A personalised photo book is one of the most thoughtful gifts out there. Whether you are compiling your family’s favourite moments for a special anniversary present or celebrating the moments that count with a custom-made travel photo book, these are the gifts that your loved ones will want to hold onto for a lifetime. So, where do you start?
A checklist for creating a photo book
Designing a beautiful personalised photo gift shouldn’t be a stressful experience. And with our pre-designed photo book templates and super-easy editor tools, we’re happy to say that it’s not! Here we have put together a simple step-by-step guide and simple checklist to make creating your personalised photo album a breeze.
Think of a theme and name your photo book
The first step to designing your personalised photo book is to settle on a fantastic theme. Are you creating a fun travel photo book for the whole family to share, or are you designing a chic photo album to commemorate a special birthday or anniversary? Having a clear idea of your chosen theme will help set the tone for your entire project.
Your design will reflect your theme: think minimalist tones and clean texts for a sophisticated book of memories, or opt for brighter colours, fun fonts, and energetic visuals for a family-friendly creation.
Next, think of a name. Give your personalised photo book a simple title and let the reader know what content they can expect inside.
Select a pre-designed photo book template
You’ve named your photo book gift and thought of a theme, but how do you bring it to life? Thankfully, you don’t need a design degree to do that. Either create your book from scratch and design every detail yourself with our easy-to-use editors, or select one of our pre-designed books to get a head start. We have over 230 pre-designed photo album templates, allowing you to create a work of art in just a few clicks.
Choose a design that matches the theme and vibe you want to communicate, select the size you’d like your book to be printed, and click “Create now” to move to our online editor.
Choose your favourite photos
Now comes the fun part: selecting your favourite photos to include in your personalised photo gift. Open up your camera roll on your phone or photo folder on your desktop, and start selecting. With our editors, the process couldn’t be more straightforward.
If you’re creating in our app, simply tap to select the snaps you want to use, then add them to your photo book pages. Similarly, if you’re using your laptop, just drag each photo across and arrange them any way you like. Alternatively, if you’re stuck on how to arrange your photos on a page, give our Smart Assistant a try. It’ll pick your best snaps, remove any blurry and duplicate shots, and then place them into layouts for you.
Add a personal touch
Once you’ve placed your photos in your photo book design template on the online editor, it’s time to add a personal touch. That’s what a personalised photo gift is about, after all!
Within our easy-to-use photo book editor, you can add text throughout your design. Tell a story throughout your book, or find inspiration for your captions from your images. Think of song lyrics that remind you of that day, an inspirational quote, or a funny memory you have shared. You can also invite your nearest and dearest to write the captions with you and make the whole experience collaborative for more inspiration.
As well as custom captions, have fun playing around with additional graphics to make the content as ‘you’ as possible. We have an extensive library of images, illustrations, and clip art for you to experiment with. The goal? Make your photo book as special as the memories it holds.
Final check: now order your photo book
Your photos are placed, your captions are written, and you’ve customised your photo book template to perfection. Now it’s time for a final check. Read through your book page by page in the online preview section, read the text, watch out for small typos, and make sure you haven’t missed any images.
And that’s it – you’re ready to print your personalised photo book.
Refer to this simple checklist next time you’re ready to get creative with your photo gifts.
1. Think of a theme and name your photo book
2. Choose a pre-designed photo book template or start with a blank canvas
3. Choose your favourite photos from your phone or computer library
4. Add a personal touch with text and captions
5. Play with the extras in the online photo book editor
6. Final check and print
We hope this photo book checklist makes it easier for you to dive into your next photo album project and give you some inspiration to create your own memorable photo book. All that’s left for you to do now is get started!