Design modes for Photo Books

When designing a Photo Book, the desktop software offers different design modes to choose from. Each mode has a specific way to start designing your product and provides different automatic tools to quickly and easily design your photo book according to your needs. Note that design modes are also available when designing calendars.

Once the product has been selected and the material options have been configured, the software offers you three different design modes. Depending on how much time you have or want to spend designing, you can choose from:
One Minute mode, which automatically designs the product and allows you to make changes once the product is designed.
Comfort designer mode, where the images are placed on the pages one by one with the help of the programme.
Empty template mode, to design the product from scratch without any help or software.

One Minute Photo Book

This mode is ideal if you want to design the Photo Book as quickly as possible. Once you have selected this mode, a window will appear with different design lines. You can filter them by category using the drop-down menu in the top left corner. Each design line applies objects such as cliparts and backgrounds to your Photo Book according to a specific style. Click on one of them to select it.

The next step is to select all the photos that will make up your Photo Book. They will automatically be placed according to the chosen design line. Once the photos have been selected, a menu will open allowing you to choose the number of pages. The software will make a recommendation based on the number of photos previously selected. A specific number of pages can be selected in the box at the bottom. Once the number of pages is set, click Select. Pages can be added or deleted later in the designer if necessary.

The desktop software will process the selected parameters and automatically create the Photo Book accordingly. Once created, it is necessary to check all the pages to ensure that everything is as desired and to make any necessary changes.

Although the Photo Book is already designed, it is possible to modify all the objects and images already placed, add more elements or remove them. You can also add text by clicking on the Add Text button in the top menu and change the layout by opening the Layout menu on the right and selecting a different one. It is even possible to change the design line of the displayed layouts by opening the Design line box and selecting a different one.

The Pages menu at the bottom allows you to navigate through the pages. Pages marked in red indicate that they have not yet been checked. All pages must be reviewed. From this Pages menu you can add and delete pages by clicking on the appropriate buttons on the left. You can also change the order of the pages by selecting a page from the menu at the bottom and dragging it to the desired position without releasing the mouse button.

Comfort designer

In this mode, the product is designed page by page using the software help. It offers various options for placing images on pages, as well as layout suggestions that adjust objects that have already been placed. Once this mode is selected, you will need to select a design line on which to base the layout suggestions. Next, select the number of pages for your Photo Book. Pages can be added or removed later in the designer. Once you have selected the number of pages, click the Select button. The designer will open the Photo Book with the specifications provided and the blank pages ready to be designed.

Dragging an image from the left column will display three options for inserting the image into the pages. To select one of these options, drag the image to the desired option.

1. New layout. The image will be inserted into the Photo Book using a suggested layout. This will consider any images and elements already placed on the page. Despite the suggested layout, once this option has been applied, a different layout can be selected from the Layouts menu. The images will automatically adapt to the new layout.

2. As background. The image is placed as a background in the Photo Book and acts as such, covering both pages completely.

3. Add without changing the layout. The image is placed in the Photo Book where it is dropped, without modifying any elements already placed. It must be placed correctly, either manually or by selecting a layout from the right-hand menu.

If you drag an image from the left menu onto the pages with images already placed, the option Replace image will appear above them. Dropping the image on this option will replace the existing image with the new one.

Empty template

In this mode, the Photo Book is designed from scratch. Using the many tools offered by the programme, it is possible to add images, fill boxes, texts, cliparts, backgrounds and configure them according to the needs of the design. Please note that this mode does not offer any suggestions or help from the software. We therefore recommend that you use one of the other modes so that you can benefit from suggestions and help in placing the images on the pages, as well as exploit all the potential offered by the various design tools provided by the software.

Special covers

You can add images and logos to glossy, matte and white leatherette covers. However, for other special covers, only text and clipart can be added; image files cannot be used due to the nature of the material. Alternatively, you can choose a Professional Line photo book with an acrylic or Brushed Metal Print cover to customise your cover.