Project Life , the app - reviewed

Sunday, September 21, 2014

I have been a long time digital scrapbooker, and paper scrapbooker before that. I made the move to digital as a result of having little kids around the house and not being able to leave scrapbooking supplies out for the time it took to complete a page with all the interruptions.

Digital has been great. I learned to use photoshop, learned to edit photos and basically had a great time filling up my hard drive with about 200GB of "supplies", papers, ribbons, button, and other embellishments. I got my prints made at Costco on 12x18 and trimmed them down. But building these digital pages took just as long as the paper ones - sometimes longer as the options were greater. For example, with paper - you can make it *any* colour in photoshop, you weren't limited to what you had on hand, like paper scrapbooking.

Earlier this year, after a hiatus from digital scrapbooking (and scrapbooking period), I discovered project life. I had already seen and used the 4x6 pocket protectors back from my paper scrapbooking days with CTMH, but the packs of cards already "matchy matchy" appealed to me, and I purchase 2 kits (Midnight and Honey) as well as some more pocket protectors with different shapes. I printed off all my 2*+ photos (I am now doing picks in Lightroom instead) from 2012 and 2013 and tucked them into the pockets, putting in cards from the kits - awesome! I got a lot done, but in the back of my head a little voice said - you only have 1 copy of this.

You see, with digital scrapbooking there is one *major* advantage - you can print multiple copies. One for grandad, one for nanna, one for our family, etc. You can't do that with paper. (Yes you can scan it or take a photo of it, but it's not the same).

Enter.... Project Life, the app.

About Project Life

Becky Higgins, creator of Project Life, and long time scrapbook template queen, has just released Project Life, the app (click the link to read more about the app).

So what is it? It's an app that reproduces the experience of the project life system but on your phone or in my case, my ipad. You are welcomed by an intro screen where you simply select "Make a Page".

Introduction Screen



Then you choose a layout by selecting Change Layouts.


Menu system



These are the same layouts as the pocket protectors so you can match your existing albums easily.


Choose a layout from the layout bar


Then you touch each space on template and choose whether to add a photo or a card - easy.
Select the add photo or add card button


If you choose a journaling card, you then have the ability to add text on top. The cards feature the same sets as you buy on paper, Midnight is one of the 4 free sets and there are several other sets for a couple of dollars each, and additional templates for a couple of dollars each - but really you get quite a bit included in the app itself which is just $2.99 (and I think a bargain).

In about 2 hours, I made 8 pages using the system.


Saving, Printing, Exporting

You can save to ipad, photostream, email, flickr, evernote (basically anything) and even export to print! This is great if you take a lot of photos on your iphone as you have everything you need right in the palm of your hand.

I haven't printed yet, but the 12x12 export produces a file of 2760x2760 (230 dpi) which should be adequate - I typically create 12x12 digital layouts at 3600 (300 dpi).

Ease of Use

It is super easy to use, as my 10 year old made her first page in about 15 minutes with no help from momma.

Criticsms

Criticisms, well I have just one. Only journaling type cards can have text added. Yet there are some other filler cards with speech bubbles that *should* be allowed to have text. This is something that I'm sure they'll realize eventually and given there are lots of journaling cards in each set, its a small issue.

Here's the pages 

Note, everything seen here is free except the layout in the bottom image.

Pictures are taken from 2009 and were all taken by our Nanny at the time. I didn't know they existed for a long time until she posted them on her FB page (that's why they weren't scrapbooked - oh the excuses I can come up with... but I digress.. on with the show).









Conclusion

At $2.99 this is a real bargain for a well designed and functional app. I've seen and tried a few scrapbooking apps but this one just hits the spot. Everything about it is right from a usability standpoint and I love that they give you enough supplies to get started. Yes you can buy more but you don't have to (although I know you are a scrapbooker and that what we do - all the supplies in all the colours!).

TIP: Use your own supplies

And if you need more supplies and don't want to purchase them, then here's a tip for you. Go online and find digital scrapbook papers, these should be in jpg format. Then add them to your camera roll. Then instead of adding cards, add a photo and choose the paper you downloaded. Great for decorating with specific colours or themes!

TIP: Using Project Life app with Lightroom

If you're like me, you don't take photos with iPhones. I use a mirrorless DSLR style camera) and upload from my SD card to Lightroom. I use the Lightroom mobile app and sync the photos over to my iPad. From there I can save them into an album on the iPad and then Project Life has access to them. It's a little bit of extra work but for me the picture quality is worth it (I cannot take a good photo with my iPhone 5C).

TIP: Doing Project Life on paper

At $0.99-$1.99 a kit, this is a great way to purchase a kit where you only want a few of the cards. Simply purchase them on the App, create a layout using the cards you want and then print it. Cut out the cards and use them in your paper layouts. (Tip from my friend Kelli W)

I'd love to know what you think! Leave a comment below.






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