The great thing about matted albums is they offer so much variety - so many opportunities to express your design sense and to “turn your images into art”. You do so by making selections under these four headings, all described below:

• Pagemount or Overlay style?
  

• Colour of the protective page edging (you can leave it off if you prefer)

• Mat colour (seven to choose from)

• Page colour (Pagemount only, twelve to choose from)

If all this choice seems a bit confusing, check out your Swatch Book and Page Sampler. These include examples of all your options, including all the current colour selections.

In the illustration above, the top left album shows pagemount mounting with the prints trimmed slightly to expose the silver page beneath the mat. The image on the right is also pagemount style, with a gold page exposed beneath the mat (note the matching gold edge trim). The prints are slightly smaller than the aperture, so the coloured base page is revealed, and in effect frames the image.

The bottom left and right images are overlay mounted pages in matted albums, showing how the prints are mounted underneath the mat.

If you're unclear about the difference, please take a look at these images full size before you move on. You’ll also find examples in our Swatch Book and Page Sampler. A whole lot of conversations with Queensberry people will make no sense until you’re clear about the difference between “pagemount” and “overlay”!

The images above, and throughout this website, also show the enormous flexibility of our computerised mat cutting system. You can lay prints out on the page almost any way you wish, designing layouts on the fly or using pre-defined templates that you've created yourself or downloaded from our website.

Whereas Digital albums are supplied in velvet drawstring bags, then boxed, Matted albums are supplied boxed only.

For assembly instructions click here.

Option 1: Overlay or Pagemount?

Even if you know it by another name, you're probably already familiar with what we call overlay mounting. Details vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the photograph is lightly taped behind the mat, with the print edge concealed behind it. With pagemount presentation, the prints are trimmed slightly to reveal the coloured base page. Photojunction automatically sizes the prints to the required size for you.

It's obviously easier to treat non-rectangular apertures (like ovals or cut-ins) overlay-style rather than pagemount. We can mix styles in the same album provided you make your instructions clear, but you will be charged Pagemount prices throughout.

Option 2: Page edging

Our matted albums are generally supplied with protective tape and corners on the leaves. You have a choice of black, white, gold or silver.

Overlay pages must be edged because they are made from plain card and not designed to be exposed. You can order pagemount pages with no edging.

Option 3: Page colour (pagemount only)

The colour of the base page, under the mat, is what creates the border effect around the images when you mount them pagemount style. You have a wide choice. Samples appear in your swatch book, and you should refer to this. You can mix two or more colours in an album (a non-standard charge applies) but only one colour per side.

Option 4: Mat colour

This is the top colour, and will have most impact on the overall appearance of the page. Choose carefully as the mat colour can have a dominating effect on the photographs. Use your swatch book when choosing. Again, you have a wide choice, but black and ivory are easily the most popular.

Embossed end papers in matted albums

All our albums are finished with matching card cover linings and embossed end papers. These are normally black, as in your swatch book, but will be ivory if the facing mats are also ivory.

Design notes

We strongly recommend Photojunction to design your matted albums. Plan your layouts on the fly or use pre-defined templates, then export them for printing or further enhancement in Photoshop.

Equally important, Photojunction also sends us the necessary data to cut the mats for your design. 

Pay close attention to the Guides you'll see around the page edge and centre spine when you’re designing with Photojunction. This is particularly important if you want to order Digital Copies from the layout. For more information click here.

Designing with pen and paper

You can plan albums and send orders by fax if you prefer. Please contact This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it if you want more information about pen-and-paper design. Click here to download our order forms. 

Designing with third-party software 

It’s even more important to use Photojunction for designing matted albums than for digital, because other software can't create the mats to fit your printing. We strongly recommend that you use the latest version. if you prefer to design your layouts in Photoshop or third-party template software you MUST refer to our tables of dimensions and ensure that you correctly size the layouts. Take care not to incude critical image data in areas that could be subject to trimming.