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christmas gift at home
Digital photos, analog browsing – create photo books on your smartphone
13. December 2021 Published by Raphael DoerrIt’s Christmas Eve: After the gifts have been opened, the family is sitting together, there are cookies, mulled wine… and the photo albums are brought out again. It’s moments like these that make Christmas what it is and evoke a feeling of nostalgia and warmth in us all. Yet such albums don’t have to be a relic of times long past. On the contrary. To create photo books on your smartphone is really simple. It’s a great last-minute, personal and high-quality Christmas gift. Last-minute? Well, you need a little time and planning. But definitely more time for leaning back and relaxing over a glass of mulled wine until it’s delivered than for designing it.
But first to the planning stage: To make sure the photo book arrives in time for Christmas Eve, your order has to be received by all the providers we tested by December 15.
Many think creating photo books digitally involves a lot of complicated, bothersome and time-consuming layouting on the computer where you might even have to learn how to use a specific program. The photos first have to be imported from the camera and/or smartphone. Then you have to arrange them beautifully, insert captions and make everything ready for ordering. All that can easily take a whole Advent Sunday. But the emphasis is on “can.”
Because you can now design beautiful photo books on your smartphone in a fraction of the time using an app. In the end, your personalized gift may even be ready sooner that the cookies you’re baking at the same time.
Want to design photo books digitally? Download an app and get creative – it’s really simple
The principle is the same for all providers: Download an app, choose the format and quality of the album, and select photos that are on your smartphone or stored in the cloud. You can then adjust the order and layout of the photos, add captions and often include decorative elements, such as small illustrations or background colors. Once everything’s finished, you can order your creation directly in the app and sometimes even have it sent gift-wrapped to the recipient’s doorstep. What could be simpler?
And best of all: you can design books on your smartphone at any time – on the subway, in your lunch break or when you’re sitting snuggly on your couch in the evening. The fun factor is high and the result is bound to provide a lot of joy when the gift is opened – whether it contains memories from a joint vacation on Bali, funny snapshots from a special birthday, or a large collection of baby photos.
Our tip: Apart from these classic contents, think a bit outside the box. There are many other great ideas you can surprise family and friends with at Christmas.
From cats and food to curious snapshots – there are no limits to your creativity
What about an album containing just photos of what is probably the most photogenic family member, the cat? Or one solely with tasty foods from various vacations, in other words, a culinary review of your holiday? An album that very simply records the most unusual snapshots from everyday life over the past year is also wonderful and ideal to provide an authentic retrospective and conjure up memories.
A photo album can even be used as a small personalized cookbook. Who wouldn’t want to find out the secret behind the best cinnamon buns? Apps like Once Upon allow you to place texts simply and aesthetically. That means can also create a small poetry collection accompanied by photos. Which provider you ultimately choose depends on the idea and personal taste. We tested five apps that you can use very easily to design photo books on your smartphone.
Designing photo books on your smartphone is simple with these five apps
Photo books from Pixum are completely climate-neutral, and in 2020 it was awarded the accolade “Best photo quality” by the German consumer organization Stiftung Warentest in a test comprising eight providers. For those of us who are in a hurry, the app boasts a wonderful feature called “MagicBook.” The first version of the book is created automatically with a click – the apps uses photos from a specific period of time for that and arranges them on its own. It goes without saying that you can then tailor the result to quickly obtain the finished result you want. Our tip: It’s great for holiday photo albums!
The following options are available:
Format
Landscape, portrait, square
Sizes
Small, approx. 19 x 15 cm
Large, approx. 28 x 21 cm
XXL, approx. 38 x 29 cm
Cover
Hardcover
Paper
Premium paper: gloss or matte
Photographic paper: gloss or matte
Cewe photo books can be ordered and collected from your favorite retailer around the corner in Germany, such as dm, Müller, Edeka, Saturn or Rossmann. As with Pixum, there are automatically generated suggestions and the option of designing your book directly from scratch. The choice of photos, layout, texts and backgrounds can be adapted intuitively. There is also a choice of decorative styles such as “maritime,” “Indian ink,” “colorful” or “wood look.” Here, too, you can add your own texts simply.
The following options are available:
Format
Landscape, portrait, square
Sizes
Large, approx. 21 x 28 cm
Large panorama, approx. 28 x 21 cm
XL, approx. 30 x 30 cm
Square, approx. 21 x 21 cm
Compact panorama, approx. 19 x 25 cm
Cover
Hardcover or softcover
Paper
Photographic paper: matte, gloss or premium matte
Paper: matte, gloss or premium matte
Once Upon – creating a photo book
This app is for aesthetes who also like a minimalist design. There is only one font, one format and one layout style. All in all, however, the books look very stylish and the app works great with all types of photos. Nothing is generated automatically here. You create the books using an intuitive step-by-step system that is also quick and fun. Titles, subtitles and captions can be placed individually, with the result that truly high-quality albums that the designers among your friends will also like can be created with little effort. By the way, the albums can be delivered worldwide.
The following options are available:
Format
Square
Sizes
Casual, approx. 20 x 20 cm
Classic, approx. 27 x 27 cm
Cover
Hardcover or softcover
Paper
Paper: silk matte or silk gloss
Journi not only plants a tree for every order, but also has a really smart algorithm. That means photo books can be automatically designed with a pretty high degree of accuracy and then given the fine finishing touches quickly and easily. A further feature: beautiful maps with pins on them to illustrate the places you visited. With books up to 300 pages in size, Journi is definitely the perfect choice to record memories of lengthy vacations. From “candy store” and “lavender field” to “banana pastel” – you can compile different design templates, fonts, covers and layouts to suit your wishes.
The following options are available:
Format
Landscape, portrait, square
Sizes
Landscape format small, approx. 21 x 15 cm
Landscape format, approx. 30 x 21 cm
Square, approx. 21 x 21 cm
Square premium, approx. 30 x 30 cm
Portrait format, approx. 21 x 30 cm
Cover
Hardcover or softcover
Paper
Paper: matte or gloss
LALALAB. is the right choice for all Instagram fans. Apart from the usual means of accessing photos on your phone or in cloud services, you can also connect directly to Instagram or Facebook and import snaps from there. You can also find other cool social media features in LALALAB.: You can edit photos, add effects and filters, and even insert stickers and texts into a photo. The unusual, limited-edition cover designs – such as the cosmically shining “Look for the Magic” or “Enjoy the little Things” – are particularly eye-catching.
The following options are available:
Format
Landscape, portrait, square
Sizes
Softcover portrait format, approx. 21 x 28 cm
Softcover minibook, approx. 14 x 14 cm
Softcover square, approx. 21 x 21 cm
Hardcover square, approx. 21 x 21 cm
Hardcover landscape format, approx. 28 x 21 cm
Cover
Hardcover or softcover
Paper
Premium paper
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