If you used to visit your grandparents on the regular, you're probably familiar with the following scenario: grandma points out how grown-up you are, and how much you look like your parents, then, out comes the old photo album to prove her point.
Since pictures are now mostly digital, people rarely have physical photo books in their homes. But if you miss that feeling of flipping through a photo album, or want your grandmother to have a new one, you can easily create one with Canva. And we're going to show you how.
1. Prepare Your Images
First, you should decide what the album is about. It can cover a certain period of time, showcase pictures of you and a friend or a partner, or be more like a memory scrapbook. Whatever you decide can help you later on with the design and layout.
Next, you should gather all of the images you’d like to include, preferably in one folder—this will save you time. Most importantly, make sure that the images are high resolution. If you want to print the album, 2048 x 1536 pixels or bigger is ideal.
If you plan on digitizing old photos, make sure you also scan in high resolution. Pictures taken on a good phone or with a digital camera will probably be fine as-is. However, if you have some small images you want to use, there are ways to enlarge an image without losing quality.
2. Start a New Project on Canva
Now we can get into the nitty-gritty. Canva Photobook Maker is a great tool to help you design unique and customized albums. You can add your pictures one at a time or as collages, with background and text to complement each memory.
If you haven't already signed up, start with that (don’t worry, the free version is more than enough). Then, on the homepage, click the Create a design button at the top, type in Photobook, and pick the size you want. You can also pick a Custom design if you want to use other dimensions.
3. Find the Perfect Template
One of Canva’s most appealing features is its templates. For people who don’t have any design experience, it can be hard to figure out which colors, fonts, and elements go well together. Since professional designers created the Canva templates, rest assured, you’ll get a great result.
You can see the photobook templates on the left side of your work screen (if you can’t, type "photobook" in the templates search bar). They're divided by category to simplify browsing through them, and each contains 22 pages, so you can get a different design on each page.
Double click the template you like and then click Apply all 22 pages to use it in your document. You can also apply it to just one or more individual pages. To do that, add more pages to your book with the plus icon (+) at the bottom of the screen, and click on a different template page for each one.
Some templates may have a watermark on them, meaning you’ll have to pay to use them. However, if only specific pictures are watermarked, you can always replace them with your own, or with the ones from Cava’s free library.
4. Upload Your Pictures
Now it’s time to insert your images into your pages and figure out the final look of the album. For that, you need to upload them onto the Canva cloud.
Go to the Uploads tab on the left side of the screen, and click Upload media. You can also just drag and drop from the folder on your computer.
To place them in the album, pick a page, and drag the image in. Drop it once it fills the frame.
5. Add Text
If there’s already text on the template, simply double-click it to change it. If you want to add text, go to the Text tab on the left-hand side and double-click the type you want. You can enlarge it, change the color, and change the font with the tools in the bar up top.
Note that the default font for a text box is Open Sans, but if you open the font window, the first one will be the font that the template uses. It’s best to stick to that one if you want to remain cohesive.
Another thing that can help you maintain consistency in the design is the color-picker. Usually, when you click it, you can see the colors that are present in the images. This will help you color-coordinate.
6. Make Some Tweaks
This is the part where you can get creative. While a template is helpful, it’s not always exactly what you want. Luckily, Canva allows you to customize it however you want. You can delete certain pages or move them around with the bar at the bottom of the screen.
You can delete the grids and frames and add new ones from the Elements tab. This tab also has stickers, lines, and shapes which will further help customize your album.
7. Finalize the Album
Want to get someone else’s opinion before you print the album? You can use the Share button at the top of the screen to email it to them. You can even share a link to edit the album if you want to collaborate with them.
Once you’re done, hit Preview at the top of the screen to see what it will look like. Then, you can save the album as a PDF file with the download icon (downwards arrow) at the top, or share it on social media.
If you've read all of this in the hopes of printing a real-life album, don't fret. For a reasonable fee, Canva will print a physical copy of your album.
It lets you pick the print size, hard or softcover, and a glossy or matt finish. Then, before you put in your payment and shipping details, it will let you overview the images to ensure that everything is how you want it and that nothing gets cut in the printing process.
Create an Album That Grandma Would Be Proud Of
There you have it! This guide will help you create a beautiful photo book that you can cherish for years to come. And if you print out a physical copy, you can even gift it to family and friends.