There are 10,000,002 ways to create a Queensberry … approximately … but who's counting?!

We’re proud of our huge range of materials, colours, cover styles, page types, paper stocks, and embossing and print options. With them you can create something truly unique.

But with lots of choice come lots of decisions. It can be like ordering at a fabulous restaurant with a 10-page menu, wishing you could have it all.

So we thought we’d use our new sample album to demonstrate how to simplify your design choices and create unique "looks" that complement your imagery and align with your brand. 

01. The cover 

It’s important that the cover complements the images, so start with the photographs. Chances are you’ll rule out half the colours right there. Think about what colours you can pick up from the images, where the photographs were taken and the style of work you’ve created.

For this album I turned to the mountains and the beautiful rugged landscapes that feature throughout the images. This couple obviously favoured a natural earthy style, as you can see from their incredible foliage displays. I immediately knew our Vintage Leather Boulder would be perfect.

By the way, it's OK not to offer everything Queensberry does. Many successful studios offer very little choice up front. Show what you love.

Cover Material: Check

02. Personalisation

Next it’s time to pick the cover style. I knew I wanted to display the couple's names on the front, and I didn’t want the font to overpower the worn leather. 

So I chose to contrast the rugged nature of the material with a delicate font. I love how it turned out. This font offers different foil colours and I chose Clear, which helps define the letters without taking away from the natural leather. 

If I did this again I might create a custom embossing block combining the couple's names with a graphic of those mountains. 

Cover style: Check
 

03. Page type and album size 

This album is for a wedding, which means lots of images — which means a bigger album is generally best. I also knew the album needed to highlight the landscape, with big beautiful panoramic layouts. For those reasons I went with a 12x12 Panorama Flushmount. I could have chosen a 14x10, which is our biggest selling size.

I could have used another page type, but we needed a Pano Flush sample, which happens to be our biggest seller! Again, show what you love (and sell what they love).

I design all our sample products in Workspace (it’s just so quick and easy) and I chose mainly templates with 3-4 images per page, with only a few layouts having 6-8. That means the printed images are a good size, have room to breathe and can fill the pages. 

Page type and size: Check

04. Paper and print options 

Choosing the paper and print options you want to offer is probably the most difficult decision. What you personally love is, again, a good place to start, but there are things to think about. Traditional silver halide is our most popular. It's time-tested, stands up to lots of handling, and produces great prints from good files in the hands of experienced technicians like ours.

Some people prefer our offset-printed textured papers, some like satin, some like matte.

For this album I chose Fine Art (inkjet) printing. I chose Fine Art for the same reason I chose Vintage Leather. It offers a very natural look and I think the black and whites just look stunning. It's only available in medium-weight Panorama Flushmount albums, but offers a beautiful matte finish and is almost like velvet to touch.

Paper type: Check

Bottom line: As you can see there are a number of reasons from practical to personal preference that will affect your decisions. Show what you love — and maybe don't show too much, or you may overwhelm your clients with choice. You can always bring out more options if they ask.

Alexandria

Photography featured: Siempre Weddings