Kwanzaa is a weeklong holiday, from December 26th to January 1st, honoring African heritage. Kwanzaa consists of seven days of celebration marked by participants lighting a single candle in a kinara (candleholder) each day and culminating in a feast and gift giving with seven candles lit.
Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to a single principle. These principles emphasize unity (Umoja), self-determination (Kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (Ujima), cooperative economics (Ujamaa), purpose (Nia), creativity (Kuumba), and faith (Imani). The greeting for each day of Kwanzaa is “Habari Gani!” which is Swahili for “What’s the News?” or “What’s New?” The response is each of the principles for each of the days of Kwanzaa, i.e., “Umoja” on the first day, “Kujichagulia” on the second day and so on.
When I chose Kwanzaa as my holiday theme, I knew I wanted to create a layout that would allow me to present all seven principles of Kwanzaa in a logical way. My goal was to allow each principle it’s own visual space, yet connect the spaces to create a cohesive whole. The circle, with its inherent sense of wholeness, completion and returning cycles, seemed the perfect symbol.
While I roughed out the layout at home, I was able to refine and finish my layout sitting at a table in my favorite coffee shop with my MacBook Pro and a Wacom Bamboo tablet. What’s great about the Bamboo is that not only is it ideal for drawing tasks, that are just plain easier with a pen and tablet, it’s just as useful as a daily tool, replacing a mouse in my design process. Nothing is more natural than sitting at a table, sipping coffee and creating a layout with a Bamboo, pen in hand.
For a peek into my process and to see how I built my page, check out my making of video.
Digital backgrounds and elements designed by Renee Pearson.
Hi! I’m Renee Pearson and welcome to my world. I’m a digital designer and writer. I entered the world of scrapbooking about 6 years ago when my sister showed me the albums she was making for her kids. I thought of all the years of photos stuck in boxes and unsafe photo albums and realized I could take care of them and have some creative fun at the same time.
I’m what you might call the obsessive-compulsive type…but in a good way. When I’m into something, I’m really into it. And so it goes for scrapbooking. I read every magazine on the subject and delighted in purchasing all the lovely papers and embellishments. Early on in my adventure, I realized I could apply my digital design skills to my new hobby. I started out making titles and little journaling captions for my paper pages, but I quickly realized I could create entire pages digitally.
While this is just the beginning of my story, I won’t bore you with all the details. My professional background is in marketing communications, design and illustration. My art background is in mixed-media, printmaking (I still love the monoprint process) and bookmaking. So I had no idea at the time that my new hobby would turn into a full-time career.
I’m currently an Associate Editor at Digital Scrapbooking magazine where I write the Design Wise column. I’ve also written two bestselling how-to books introducing scores of paper scrapbookers to the world of digital design. I just completed the manuscript for my newest book, Digital Designs for Scrapbooking: Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Elements, which will be on store shelves in February 2009.
As an in-demand teacher and speaker, my “hobby” has taken me all over the world from the USA to South Africa to Australia and New Zealand. I also appear as guest host on the Scrapbook Memories television show.
There are always more projects and ideas on my plate than any sane person would accept, but I like challenges. Along with the new book, I’ll be introducing a brand new website in January 2009 where I’ll offer online digital scrapbooking classes at reneepearson.com.
I’ve used Wacom products for years, starting with an original Intuos. I use an Intuos 3 for illustration projects and my Bamboo Fun is the perfect size for traveling and teaching. I love the size and portability and the ability to work from my favorite coffee shop. But right now, I’m excited about my most recent acquisition, a Cintiq 12WX, which will soon become my tablet of choice when working in my studio. It’s so liberating to be able to work directly on my image. Now that’s what I call creative freedom!
Contact: renee@fertilepress.com
Blog: reneepearson.typepad.com
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Just released, the Bamboo Craft is a special edition pen tablet, designed especially for the digital scrapper. It comes bundled with everything you need to get started.
You do such an amazing job of explaining how you created this page. Awesome.
Great explanation. Your work is exceptional. Looking forward to you website classes. Are you ever in the Maryland area?
Much Luv Sherry