Create your own travel photobook with Canva

Do you also have hundreds of photos from your vacation on your cell phone or computer? And how likely are you to look back at them? That’s why it’s a good idea to make a photo book of your vacation! A beautiful book that fits perfectly into your interior!

The best-known coffee table books are those by Assouline: beautiful books in the most beautiful colors. Through TikTok, I learned that it’s not difficult at all to make such a book yourself and that it doesn’t have to be expensive either.

Below, I will outline the design process.

Step 0: find a (online) printshop

It is important to first find a printshop (online or offline) where you will print your book. Here you will find all the specifications for your photobook.

Step 1: Pick the format

I opted for an A4 photo book with a hard cover. You have to decide this in advance because, unlike other photo book providers, you often have to supply your PDF file for the inside and outside.

Step 2: design your photo book in Canva (or InDesign)

I used Canva to create my photo book. Create an A4 document and start designing. I chose to use one photo per page or two photos if they were horizontal photos. Because we visited multiple destinations during our trip to Greece, I also created intermediate pages. In the end, I had a 192-page book.

If you don’t want to think too much about the design yourself, I created a Canva Template that you can customize yourself. This template includes the front and back covers, as well as the intermediate pages and photo pages. You can buy it here.

Tip: all odd-numbered pages go on the right-hand side.

Then export as a PDF for printing with CMYK color profile and select “crop marks and bleed.”

Step 3: Design the front

Check the specifications that are needed for your specific album. Because my book has a spine thickness of 20 mm, I need to create a new Canva document with dimensions (472 mm + 20 mm) x 343 mm.

It is then easy to use the rulers to see where the front, back, and spine of the book will be located.

When you have finished designing, export this file again as a PDF for printing with a CMYK color profile, but do not select “crop marks and bleed.”

Step 5: Order the photobook

Now you can upload both documents to the website. One disadvantage is that you cannot check what the book will ultimately look like. So it remains exciting until you receive the book.

Step 6: admire the result

I am really happy with the book. It is sturdy and looks beautiful! From now on, I will make a book like this for every trip!

Are you going to make a photobook?

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