Ok, so you've heard me go on and on about how much I love Stampin' Up!s new software My Digital Studio, but, maybe you're looking for an unbiased opinion! I came across
a review written by Kate Pullen (she is not a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator) I thought I would share:
Before I share this review of My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up, let me add some perspective. I am not a digital scrapbooker and I am not experienced at using digital scrapbooking products. While I do use software to resize photographs for use here at About.com, my skills are very much that of a traditional papercrafter. I do use and enjoy digital stamps, however my usage of these is very much limited to printing the outline images and applying color using inks or paints. Therefore when I first looked at My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up, there were two big questions that I asked myself – as a traditional crafter would I be technically able to use a design package such as this and secondly would I enjoy this form of digital crafting? The answer to both of these questions is 'yes'! So, now you know about my starting point, read on for a more detailed look at My Digital Studio.
Getting Started
I found My Digital Studio very easy to use. The software comes with a 128 page pdf user guide. This is a very comprehensive user guide and I found that it gave the information that I required to get creating quickly. In fact, once I had understood the interface I jumped in and started creating, only referring to the user guide if I was unclear about something.
My Digital Studio comes with professionally designed templates as well as offering users a blank canvas for their own layouts and creations. The ready-designed templates can be used as they are or as a starting point for other designs. A user can, for instance, change the color or the different elements to achieve a totally different look.
I used a ready-designed card when I was finding my way around the software and I found this a really useful way to understand how the different layers work and to learn a little more about the different page objects. I ended up with a hideous mess – in my enthusiasm to try all the colors, designs and embellishments, all the design rules such as 'less is more' and working within a limited color palette to achieve elegant results went out the window and I managed to cram a surprising amount into one card! However, while I may not have produced the most sophisticated of cards, I ended up with a really good idea of the basics and felt confident enough to produce my first project.
Using My Digital Studio
I found My Digital Studio very easy to work with and was almost instantly producing acceptable looking cards. The biggest challenge for me was trying to resist using everything on a single page. I found the rich mix of papers, stamps, embellishments and color options, combined with the flexibility of the software gave me an almost endless source of combinations.
The exclusive Stampin' Up colors are used throughout the package and this makes color coordinating and matching very straightforward. One tip that I picked up was that if you allow the cursor to hover over a color on the color pallet tool, it will give you the Stampin' Up color name of the color you are looking at. My monitor is not clear enough to be able to accurately distinguish between some of the different color shades.
Designer Kits
Stampin' Up have provided designer kits with My Digital Studio. These are complete kits of complementary design elements that can be used together and include background papers, stamps and embellishments such as ribbons and brads. These are a great help for people looking for quick results as there is no need to experiment with colors or combinations of designs. I found these, along with the ready designed templates, good sources of inspiration.
Other Files
Other files can be used in My Digital Studio with ease. I loaded one of my gift box templates from About.com which is in .jpg format and placed stamped images and embellishments on this. This could then be printed onto a thin cardstock and formed into a gift box. If the file format had been a .png file, then I could have placed background paper onto the template. Photos and other illustrations are simple to use in My Digital Studio. They can be placed within pre-designed templates or custom placed in any project.
Projects
I have used My Digital Studio to produce handmade cards. I can see that I would also use My Digital Studio to produce stationery, gift cards and embellishments. As I mentioned at the start of this review, I am not a digital scrapbooker, however I can definitely see how easy it would be to produce great looking digital scrapbooks quickly and easily.
Another area that I can see that My Digital Studio would be really useful for is in the practice and exploration of new ideas and designs. It would be very easy to try new layouts using different stamp designs and colors digitally before investing in the paper and ink versions.
Hybrid Projects
One area that I would like to explore further is hybrid projects. This is the combination of digital and traditional techniques. This could be as simple as just adding a few finishing touches to a card or more complex projects, for example creating custom designed embellishments for gift boxes or party favors.
Help
The help provided within My Digital Studio is comprehensive and certainly good enough to get even a complete beginner like me up and running quickly. I found the 128 page pdf user guide helpful, however I would really welcome the opportunity to buy a paper copy. Having a paper manual or user guide is my own personal preference and something that I find useful to work with, therefore having the option of a paper manual would be an improvement for people like me. Training on My Digital Studio is also supplied by Stampin' Up certified trainers.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed using My Digital Studio. There are advantages and disadvantages to digital crafting, some of which are described here and you are welcome to add your own thoughts. One type of crafting isn't a replacement of the other, they are two very different techniques that can operate completely independently of each other or can meet in hybrid projects.
I found My Digital Studio very easy to use and any fears that I had about using it were unfounded. I had two main challenges – both of which were self inflicted – the first was an eagerness to try everything at once meant that I created some rather crowded projects to start. The second challenge was that I was excited by the wide range of options that the different combinations gave me and I was spending an inordinate amount of time trying different things. I am sure that once all the different options become familiar then I will spend more time in creating and less time in experimenting.
My Digital Studio won't be for everyone. People who hate the idea of digital crafting are unlikely to find any software that will change their mind. Crafters who are using other software tools, may also find that their best alternative is to purchase and download just the design elements that they require from Stampin' Up and use this within their existing systems. This is particularly true for users of My Memories Suite from Polaroid. However, for many other people who are interested in digital crafts, particularly those who are interested in making cards and products other than just scrapbook pages, My Digital Studio provides everything you require to make great looking cards and other items that can be printed or used in digital projects.
There are other digital crafting alternatives available. In addition to design tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, there are other card making and digital scrapbooking products. My Digital Studio combines the ease of use of a well designed digital crafting package with a wide range of Stampin' Up digital elements and this makes for a powerful combination.
Technical Note
My Digital Studio is delivered on discs and is very simple to install. I installed the software onto my laptop which runs using Windows 7 and I have experienced no compatibility issues. I do have a reasonably powerful computer with 4 gb of ram, which means that I am able to run My Digital Studio while running other applications without any loss of performance.
I hope that helps to answer a few of your questions. Of course, if you have any additional questions, I'm always here to help!
Happy Stamping!
