Creative Leisure News

Technology issues that affect your business

Crafts & Technology: Friends or Foes?

Can you attract younger consumers by embracing technology?

by PC Smart (January 16, 2006)

For the past few years, I have been writing about how technology is infiltrating the creative industry. Slowly but surely every area of crafting has been touched in some way by a software program, Internet site, or new print media. From programs such as PC Stitch to the Electric Quilt software, the how-to aspect of our industry has benefitted from DVDs, CDs and downloads. Crafters can get patterns online at 2 a.m. on the Lion Brand Yarn site or chat with a scrapper in Australia on a message board. Retailers can reach out to their customer base 24/7 with their website. Product information, techniques, and project ideas are just some of the things being offered on sites such as Michaels.com and Archivers online. Manufacturers have gotten into the act with consumer-based galleries where crafters upload images of their projects. Many companies run large scale contests where internet surfers can click and vote for the winner. And yet, so many of you are still worried computers will put traditional crafting into a shallow grave.

What is fueling this fear? Digital Scrapbooking is the big bad wolf blowing at the door of the paper companies. The rise in popularity of digital scrapping has led many to wonder if it is poised to take over or if it'sjust a niche in the overall scrap population. There are stories about scrappers who gave away or sold all of their "stash" and went digital. Download sites are cropping up all over the Internet. Digital designers create products that require no investment other than a computer and some image software. Purchases are made via websites where the only exchange of goods is virtual. Sounds ominous, doesn�t it?

Take a deep breath; the future of crafting does not lie solely in the hard drive of a personal computer or in cyberspace. Technology is being integrated into crafting the same way computerized sewing machines were a few years back. Instead of seeing technology as replacing traditional crafting, you should be viewing it as the bait for a younger generation � a generation that has never known life without computers, printers or scanners. A generation that will hardly remember film cameras or life without personal electronics such as cell phones or iPods. By speaking their language, you invite them into a whole new world of creativity previously thought of as frumpy or cute.

The key here is to speak their language. Incorporate tech into designs that are based in traditional supplies � hybrid crafting, if you will. So many scrappers jazz up their photos in Photoshop, type up their journaling, print it all on their home printers, and yet reach for paper to create the actual page. Quilters are creating their own fabric designs, printing them on cotton poplin, and piecing them into traditional quilts. Even beaders can now use software to design their patterns, print out the chart and a shopping list, and head out to the bead shop for supplies.

The crossover crafter blends today�s technology with yesterday�s supplies to create the techniques of tomorrow. Hiring designers that speak tech is key to attracting this new breed of crafter. Having projects that showcase your products along with some creative technology might tempt them to make a trip out to the local craft store.

Retailers have been fearful that they would have to carry high-end supplies and equipment to bring in these new age crafters. Not at all. Offer customers some creative printing media such as inkjet decals, transfers and fabric. Bring in some new blood to teach about creative scanning and printing techniques. Have a local photographer give classes in digital photography. Teachers are easier to find than you might imagine � look to the community schools and colleges. Sponsor a tech day and have a local camera store set up some printers and scanners to show customers how to scan and correct their old photos. Cross marketing will allow you to have a tech presence without the inventory.

Don�t run from technology, embrace it. Instead of viewing it as the downfall of traditional supplies, see it as the secret to bringing in the younger, hip and trendy crafter. They are eager to embrace new ways of expressing themselves, but want it on their terms. If it looks like their mom�s crafts, it is not likely to appeal to them. Step into the 21st century of creativity.

Note: PC Smart is the Co-Editor of Creative TECHniques magazine, a new quarterly publication published by All American Crafts that will premier on newsstands in May. Email her at editors@creativetechniquesmag.com and see her at the CHA show. For advertising info, email Tamara Hanes at thanes@allamericancrafts.com or call 888-781-4486. To read her previous columns for CLN, click on the titles in the right-hand column. To comment on the craft/technology issue, email CLN at mike@clnonline.com.

xxx