / red in colouring that February’s Club Digital provided. It’s so, well, expected. But that’s the point also, towards signing up for such a monthly kit - many people would have exactly that expectation to look forward to, and might well be disappointed should they not find a love themed set of kits and elements to use in the arrival of this set this month. In that respect I may bow to the masses.
I actually used some of February’s Club Digital contents immediately - in creating an altered love doll for another project. The papers used to create this doll are from Valeri Brumfield’s SWAK kit and I also used the Love Wordart on the belly of this doll. You can see the doll in full size in the Altered Digital article on the Scrapability blog on the day she was made.
March’s Club Digital
On March 1st my email duly arrived with the link to download this kit pack. March for the U.S. and most other countries is associated with Spring, but more characterised by St Patrick’s Day. The March Club Digital therefore had a lot of St Paddy’s stuff within it, including one full kit called Little Leprechaun (it didn’t have one in it, however) by Jamie Rouselle, and a shamrock stamp alpha created by Valeri Brumfield. I don’t actually have a great collection of St Patricks digital stuff (can you count to two?) so welcomed these into my stash, but with some reservations. I don’t have a need for them. Perhaps one day, however. My St Paddy’s day celebrations are more appropriate to my own days spent in New Zealand, where the day is a real event. I’ve also spent an actual St Patrick’s day in Dublin Ireland, where strangely enough, the day wasn’t that awash with the festivities I was expecting out of my kiwi background. No green hair anywhere.
This Club Kit also comes with a nice font, a plopper page, and some Photoshop grunge frame brushes. Luckily for me, the png files came this time, meaning I can use them in Paint Shop Pro also. A DATC from the Little Leprechaun finishes the set, aside from the one item which really took my fancy - the second kit in the set - entitled Friendship Spans The Globe, by Kim Liddiard. This is beautiful, in misty ocean blues and greens, with two little stick figures of a boy and girl and a few earth elements. Great idea, great little mini kit.
Is a Club Digital Subscription of Value?
As I’ve suggested earlier, subscribing to a kit of any form is a risk, but also endorsed by the pleasant surprises you sometimes find. Nothing beats that surprise factor when you open up (or download) that new package to find something new, fun, and appealing to your own needs. This is not like going out there and buying exactly what you want. But then, with digital kits you always run the risk of buying a kit from a thumbnail preview which may turn out to be sometimes disappointing. Given this degree of lack of objectivity, whether you like everything in a Club Digital kit must be something you can only decide. I chose to try to evaluate the value of this in my own measured fashion, by taking a look at a range of values.
|
| January | February | March |
| USABILITY | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| SURPRISE FACTOR | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| BOUGHT OTHERWISE? | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Value Total | 10 | 6 | 11 |
As a quick explanation, although I didn’t think I would make use of the valentines themed papers, I actually did - so had to up the rating in usability for that one. The surprise factor for the January and March Club Digital selections was upped by the kits which came in them not associated with the themed ones for the month. The Resolutions Kit and Friendship Spans the Globe kits, both by Kim Liddiard really made me smile when I got the chance to inspect them, and also increased the factors on these months towards whether I might have bought something like these otherwise, if they weren’t coming in a monthly club kit. And yes, if they were a tiny bit bigger, I would have certainly contemplated this - based on my own likings of course. Both of these months provided usable elements within the specific software section, whereas February’s was unusable for me. The fonts included also make these all an interesting package.
Are they worth $5.96? Yes, I would suggest so. I’ve paid a lot more for paper-based kits (and this is a very good price even if contemplating buying two mini digial kits out there). The anticipation and surprise factor are part of that pricing. For that you have to trust that you are getting value for money based on your own personal likings. Club Digital is worth a consideration if you are in the market for a Monthly Digital Kit Club, and value these factors yourself. Plus you’ll be pleasantly surprised with some of the contents found each month.
Link : Club Digital at Digital Scrapbook Place.
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Reader Comments (4)
I'm aware of the controversy with some scrappers with the resolution used by DSP. And it is worthwhile noting this, if anyone is concerned.
Personally, I must be one of those people who is quite blind - I don't notice a difference between the quality of a 200dpi or a 300dpi jpeg, even when I have both lots printed out. So, for me, this isn't a concern. I also don't normally use a full sheet of DSP paper and or elements on the same layout with others anyway - I tend to cut out sections of papers and stretch or downsize them to fit what I want. I also resize the vast majority of my elements, so the initial size is not normally a problem.
So, for me this is not an issue. But if resolution is an issue for anybody, I presume that so is quality, whether the products are jagged, value for money, and many other factors worth considering. Again, it comes down to personal choice. And whether you like something.