With all the interest recently in using InDesign to design albums, etc ... we decided to check it out. After creating our first album in InDesign we haven't looked back ... we have cut our album design time in half ... literally!

Being a graphic designer by education I decided to go ahead and create templates for other photographers who didn't want to take the hours of time it takes to design the templates.

So I went through all the template designs out there and chose what I felt to be the top 65 spread designs (if you are like me, you would rather have 65 awesome designs than having to wade through 500 to find the top 30 you use for the album)

I also created videos that show you how to use InDesign ... not only to be able to best utilize the templates but also how to customize the templates, create your own etc.


I have made them available on our website: www.benharrisonphotography.com ... just click on "photographers resources" and you can see the sweet goodness!!!

I am offering a discount for the first two weeks of the release ... just enter earlybirdgetstheworm in the shopping cart and you will get $50 off

*the discount code ends may 31 so if you are interested act quickly


after the early bird discount expires there will also be an OSP only discount of 15% by entering the code OSP15OFF

So are there 65 templates for EACH size? 8x8,10x10, etc.? Or 65 total among all the different sizes?

yeah, 65 designs for each size ... 8x8, 10x10, 12x12, 11x14, & 9x12 ... so essentially 325 designs.


thanks for your interest!!!

ben

you posted virtually the same thing in another section of the forum... i'd suggest keeping things to one thread per topic... makes things a whole lot easier for people who regularly navigate the forums.

anybody check this out yet? i think this might be exactly what i am looking for... training+templates all rolled into one. i know photoshop. i don't know indesign. and i am looking for a solution to album design.

could this be the ticket?

I am thinking I'm gonna go for it---I love simple clean designs...and I'm also very lazy beyond belief...so if this does the work for me I don't think I can resist

haha katie ... we have a lot in common (clean designs, lazy, etc) ... that's why we love InDesign ... you will be amazed at how powerful InDesign is ... those peeps at adobe, what would we do without them!

Ben these look great. In the video do you explain how to add to the collection by making your own designs. That would be sweet if so!

+1

Question for you Ben:

The samples show the templates used in 2-page spreads. Can they also be used for "single" pages? Is this easily done? I've done some albums with WHCC and they take only single sides as opposed to 2-page spreads.

Thanks--

Michael

Hey michael,

Yeah, they could easily be used for single pages ... You would just set up the new album document as facing pages instead of spreads ... I just set them up as spreads because most album companies accept spreads & then you don't have to worry about alignment, etc.

Just let me know if you decide to buy them templates and I can walk you through it.

Thanks,

Ben

To answer Jason and katie's question ... In the videos I do show how to modify and/or create new templates and then you can resave the new/modified templates.

In the videos I recommend (& show) how to save your owns sets of commonly used templates ... In our studio we have saved several sets of 30 to 40 page templates that we commonly use for albums.

Hope that helps

I would like to know how to save these templates as stand alone one page designs. Looking forward to simplifying things. thanks for the discount!

Hey Ben... the samples look pretty nice!

On a technical note, I tried to input the OSP discount code (b/c I was a day late seeing this thread and missed out on the 50% discount code) and the pop-up read: Invalid code.

Just letting you know... cheers!

I must have answered in another thread. I bought these, with the discount, and

I LOVE THEM!

I have listened to all the videos and started my own set by copying and dragging then resizing. I don't know if that is the process, but I see huge potential. I seem to get album design in INDD much more that Photoshop because of the multiple page documents and master pages. I am having so much fun.

Jason, we should met for lunch and brainstorm these templates. When we get a free moment in Utah High Wedding Season!

You might also want to check out Yervants album templates. they are excellent.


Cheers.
Rockie

I've been using these templates for a few weeks now and I LOVE THEM!!! I love the templates and the videos! I was turned on to In Design by Kevin Swan as many people have and have been using In Design for album design for about 6 months now, but adding these templates to my arsenal, has helped save me time as well and make my albums better. Also, I learned some things from the video I did not know, that have also made me more efficient when I am designing. I actually just wrote a blog post about them, as they have helped me so much and I am greatful to Ben and Laura for taking the time to do this...THANKS!!!!

At least go to the site and check them out, they are really well done and are a tremendous value!

ben and laura are amazing and generous! and i'm a fan of their templates and video tutorials...very worth the investment cause it pays back in the all the time and stress you save!

speaking as a techie-challenged artist...

aww ... shucks guys ... glad to hear everyone is loving the templates and videos!

ben

I missed the %15, but I think I will buy them soon...

Thanks Ben and Laura! I LOVE these templates! The videos were GREAT too! I haven't used in design before, and this made it VERY easy. I will be doing all my albums this way from now on!

I just picked them up, too. After reviewing the samples, it was a no brainer not to have to create these myself. Plus, the video tutorials are chock full of instructions and ideas...definitely Ben has gone the extra mile on this offering. Well worth it if you haven't started building an array of page templates...

Oh, and he's running an discount ad over on [b]'s b-school blog right now you might want to check out, too!

thanks kari and keith ... I'm so glad to hear you all are enjoying the templates ... thanks for taking the time to post on here!

ben

these template looks great Ben, I may consider getting these next week.

I picked up the templates the other day and all I can say is WOW! Great job. I do have a question about single pages. I open the new document as facing pages and set the size....how do I get half the template you designed over to the new document? I can only get the whole spread to transfer....

Thanks!!

Ben,
Quick question here, too...If I wanted to drop in a rule to represent the fold mark, what's the proper way to do this and make it apply to all my spreads? I've tried doing this on a master page, but for some reason, I can't get it to apply to my spreads.

Thx!

While in your indd document, go to "layout" at the top and select "margins and columns."

For the number of columns select 2. Just put "gutter" to 0 unless you need guidelines to help you avoid a certain amount of space in the middle.

Hey Vanessa,
Thanks...I did just what you said, though nothing is revealing on my pages. (Using the black template)

edit: I should add that the "guides" appeared just fine from your instruction. Is there a semi-automatic way to apply a simulated fold in that area so when I proof the PDF doc, you'd be able to see where the crease would be? Thx!

Has anyone tried to get half a template on a 10x10 page??

Same here, tried to use the "osp15off" code and got also th "invalid code" pop up.
Has this code expired?

Thanks Tina

Chip,



using the select tool, click and drag only around the side that you'd like to copy.

then press [ctrl]-c to copy.

then switch to the document that you'd like to paste into. then use the paste in place command.

bill

Same here I was thinking of getting them but can't get the discount

I have a fold guide on my master page and it shows. There are ways to right click on the master page and show and hide things, i think.

Do you have show guides checked?

sent a pm to Ben waiting to here back about the OSP15off

hey everyone,

With regards to splitting the templates into halves ... I set the templates up as spreads because it is a lot easier to design in spreads being that the final output is in spreads. We felt it made it easier for us to visualize the final output.

My recommendations for solutions would be:

1. Just send the full spread and have your lab trim it into two spreads (that way you don't have to worry about images that bleed over the center line matching up)

2. Design as spreads, export as .eps, and then create an action in photoshop to split the page in two and save two separate jpeg files.

Note: you can create half spread templates by using the technique Bill stated (thanks bill) because indesign will automatically crop off anything that bleeds over the page edges ... so if you have an image that bleeds over the center line you would use the image twice in the design (once in the left page and once in the right page) ... just make sure you only use the automatic resizing in Indesign ... or keep track of ANY movements you do to the image so you can apply the same on both sides)

In my opinion, though, I would recommend using 1 or 2 of the above solutions ... these templates are all about simplifying the workflow and creating single page templates seems like more work than its worth!

let me know if that helps!

Ben

Juergen,

Do you think it's going to win friends & influence people to post in someone else's thread about their creation and knock it? Better to boost up your own than try to tear someone else down.

For the record, I'd take 65 good templates over 700 bad ones anyday. I don't have either of your album templates so I'm not insinuating that yours are bad, per se, just that quantity isn't all that matters.

Don't be the jerk in the back of the class. Create your own thread, compare the two side by side, and let people make a decision about it.

Ben,Your templates ROCK!! I use them as a starting place, I switch things around when I want and have made some of my own to add to it!! These are soooo worth the investment, it has cut my design time in half!! I can't say enough great things about them!!

Mailed him too and he told me that the "OSP15OFF" has allready expired.
Sorry to hear that, cause I thought it is an everlasting discount for OSP-Members only...

lg
Tina

Hi Tina yeah i emailed Ben too and he said the same thing. I should have bought it earlier. But wasn't in a hurry cause i too thought it didn't have an expiration. But it's Ben's gig so it's call and i can't hold it against him. It makes sense to have a trial sale it just didn't motivate me cause i wasn't aware of an expiration. Anyway now that i'm diving into my own designs i'm so stoked on his product.

I did ask if he could maybe bring it back for a week for the OPS crew, so cross your fingers.

But regardless Ben's product is awesome and priced well and i'm just impatiently waiting to here back from him before i go ahead and buy it for the normal price.

aloha,

That youl be great.
I was also not in a hurry to buy them and funded some money to my Prepaid Creditard to make some purchases. There is enough money on it so I would be able to buy it with the 15% discount....did notice too late that it does not work....
Now I have to fund more money onto the creditcard, which takes about a week (theres a holiday tomorrow here), but then I´´m away for holidays and don´´t know if I will have internet there but hoped I can work on my albums with the templates allready....
I will buy them with the regular price too, but when I´m back from holidays...
(but who is not willing to save some money if you are able to ;-) )

Keeping my fingers crossed too :-)