Photo Book Formats 101: From Budget to Heirloom

What Format Should Your Photo Book Be?
Hardcover or softcover? Square or landscape? Layflat? 🤯

In this episode, we’re breaking down the pros, cons, and “best for” of all the major photo book formats—so you can choose with confidence (and less overwhelm).

📸 You deserve a book that fits your memories and your life.
➡️ Follow @ourfamilyalbumproject to be the first to hear when it drops!
📬 Save this podcast to reference when you're ready to print.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Hey friend, I'm really glad you're back. All right, let's get started. I'm so excited for this episode. It is a very practical episode and we're going to get into really like those good meaty parts of this podcast. So this podcast is about picking the best format for your album. Uh, Welcome back to Our Family Album Project, the podcast where we slow down and make space for our memories. I'm Anna Banana, your host, and today we are going to talk about something exciting, picking the best format for your family album or any of your albums if you're not making a family one. At this point, you've probably spent time organizing your photos, choosing the most meaningful ones, and maybe even started planning your layout. But when it comes time to actually print, there's a whole new set of choices waiting for you. And if you've ever found yourself stuck between a$30 softcover photo book and a$400 leather-bound heirloom album, you are not alone. So today I'll walk you through your options, from budget-friendly to luxurious, and help you figure out what kind of album is right for your story, your style, and your season of life. All right, let's start with your story and your intention. Before we talk about paper and binding, which we will, let's start where we always do with intention. Ask yourself, what do you want this album to feel like? Is it meant to be flipped through on the couch with little sticky fingers or displayed on a coffee table or gifted to a grandparent? or pass down one day as a treasured keepsake. When you're clear on the purpose, the format becomes a lot easier to choose. So story time. If you've been following along, you know that I printed one wedding album recently through Shutterfly's 24-hour design service. And I printed that book as cheap as I could for you guys and also for a couple other reasons. One of the other reasons besides trying their new design service is I wanted to print it super cheap so I could gift it to my kids who are five and two. It is a book that they can use and abuse without me pulling my hair out and watching a$400 heirloom get sticky fingers all over it. So my awesome hot tip for this segment is that if you're having a hard time choosing between two main types of family photo albums, try the budget friendly first. And then once you get one of those in your hands, then you can go move on to the heirloom quality if that's your goal. For my official wedding album, I'm going to print a giant 12 by 12 and like the highest quality I possibly can. Very excited about that book. That will be our heirloom book. And then I'm also going to print tiny little six by six square versions with loose leaf paper in them and give those as gifts to my mom, who I very much appreciate helping with my wedding. And then also to my kids. So they will actually have two wedding albums that will be fun to talk about, um, But yeah, so start with your story and your intention and things become a lot clearer. So the three main types of albums we're going to talk about are budget-friendly, mid-range keepsake albums, and heirloom albums. Budget-friendly books, these are going to be your everyday, easy-to-make albums. They are perfect for family highlight reels, vacation books, if you want to gift one to a relative. They're usually... Pretty average cost, about$20 to$60, and you can make them on sites like Shutterfly, Mixbook, Snapfish, and Chatbooks. The pros of these books is that they are affordable, they have a fast turnaround, and a lot of them have auto-fill features, so there's not a whole lot of work to be done. The cons of these books is they have a lower print quality and paper durability and usually don't have as many customizable options. The Midrange Keepsake Albums. This is what I print for our family yearbooks. They're ideal when you want something a little more elevated, but still accessible, still use it for daily life. You can make them for usually around$75 to$150. You can make them on Artifact Rising, Print-A-Cue, and Pick-Two, and also Mixbook. The pros are they have a better print and paper quality. They usually have more stylish, like minimalistic templates and most often more control over the layout. The cons are there is a slight learning curve with that design software. It does take a little bit of time to figure out how to use it. And then your price can go up with added pages and upgrades. Heirloom albums. These are true keepsake, handcrafted. They're a lot of times very heavy and timeless. They average cost is$200 and up, most likely more than$600. You can find them at Milk Books, Kiss Books, Align, or through professional photographers. The awesome thing about these and why they are so expensive is they have stunning quality and they have archival materials. These books are built to last and they make a beautiful family heirloom. The cons, of course, are going to be the expense and they're usually slower to produce. You're not going to order one of these and get it next week. And then they may require more design effort or even a designer. I want you all to consider some key factors. I'm so sorry. I'm reading very slowly right now. The reason we're talking about this is because these are things that you're going to have to choose right off the bat when you start making your book. These are technical things that you'll want to keep in mind. When you open up those programs or softwares or websites, companies, they're going to ask you these things like immediately, like what's the size of your book? What kind of binding style do you want? What is the paper types? And that's why you want to really know about the different types of books, the budget, the mid-range keepsakes, and the heirloom albums. That way you don't end up on the wrong site. And then let's talk about a little bit more about those technical details too. So say we're going to make a vacation book and we open up mixed book. We want a mid range keepsake right away. It's going to ask what size and orientation. So I really like a square book. I think they are the most versatile. They're the most popular and they're just beautiful. Landscape books are great too. I think they make really good travel vacation books. Um, And then if you make books that are a little on the smaller side, like six by six, eight by eight, those are really perfect for gifts or your year in review albums. All my year in review albums are eight by eight. They're like the perfect size for me. The larger sizes, when you get up to 10 by 10, 12 by 12, Those are more premium books. They're going to be more expensive and they're more immersive. They are perfect for wedding albums or coffee table books. We kind of skipped over the last shape of a book you can get and it's the traditional like taller vertical book. I'm not a huge fan of those for these photo album books. And I will make one small caveat to that. If you're really into words, those books are perfect for written content heavy books. I think those are gorgeous. I don't know if y'all have seen online. There is one about my family story where you email your grandparents and they... write emails back and then they use those emails to fill a book with like a couple photos. That makes perfect sense for those vertical books and it looks gorgeous. Okay, so those are size and orientation. Binding styles. Another choice. A lot of choices when we're making these. That's why I started this podcast to help break these choices down into much easier, understandable decisions and choices. So binding styles. You can get a standard binding. It's like a traditional paperback or hardcover. It has those like loose pages in them that are floppy. Lay flat bindings. Toddler moms, toddler dads, toddler parents, these are board books. These are those like cardboard, flat, everything lays flat, hence the name, lay flat binding books. They are ideal for like weddings, panoramic spreads, and that heirloom quality feel. I printed my first three year in review books as lay flats because it made sense for the season we were in. My, you know, my kids were younger and they still are young. And I really love those lay flat books. I did do in this past year, the 2024 year, the loose leaf paper, really just to see. And I had, I feel like I added a lot more spreads to that book because we took a couple more vacations than we did the previous years. And I put all of our vacations in that book. But I really liked the loose leaf. So more than I thought I would. So I think 2025, I'm probably going to stick with the loose leaf. paper types. So you can go glossy, bright, vibrant fingerprints can show, but you know, the colors just pop off the page. The matte paper is going to be softer. Of course, more subtle. Those are great for like skin tones, engagement books. Um, there is a paper type called luster and I did this one for one of the board books and I love the luster. It's a really nice in between. It's a gentle sheen without being at like straight up shiny. Um, Um, I thought that paper type was such a cool option. And then you can go with like these super thick board pages that are found in high end books and they're usually sturdy and long lasting. And those most of the time they're more matte. I have seen some high gloss ones. Those are super expensive. Um, but just keep in mind with those thicker board pages, you're going to have a head, like a literal heavier book, um, We're gonna talk real briefly about DIY versus print services. So another question you could be asking is, should I use an online service or just try to DIY my album at home? And you definitely can. Just to do like a quick comparison, if you DIY at home, it's gonna be great if you're like super creative, you like working in a scrapbook style, And you get total control over the layout and the content. But home printers usually aren't built for that archival quality paper. And then the ink and paper costs can add up. And the albums may not last as long. Again, it's depending on what your end goal is. If you use an online print service, they offer consistent quality. A lot of them have drag and drop tools to help you with design. And then you can choose from hundreds of styles and finishes, which I really like. My wedding book, I did not expect to make a beach-themed book, even though we had a beach-themed wedding. I thought it would be like the traditional white paper, black cover, maybe some embossing. But when I found that finish or that design theme, oh my gosh, it was just the coolest thing. I really can't wait to print it. Okay, so overall, for most people, especially those looking for longevity, an online service is going to be your best balance of quality and convenience. But at the end of the day, guys, you've got to choose what's right for you. There's no single best album format, just the one that best serves your memories and your family. So a simple rule of thumb for everyday moments, go with budget-friendly softcover books for little gifts. For milestone events, invest in a mid-range keepsake. And for legacy stories, consider an heirloom album. And remember, it's okay to mix and match. This is your permission that you do not have to have your albums all looking... Completely the same. Your life has seasons and your books should reflect the changing seasons. Maybe you do a little chat book each year and then one special heirloom album every five years. It's your project. Let it fit your life. Listener question. Have you guys ever made both types of books and which one do you look at more often? Have you ever made the heirloom book and the little chat book? Let me know what you thought of those. And I will tell you one more thing about the budget is that a lot of times these sites will give you coupons. So if you go to the site and you get a sticker shock of, oh my goodness, this book, my family yearbook is going to cost$200. A lot of them have, and I'm not exaggerating this number, 50% off coupons with free shipping. So just keep that in mind that you know, obviously fit your budget, but there are ways to get your books printed for a little bit less. So that's it for today's episode of our family album project. I hope this gave you clarity and confidence as you move closer to bringing your album to life. Next week, we will be doing some interviews. Interviews are coming. I'm so excited. I downed the pipeline and I've been very excited about a couple different interviews. So I get to interview a dad who lost a lot of his family memorabilia, photos, videos, and house fire when he was a child and what that impact was on him of making family albums when he became a dad. I get to interview a lovely graphic designer who is extremely talented and an amazing historian who... Loves being in a library and archiving all kinds of historical artifacts and can tell us a lot about what family albums looked like in the past. I'm going to nerd out on that interview, y'all. But anyways, I'm sorry. I will keep talking. I'm going to wrap this up. So let's wrap this up. This has been a great one. Remember your story is worth printing. It does not have to be perfect. It just has to be real. Thanks for listening.