Extreme Makeover: Creating Keepsakes Edition
Creating Keepsakes is getting an extreme makeover with the January 2008 edition, both inside and out. The makeover is more than cosmetic, too. It affects not only the look of the magazine but also the contents of it.
The new cover style is definitely going to set the new Creating Keepsakes apart from other crafts magazines on the newstand. Whether that is good or bad of course remains to be seen. The new look is very "retro chic" and similar to such youth and trend-oriented magazines as Domino and Blueprint.
Another huge change for the magazine is that the cover features a person and not a scrapbook layout. According to the statement on CK's site introducing the new look, this won't happen every month, though:
Each month, you’ll find something new on the cover of CK—from layouts and projects to mini albums and even people, like our January cover featuring 2007 Scrapbooker of the Year, Elizabeth Kartchner.
Inside, the magazine will continue to feature some familiar regular items. Studio A, CD's Playground and Becky's Sketch will all carry on in the new CK. There will be a new photography column by Candice Stringham called "Through the Lens", and Jessica Sprague will be presenting "Computer Tricks" regularly. The magazine will also carry on with presenting the "4-product Challenge" and columns like "Tips & Tricks".
The features area seems to be where the greatest overhaul has occurred in the content. A lot of the content in the January issue seems to almost be more "lifestyle" based than scrapbooking based, from a look at the issue's table of contents. With articles such as "Your 2008 Life Plan" (subtitled "Live and scrapbook a happy life") and "The Perfect Planner" (subtitled "Keep your scrapbooking goals on track this year"), and free downloads that include planner checklists and family calendars, this issue seems to be less about scrapbooking than about lifestyles.
It could be that Creating Keepsakes is trying to take advantage of most people's natural inclination in January to want to organize, take stock of their lives, and set new goals to stand out from other publications on the newstand. Probably this focus is only for one month to hook people with an angle that is different from other publications and that ties into their life concerns. Those articles are listed as a special section. If that sort of focus continues, however, it would mark a major departure in focus for the magazine and I'm not sure that it would be a popular one.
The other features show a broader paper crafts focus in the new CK than in the old one. The features include articles that use digital scrapbooking, non-layout projects, and a profile of their cover celebrity. (One thing hasn't changed with this new look. Creating Keepsakes is certainly still using the magazine to create brand names out of their chosen designers.)
More on the new look of Creating Keepsakes for 2008 can be found here on their website, including the full table of contents for the January issue.
