Everyone is talking about the recession. But just how has it affected UK consumers? New research conducted by Millward Brown via social media has found that UK consumers are reassessing their priorities in life and are acknowledging that they don't need to spend money to be happy. The research highlighted a renewed appreciation of the simple pleasures in life such as health, happiness, family and friends, home life and leisure time.

More significantly - the research showed that UK consumers were spending more screen time at home. 60% of the respondents said they were spending more time using the Internet, 22% playing video games and 14% watching TV.In answer to the current UK consumers' plight of having to spend less cash and more time at home; Serif Europe Ltd, the UK's leading independent design, publishing and creative software developer,has announced the release of a completely free version of their popular digital scrapbooking software, Digital Scrapbook Artist Compact, available to download here. It is not a trial or time-limited in anyway and offers all the features expected of a fully functional digital scrapbooking product.

This seems to be perfect timing for the free product launch from Serif as the research results went on to highlight that 72% of respondents felt that now is the time to avoid financial risk - while only 19% say now is the time to purchase goods, taking advantage of special offers or discounts. Furthermore, the results showed that UK consumers are currently the most conservative in Europe when it comes to future spending plans, with 55% (over half) planning to decrease spending compared to a European average of 31%.

Digital Scrapbook Artist Compact does exactly what it says on the tin - think of traditional scrapbooking, but with a modern twist and you are getting there. Go ahead and create your very own ‘memoir masterpiece' by using the tools and creative content such as embellishments, background papers and brushes to get you started in an instant. Your beautiful personalised scrapbooks will present special nostalgic memoirs for holidays, new births, weddings and many more significant milestones in your life in a very unique way. Enter into a whole new hybrid world of ‘old and new' by simply adding in your own photographs, scanning in old leaflets, tickets and other keepsakes. Once you have created your very own unique scrapbook on your PC - you can fuse together the ‘old and new' by printing off and adding traditional embellishments like ribbons, glitter and lace to really bring your scrapbook to life.


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