TIPS & TRICKS
Cover lay-out of FUN Designcover photo books
When designing your own cover of FUN photo books please take care of an appropriate orientation: The right half of the displayed lay-out will become the front cover page, and the left half will become the rear cover page. Just as if you would place the opened book with the printed inside pages downwards on the table.
When laying out the cover of a Designcover Cardboard photo book, you further have to remind that a part of the printed cover will be folded back around the cardboard and glued on in the inside. Hence, this about 2 cm wide margin area will not be visible from the outside of the finished book.
If you employ a self-designed lay-out for the cover, please make sure that any text or image content which shall be visible from the outside, has an adequate distance from the edge of the lay-outed page.
Resolution for excellent print quality
Resolution of at least 150 dpi (dots per inch) is necessary for a qualitatively high class print of your digital photos. The albumfactory Designer automatically calculates resolution dependent on the photo pixel count and the size of the picture window and warns you when the resolution is too low during your picture selection for a picture window. It’s advisable to continuously work with high resolutions; this isn’t usually a problem with modern digital cameras.
The following table gives you an approximate guideline to the minimum pixels your digital photos should have in order to obtain a good printing result.
| Picture size in cm | 10 x 7,5 | 16 x 12 | 20 x 15 | 28 x 21 | 40 x 30 |
|
Resolution in mega pixels |
0,3 | 0,7 | 1,1 | 2,1 | 4,2 |
Own photo as background
You can also use your own pictures as a background on some or all pages of your photo book, in addition to the standard backgrounds.
Back to TopOversize pictures
Our customers are thrilled time and time again, when they see one of their photos printed in 20 or even 30 cm format. Oversize photos can fascinate and this effect is made ample use of in every illustrated book that you see in book shops.
At the same time, positioning is not irrelevant. The right-hand page (with uneven page number) catches one’s eye first when turning the pages. Place exceptionally large and lovely photographs on that side if you want to engage the attention of the viewer and fascinate him.
Oversize photos don’t usually require a frame in order to appeal. Do place your photos up to the top, bottom and right-hand side margin (or even somewhat over the margin so that no unwanted white border will be produced later in production).
Back to TopPicture in picture
Additionally, inserts of one or more pictures into a larger picture can be an interesting design variation, for example, when the pictures fit together as a theme (further views, details), and as a complete colour theme.
Pay attention to the background picture when doing this. Check whether it still has enough room and meaningful content to maintain its effect despite the disturbance. The complete impression is often better if inserts are used where the background picture varies the least.
Turn focus to the centre of the page
Whenever people in your photo are not looking towards the camera but “outside of the picture”, make sure by using appropriate placement that their glances tend to point to the centre of the book and not towards the edge. Otherwise they appear to be strangely “lost”.
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Long text passages don’t have to be difficult to read
It can be that you don’t want to just use picture captions in your photo book but want to insert a longer explanatory text now and again. Extensive text blocks can be off-putting; long lines make it difficult for the eye to skip horizontally.
Arrange the text in paragraphs in order to remain readable. One should seldom confront the eye with more than 40 to 50 characters per line when using a 10 point font size. Many compact text blocks often have a quieter effect than a “whole string” of text.
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Keep distance from the binding margin when positioning text
Remember that your book pages are going to be bound. Text blocks that are too close to the inside margin are often difficult to read or force the reader to have to really press the book pages down in the middle.
Keeping a good “thumb-width” distance from the inside margin reliably corrects the problem (control this when using the 100% view in albumfactory Designer).
Back to TopEffective contrast of font sizes
Various font sizes, differing only slightly from each other, can easily confuse the viewer as the eye doesn’t immediately understand the “pecking order”.
On the other hand, very large and very small font sizes can harmonise well. A 60 point heading and a continuous text block with 8 or 9 point font size can complement each other well. Various types of lettering or colours are then also possible without disturbing the overall harmonious impression.
Back to TopOrganisation and line of suspense
A photo book also tells a story. It will be talked about a lot if it contains a logical set up and a suspense line.
A certain classification can help – by places, events, (“in front of the church”, “the wedding”, “the celebration”) or themes (“pure relaxation”, “culinary”, “excursions”) or however you want to organise it. If a chapter begins with a lovely designed double-page it makes you want more.
Cover pages – efforts at the right place
Again and again, in our photo book production we observe cover pages which have been lavishly designed by our customers – and we are pleased to look at them. The first impression is decisive, and the delight you will give with a photo book to yourself or to others, will be even greater if it is decorated by a self-designed cover illustration.
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