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Social media this year is all about going analogue and embracing whimsical habits, and London-based freelance creative Tatum Van Dam – known by her handle of Paddingtum – has been at the centre of this vendiagram for the past few years. People have just now caught up.
“The trends of print media and being crafty have oddly aligned with everything I’ve always done,” Van Dam told CORQ.
She calls her content “digital scrapbooking”. It’s a mix of zines, outfit inspiration, journal spreads and crafty tutorials, which she shares with her 70,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok.
Creativity wins in the age of AI
Van Dam’s content is refreshing against the rise of AI slop. “Anytime I share something like, ‘I made this with my hands’, it seems to do well. Like junk journaling and giving people more inspiration to get off their phones and do something.”
The 28-year-old’s tutorial from 2023 for how to get handwriting on photos has 1.1 million views, and last year’s “the art of scanning your memories” accumulated 1.4 million views.
@taytoom but also i have a tutorial (in this playlist) on how to do it without an ipad 🫡 #procreate #instagrameditinspo #scrapbookinstagram
The anti-AI movement has been growing, with brands and artists commissioning creatives and makers to design tour posters and videos. Artist Dessie Jackson was tasked with creating a stop-motion for Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella set and the behind-the-scenes video has 2.7 million views.
Olivia Rodrigo’s stop-motion lyric video for Drop Dead, which includes a paper doll, has 3.9 million views, and the Van Dam noted that the artist’s website is very much in “the same world as the fashion zine I just made”. The creative highlighted Hayley Williams’ tour poster and Vogue Italia’s Sylvanian Families stop motion campaign for its vintage market as examples of this trend. She also noted how brands such as Starface are working with crafty creators.
“I keep seeing a lot of things where I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I would make that’. And I’m like, ‘Hey guys, I do this too’.” Her dream artist to work for is Rodrigo – Van Dam reimagined the album cover of You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, resulting in 4,800 likes. “People were like, ‘Wait, this isn’t the real one?’”
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Junk journaling and analogue activities are trending. Coinciding with the rise of print media, Van Dam believes zines (she sells hers on Etsy) will become the next trend. #Zine has 94,000 posts on TikTok.
Last month, she held a pop-up with Art Gurl to sell her zines – her first time selling her work in real life – and organised a community craft table. She had 50 RSVPs, and despite the event falling on the day of the Tube strike, 30 to 40 people arrived and she sold around 25 zines.
Instagram as a work and design portfolio
The creative treats her Instagram as a design portfolio, which has helped her land jobs thanks to her distinct editing style. She is currently the social media lead for Live Nation’s Ones to Watch.
She has been posting on the internet for as long as she can remember, from YouTube in her teens to running a Shawn Mendes account, and began accumulating an Instagram audience in 2021 once she treated the platform as a digital archive.
Inspired by a TikTok where a woman discussed treating Instagram as a scrapbook, Van Dam made a similar video in 2022. It now has 2.2 million views and 789,000 likes. Overnight, she received about 300,000 likes and gained 10,000 Instagram followers.
Her following and expertise have resulted in career opportunities. Van Dam started making TikToks for Vice in 2021 after sending them her videos and her credentials: a master’s degree in journalism, knowledge of TikTok and owning a mini microphone. She later landed a role at Atlantic Records to manage its social media for its up-and-coming artists. She notes she was hired because of her following and self-taught design skills, which led her to make merch, zines and art for one of the musicians.
More recently, she has designed merchandise for dream pop band The Two Lips. “I sent them my Instagram, and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh. We love polka dots – you can design our shirt’.”
As for her career ambitions, she hopes to become a creative director, curator or tastemaker within the music industry.
“I have really been enjoying being freelance and having more time to work on my zines, my videos or whatever I’m creating and just seeing where it goes. I hope that whatever I’m making is resonating with people and that [they] enjoy it enough to follow along.”
Brand partnerships and community activations
Van Dam doesn’t label herself as an influencer because her personal social media isn’t where she earns an income. Still, she has landed brand deals and gifted products from companies such as Oddli, Chouchou Intimates and CASETiFY.
In 2025, she teamed up with Haricot Vert and Lazy Oaf to host a junk journaling event in London. Tickets sold out the same day, and guests received a keychain from Lazy Oaf, charms from Haricot Vert and Van Dam made everyone junk journaling starter packs.
@taytoom design a poster with me!!! for an event i am hosting with @Lazy Oaf & @haricotvertcharms 🫧🌸🥹 (london girlies come through <3) #designwithme #graphicdesign #photoshop #photoshopediting
Her dream company to collaborate with is Adobe. “I think it aligns perfectly with the type of content I make because I share so many Photoshop tutorials. My whole thing is like urging people to do it themselves on Photoshop, or editing without using shortcuts [apps].”
As she puts it: “I want to push people to like, enjoy the mess of creating, because I think that’s where the fun is. I always tell myself to enjoy the process and let go of any outcome, because I feel like that’s what art should be about.”
By Caroline Edwards, trends editor at CORQ. Picture credit: Tatum Van Dam
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