designing templates in PS ?

[jjmucker]

Hi Guys

im currently trying to make up some templates in photoshop for storybook albums. im in the process of designing a sample album to show potential clients. so heres the deal... and my problem. the album im designing is a small 6 x 8 album - landscape, which is obviously 6 x 16 once the book is fully open. so, whats the best process to make this template.

whats the best size, dpi, pixel size etc for the given canvas so as to keep the images i drag onto it full quality without having to resize too much? also, if i create a 6 x 16 for a 2 page spread how do i create a line for the gutter right bang in the centre of this spread. or am i simply going down the wrong road here?

any help appreciated.
cheers.

john

[Storybook Pages]

Who's going to print it? You need to know that before you start because they may have some guidelines as to the files they want you to create. They may also have margins and trim measurements you will need to know before you design the spreads.

Most of the print-and-bind album companies we use specify 200-300 dpi for your Photoshop files...

You'll want to line up PS guides on your templates for the margins (trim lines) and one or more in the center gutter to keep important stuff out of the gutter and away from the margins...

for advice, e-mail us.

[*Mike*]

We create all our own templates. I set some actions to make resizing images faster for future books. Also - each printer has its own specs for layout, dpi, and all that. We use Asuka and Graphi - they are all different. So you can check out their specs at their sites for just about anyone.

[jjmucker]

thanks guys. i was at it all night last night trying different variations. it seems easier and more logical to stick with their templates as they have all kinds of layouts and its just a matter of draggin and dropping them then from there you can adjust all kinds of things like BG, BG opacity, Strokes, etc.

though i think im missing out on a lot of stuff i could do in PS on my own but theres always a compromise eh

thnaks

[wilky95]

Hi John can you pm me the price that they have qouted for that album please, I am thinking of doing something along the same lines as you.

Thanks

Martin

Originally Posted by jjmucker

Hi Guys

im currently trying to make up some templates in photoshop for storybook albums. im in the process of designing a sample album to show potential clients. so heres the deal... and my problem. the album im designing is a small 6 x 8 album - landscape, which is obviously 6 x 16 once the book is fully open. so, whats the best process to make this template.

whats the best size, dpi, pixel size etc for the given canvas so as to keep the images i drag onto it full quality without having to resize too much? also, if i create a 6 x 16 for a 2 page spread how do i create a line for the gutter right bang in the centre of this spread. or am i simply going down the wrong road here?

any help appreciated.
cheers.

john

[sblais]

Hey John,

Using Photoshop to create your own templates and albums from "scratch" will be very time consuming. But it gives you that extra liberty that you cannot get from "commercial" templates. I prefer to have more liberty... Although, it can be tricky as you may end up designing albums and templates with not the best layouts. This is what I found with my albums that I posted here for C/C. At least, I got a lot of input and made significant changes to my layouts....

So there's pros and cons to each technique... In the end, it's really up to you to decide what you are most comfortable with!

[jjmucker]

PM sent wilky.

yeah sblais i think i have enough skill in PS to design them but like you say they are very time consuming and i find it frustrating sometimes when i design layouts and they just dont look right.

i think i will stick with the suppliers layouts and see how that looks.

cheers
john