Charming Asheville Wedding Album Design for Jean Smith Photography
What a stunning album design we have to share with you today! Jean Smith -- a Michigan wedding photographer and one of our favorite, longtime clients -- photographed this wedding at The Farm: A Gathering Place in Asheville, North Carolina. If it's possible, every spread of this design is more interesting and charming than the last! We are enamored with Jean's eye for composition and light and how she tells the story of a couples' wedding day in a way that is filled with genuine emotion.
To date we've designed close to 200 albums for Jean and feel so blessed that she trusts us as her album design company of choice. She is such a joy to work with!
This design ended up being 35 spreads (70 pages) which is such a luxury for us! Plenty of room to showcase Jean's images to their full potential! Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this beautiful design:
To date we've designed close to 200 albums for Jean and feel so blessed that she trusts us as her album design company of choice. She is such a joy to work with!
This design ended up being 35 spreads (70 pages) which is such a luxury for us! Plenty of room to showcase Jean's images to their full potential! Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this beautiful design:
To see the design in full, click through the slideshow:
Thank you, Jean, for trusting us with your clients and images!
Thank you, Jean, for trusting us with your clients and images!
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Design by: Kari (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Design by: Kari (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
8 Tips for Timeless Album Design
above images by Megan Travis Photography
Hey guys! Melissa Jill here! I remember the first album I designed myself. It was 2004 and my client had asked for an album. I had never even created a sample album at that point so EVERYTHING was new to me. But I figured, how hard could it be? I'll just whip one up. Haha! Poor little naive me. Three months, ten headaches, and a dozen workflow issues later, I had my first album done. It turned out to be much more challenging than I had initially anticipated. And being that I was new to albums, I was dealing with a HUGE learning curve. Since then I have learned so much about the album design and sales process, and that's one of the main reasons I'm sharing this series of tips -- to help others who may be facing this learning curve for the first time themselves.
I remember looking back at that very first album years later in my client's home and cringing at a few of my choices. Namely, I thought it would be fun to make a collage of overlapping and tilted images for a reception spread. You know...because receptions are wild and crazy, the design should be as well? Yikes! Major regret on that design choice. There were a number of other design trends that I succumbed to in that first design that are SO entirely outdated now. Which makes me sad, because wedding albums need to last generations without looking outdated. Of all things, a wedding album should be timeless.
Today I'm going to share some timeless design tips that we at Align adhere to, and that I would recommend to any of you out there who are designing your albums in house. I hope I don't step on any toes or hurt any feelings, but there are also a few outdated trends that I'd like to call out as well. I learned my lesson the hard way by regretting my design choices, and I want to encourage you all to keep your designs clean and timeless so you don't experience this same sense of regret years from now.
So let's start by ripping the bandaid off first. The outdated trends to steer clear of are:
1. Using images as backgrounds
2. Making images opaque
3. Excessive overlapping of images
All of these trends clutter up your design and don't allow your images to stand apart and be appreciated as art. Your images themselves are interesting. You don't need to make your design overly complex to create a beautiful album. Let the images shine and tell the story for you. As a side note, even though we don't recommend any of the above design choices as being ideal, Align can absolutely design albums with these specifications. The most important thing to us is that you and your clients are happy. And we strive to customize our designs to fit your unique preferences. Just select the "Styled" design option and put your preferences in the comments section of your order form.
Now for the positive tips. Here is what TO DO if you want your albums to be beautiful and remain timeless for generations to come.
#1 -- Use restraint and don't clutter up your spreads with too many images. The fewer images per spread, the more importance you give them.
Hey guys! Melissa Jill here! I remember the first album I designed myself. It was 2004 and my client had asked for an album. I had never even created a sample album at that point so EVERYTHING was new to me. But I figured, how hard could it be? I'll just whip one up. Haha! Poor little naive me. Three months, ten headaches, and a dozen workflow issues later, I had my first album done. It turned out to be much more challenging than I had initially anticipated. And being that I was new to albums, I was dealing with a HUGE learning curve. Since then I have learned so much about the album design and sales process, and that's one of the main reasons I'm sharing this series of tips -- to help others who may be facing this learning curve for the first time themselves.
I remember looking back at that very first album years later in my client's home and cringing at a few of my choices. Namely, I thought it would be fun to make a collage of overlapping and tilted images for a reception spread. You know...because receptions are wild and crazy, the design should be as well? Yikes! Major regret on that design choice. There were a number of other design trends that I succumbed to in that first design that are SO entirely outdated now. Which makes me sad, because wedding albums need to last generations without looking outdated. Of all things, a wedding album should be timeless.
Today I'm going to share some timeless design tips that we at Align adhere to, and that I would recommend to any of you out there who are designing your albums in house. I hope I don't step on any toes or hurt any feelings, but there are also a few outdated trends that I'd like to call out as well. I learned my lesson the hard way by regretting my design choices, and I want to encourage you all to keep your designs clean and timeless so you don't experience this same sense of regret years from now.
So let's start by ripping the bandaid off first. The outdated trends to steer clear of are:
1. Using images as backgrounds
2. Making images opaque
3. Excessive overlapping of images
All of these trends clutter up your design and don't allow your images to stand apart and be appreciated as art. Your images themselves are interesting. You don't need to make your design overly complex to create a beautiful album. Let the images shine and tell the story for you. As a side note, even though we don't recommend any of the above design choices as being ideal, Align can absolutely design albums with these specifications. The most important thing to us is that you and your clients are happy. And we strive to customize our designs to fit your unique preferences. Just select the "Styled" design option and put your preferences in the comments section of your order form.
Now for the positive tips. Here is what TO DO if you want your albums to be beautiful and remain timeless for generations to come.
#1 -- Use restraint and don't clutter up your spreads with too many images. The fewer images per spread, the more importance you give them.
above images by Candace Berry Photography
#2 -- If you do use a lot of images on a given page, make sure to use a structured layout that makes it easy for your eye to "read" what is going on.
#2 -- If you do use a lot of images on a given page, make sure to use a structured layout that makes it easy for your eye to "read" what is going on.
above images by Maggie Harkov Photography
#3 -- We prefer white backgrounds, but if you'd like to use some color on your album spreads, makes sure to pull the color from the photographs that are used on the spread to keep everything cohesive.
#3 -- We prefer white backgrounds, but if you'd like to use some color on your album spreads, makes sure to pull the color from the photographs that are used on the spread to keep everything cohesive.
above images by Amelia Soper Photography
#4 -- Much like matting for a framed photo, using negative space is a great way to draw attention and importance to an image. Don't feel the need to fill every white space.
#4 -- Much like matting for a framed photo, using negative space is a great way to draw attention and importance to an image. Don't feel the need to fill every white space.
above images by Hello Love Photography
#5 -- Make your favorite image the focal point of the spread. Duh, the best images should be given the most real estate.
#5 -- Make your favorite image the focal point of the spread. Duh, the best images should be given the most real estate.
above images by Megan Alvarez Photography
#6 -- Group your images by location so that each spread tells a cohesive story. This is a great thing to keep in mind when you are shooting too. Taking a number of different photos in each location will make for a great album design!
#6 -- Group your images by location so that each spread tells a cohesive story. This is a great thing to keep in mind when you are shooting too. Taking a number of different photos in each location will make for a great album design!
above images by Leezett Photography
#7 -- Think about the color story you are telling on each spread. If there is too much going on color-wise, think about separating competing images onto separate spreads, or putting some of the images in black and white.
#7 -- Think about the color story you are telling on each spread. If there is too much going on color-wise, think about separating competing images onto separate spreads, or putting some of the images in black and white.
above images by Katelyn James Photography
#8 -- Help your design to tell a story by including a number of scene-setting spreads that set the scene for what is to come. This is another great tip to keep in mind for when you are shooting! It's not only wedding detail photographs that help make a design beautiful, think about how you can take detail shots of the location and venue to help tell the story of the day.
#8 -- Help your design to tell a story by including a number of scene-setting spreads that set the scene for what is to come. This is another great tip to keep in mind for when you are shooting! It's not only wedding detail photographs that help make a design beautiful, think about how you can take detail shots of the location and venue to help tell the story of the day.
above images by Leezett Photography
I hope you've found these tips and examples helpful!
----------> If you are overwhelmed with design and want to give outsourcing a try, click here to find out more about the design styles that Align offers. We have 3 standard design styles but can definitely customize to meet most needs, so don't hesitate to send us examples of designs you like and let us know what your preferences are, and we will design to those specifications. After you take a look at our design styles to find out which one would work best for you, click here to sign up for an account with Align. When you do so, we'll send you a free welcome gift -- our "Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies" Resource List. That way you can find out which album printing & binding companies are the most popular among photographers who use Align, and more importantly, WHY.
I hope you've found these tips and examples helpful!
----------> If you are overwhelmed with design and want to give outsourcing a try, click here to find out more about the design styles that Align offers. We have 3 standard design styles but can definitely customize to meet most needs, so don't hesitate to send us examples of designs you like and let us know what your preferences are, and we will design to those specifications. After you take a look at our design styles to find out which one would work best for you, click here to sign up for an account with Align. When you do so, we'll send you a free welcome gift -- our "Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies" Resource List. That way you can find out which album printing & binding companies are the most popular among photographers who use Align, and more importantly, WHY.
If you already have an existing Align account and want a copy of this resource guide, you're welcome to email us for a copy.
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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Spring New York Wedding Album design for Francesca Marie Photography
The album design we are sharing with you today is the very first one we designed for East Coast wedding photographer Francesca Marie. Francesca captured this Briarcliff Manor wedding in the Hudson Valley region of New York this spring and she did such a beautiful job!
She loves a clean, classic album design with decent white space, so that is what we delivered! Francesca opted to use our Hands-off Service to streamline the revision process and the finished design ended up being 20 spreads (40 pages). Francesca did a great job of sending us a variety of images shot in the same locations which allowed us to design visually cohesive spreads that tell the story of the wedding day in a beautiful way.
We love how this design turned out! Here are a few of our favorite spreads:
She loves a clean, classic album design with decent white space, so that is what we delivered! Francesca opted to use our Hands-off Service to streamline the revision process and the finished design ended up being 20 spreads (40 pages). Francesca did a great job of sending us a variety of images shot in the same locations which allowed us to design visually cohesive spreads that tell the story of the wedding day in a beautiful way.
We love how this design turned out! Here are a few of our favorite spreads:
To see the design in full, click through the slideshow:
It was an honor working with you and your beautiful images, Francesca!
It was an honor working with you and your beautiful images, Francesca!
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Design by: Rachel (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Design by: Rachel (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Virginia Barn Wedding Album Design for Kaitlyn Phipps Photography
We are so excited to share a stunning album design we worked on for the fabulous Kaitlyn Phipps -- a Virginia wedding photographer! We have had the pleasure of working with Kaitlyn for the past decade, which is such an honor. What a blessing to be able to work with photographers over the course of their entire career, serving their clients and seeing their photography and businesses evolve! Kaitlyn does such a great job capturing the joy of each wedding day in her characteristic clean, bright and timeless style. Her images are always so great to work with because she excels at storytelling -- her albums practically design themselves -- haha!
Kaitlyn likes to have us leave one spread open for family photos and she asks her client to pick the images for us to design that spread during the first revision round. This particular album ended up being 18 spreads and was finalized in less than a month after only one round of revisions! It was a super-smooth process!
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this beautiful design:
Kaitlyn likes to have us leave one spread open for family photos and she asks her client to pick the images for us to design that spread during the first revision round. This particular album ended up being 18 spreads and was finalized in less than a month after only one round of revisions! It was a super-smooth process!
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this beautiful design:
To see the design in full, click through the slideshow:
Thank you, Kaitlyn, for trusting us with your clients and images for so many years!
Thank you, Kaitlyn, for trusting us with your clients and images for so many years!
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Design by: Shannon (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Design by: Shannon (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
To Outsource or not to Outsource
This is a question every professional wedding photographer must face -- should I do my album designs myself, or outsource this portion of my workflow to someone else? Obviously, as an album design company, our view at Align is a bit biased. BUT I have also been a professional wedding photographer myself for over 20 years. I started running that business LONG before I started Align, so I myself had to answer this question early on before I had any idea I would be starting an album design company.
I started my business in 2003 and I designed my first few albums myself. I had no clue what I was doing, but I also had no idea that I could outsource. I was completely and utterly clueless. I quickly realized I couldn't keep up with everything myself and still have time to do the things that would help my business grow. So I brought in some help -- an employee who did color-correction and album design for me. This worked great for years, but as my employee's job description grew to the point where SHE couldn't do it all, we started outsourcing our album design to Align. Utter freedom and bliss ensued.
But outsourcing isn't for everyone. Each business owner has to decide for themselves.
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I started my business in 2003 and I designed my first few albums myself. I had no clue what I was doing, but I also had no idea that I could outsource. I was completely and utterly clueless. I quickly realized I couldn't keep up with everything myself and still have time to do the things that would help my business grow. So I brought in some help -- an employee who did color-correction and album design for me. This worked great for years, but as my employee's job description grew to the point where SHE couldn't do it all, we started outsourcing our album design to Align. Utter freedom and bliss ensued.
But outsourcing isn't for everyone. Each business owner has to decide for themselves.
From my point of view, there are two good reasons to do your album designs in-house:
1 -- You have an employee you can pay to handle the initial design work and revisions.
2 -- You just really LOVE doing album design. Like really love it.
If you're having to do everything yourself AND you don't enjoy designing, better to pass it off and spend your time doing the things you are best at and that fuel your passion. That's how the most successful people in life succeed -- by focusing on their unique strengths and passion.
Businesses that fall into the following categories are ideally suited for outsourcing their album design:
1 -- Newer businesses where the photographer is also working another job
2 -- Businesses with no additional employees beyond the business owner
3 -- Businesses where the photographer is most passionate about shooting or growing their business in other ways
4 -- Businesses owned by people who want to have a life outside of work and value family or recreation
Have you answered this question for yourself? Like I mentioned above, every business is different, so this isn't a one-size-fits-all decision. We would love to hear from you in the comments below! Which variables weighed in when you were considering the options? What was the ultimate deciding factor?
If you fall into the category above that is ideally suited to outsource, why not give it a try to see if it could free you up like it has for me and the other photographers quoted above? Click here to sign up for an account with Align, and when you do so, we'll send you a free welcome gift -- our "Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies" Resource List. That way you can find out which album printing & binding companies are the most popular among photographers who use Align, and more importantly, WHY. Or if you already have an existing Align account and want a copy of this resource guide, you're welcome to email us for a copy.
In the coming weeks, I will continue to share tips for album workflow that can be applied by photographers who fall into both camps -- those who keep their designs in-house, and those who outsource. Stay tuned!
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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
