I recently asked Jan Will if I could showcase the wedding of Eva and Tassos on the blog because I think it perfect executes the anatomy of a good wedding album design. When designing an album, I have quite a few “rules” I will employ. Sometimes I feel the need to break a rule for a specific set of images, but it rarely is necessary. Sometimes I need to break a rule for one of my professional wedding album design clients because of the set of images they send in to me. This is often the case with a mixture of black and white and color images that just don’t fit together. Luckily, Jan sends me a complete set of both color images and black and white images from each wedding!
Stats: 11.65×8 size, 50 pages, green label design, 134 images
The whole album design is viewable here.
Rule #1: Keep spreads consistent. If at all possible, keep whole sections of the wedding day consistent as well. For example, the getting ready portion of the day is often all black and white.
Rule #2: When moving on to a new part of the day, use a transition image to make it very obvious. It’s the equivalent of a new chapter in a novel and keeps the flow of the story moving well.
I chose one image in this case – an image of Eva and her father walking up to the church for her wedding ceremony. It makes for a beautiful full bleed image on this wedding album spread.
Rule #3: Unless you’re trying to create a sense of action or movement, have the photos face into the spread rather than off the pages. This is an aesthetic choice many photographers miss. I find that interesting, because photographers are all about composition. However, it’s disconcerting to have the people in photos look outside of the book. This is a good wedding album design must that many photographers forget to include!
In both these spreads, the images face in. First, the groom waits for his bride as looks towards her into the center of the spread. In the second spread example, the couple joins hands towards the supporting images on the opposite side.
Rule #4: Create anchor images and accent images. When you have a beautiful, show-stopping image, make the most of it! If you cannot afford the space to make that image a full spread, make it as large as possible and then choose similar images to support it.
Both the following spreads are some of the wedding portraits of Eva and Tassos. They make use of a main image on the color spread with smaller accent images in the same scene of wisteria. The second spread is two very similar images, still using on as an anchor.
Rule #5: Use sequences to tell a story.
Rule #6: Mix in guest images and details to create with large grids interesting spreads. This is especially important when the client wants a lot of people photos. While most spreads do not look great with many images, this and grids of dancing photos are an exception.
In this case, Eva and Tassos had a photo booth with props and Jan photographed off to the side to include additional images of guests. A great way to include this part of the day in their wedding album is mixing these images in with other reception details.
When given more latitude with the image choices, I will always follow these rules for all Willow Album Design clients. I want you and your own clients to have a good wedding album design at all times!
This entry was posted in Green Label and tagged good wedding album design, professional wedding album designer
