Which way do you design your albums? Obviously many design to a square, some to a horizontal layout. I've been designing to a vertical layout because, given the proportions, one page is roughly the same proportions as a vertical image and a full spread is roughly the same proportions as a horizontal photo. (Taken with a DSLR at a 2:3 aspect ratio.) I love to use full spreads and would be happy if every single page was a full image.

But now I am questioning my ways... Which orientation do you design to and why?

great questions and poll... it just depends with me... most of the time i do square because no matter what album company you go with... they almost always offer square... where vertical may be 9x12 at this company but 8x12 at this company. However... i think I like the look of a vertical book the best... and like you said the design fits better I think for large images. Cant wait to see more answers on this.

Not to bring up Jose Villa's Workshop again, but his example albums shown were horizontal and I thought they were BEAUTIFULLY done (he doesn't do the one picture full spread like most of us do; instead, he rarely prints above a 5x7 ratio and leaves lots of white negative space).

I like the feel of a horizontal art book. Maybe it's because the vertical version reminds me of a textbook (and who wants to think about a textbook LOL).

At Bellissima Design I think every album we have done for photogs has been square. For my own clients it has been mostly square, but there were a few verticals. I like the horizontal format too, but without one to show it seems a hard sell.

Got to be horizontal, I love the way a 8 x 20 spread looks open in front of you. I think you will find that most people do square or vertical albums. That is one more reason to do horizontal, to stand out.

Carl Stevens

I do square..I just think they look so classic. I don't really like the way vertical or horizontal albums look. But that's just me.

I do mostly square albums (Queensberry 12x12) because I love the freedom that a square gives you for design. Obviously in any orientation, there are a lot of design options, but I find that my designs are more original and creative when I'm working with square books. We've also done a few vertical books too though and they are fun as well.

I like square, too, if just for convenience. It's easy to size up or down.

Horizontal for weddings. Vertical for fashion/bridals. Square for inexpensive.

Square here - easy to sell duplicates.

Hard to find smaller versions of 8x10 and 11x14 albums (I know graphi offers the 4x5, but not many other places do).

We offer 5x5, 8x8, 10x10, and 12x12 duplicate albums, so no surprises.

Plus I just like the look of a square album - seems more professional (just my opinion!).

Shan

I forgot the duplicate side of albums... how many smaller duplicates do you sell on average? Maybe that could be a poll too. Might change my preference from horizontal to square

Hmm... Squares huh? The dupes issue is a good point. I haven't had an issue with smaller dupes in any of these orientations. I typically sell 2-3 smaller parent albums and often sets of 4 or more minis.

What is it about squares that makes you like designing to a square? I was thinking that in terms of the standard out of camera crop proportions that vertical made sense. What is it about squares that makes it feel so good?

Hi,
I did 10x10 for the longest time and then switched to 9x12 and love it. I can use more natural proportions for background. 35mm format fits better.
Stuart

I think clients go with whatever you first show them - you show them a shot in b&w and that's it, they want it in black & white and it's the same with albums. I love the horizontal format but all my samples are vertical and that's what my clients end up ordering! They can't seem to envision their album the other way. I plan on ordering a couple of new samples and one will definitely be vertical.

For me I don't really use too many full page spreads of 1 image, even for a background. I have a really clean album design look so issues as far as proportions on the page don't really matter to me. I think that for the way I design, the square format works best.