Hello OSP!

So this is my first wedding of 2007 - and it was a ton of fun!

The B&G got married at a Christian music club in Downtown Minneapolis called
Club 3 degrees - a different place to be married but it turned out so cool!

Things were a bit unorganized, so unfortunately there wasn't much time to spend with the B&G, but altogether, I am very happy that this was my first wedding to kick off 2007.
And it's gotten me all juiced up for the other 19 I got coming!

Click the link below to see their pre-designed wedding book.

Please give me some feedback as this was the first book I designed without the use of Kevin Kubota's actions! It was a lot easier to design without them fwiw.

The Book Design

Wow! Very nice. Great music and movement in the slide show. Love the overhead shots and the outdoors ones esp. on the roof? Great job! They should love it!

Looks great! I mean it! I am sure they will be happy.

Johnny!! Absolutely outstanding work!!!!
The venue really seemed to fit the bride and groom!
I love them all!!
Candy

OUTstanding work Johnny!

Hi John,

I LOVE it, great stuff. And, man your images rock! I'll let the more experienced artist comment as I haven't designed a book yet. There was one image in the middle of the page that had 3 triangles at the top? If those objects are in the shoot, maybe but if it is a border may I recommend removing them as they are distracting. Great work my man!

Nikonians rule!!!!!!!!

Thanks Sam,

First, the triangles are a Valance and they frame the window.

Second, Yes - Nikonians do rule... but I switched to the Light side early 2006.
So Canonites rule, along with Fujistas & Nikonians!

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Does anyone have any feedback on how I can improve on my designs?

Awesome work as usual my friend. Love the layout and design. Is that Lumapix?
The only thing I noticed is a couple of spreads, page 13 in particular, some of the images run right down the crease of the pages. I don't mind images being there, but it looks like the crease will cut thru some faces which might be a little distracting.

Like I said though...awesome work!
Bentley

Thanks Bentley - I appreciate your feedback.

I will be using a flush-mount style book - so there will be very little crease and zero gutter.
With that said, I did take another look at spread 13 (the one you mentioned) and agree that it may need a redesign. I might just move the 'faces' off to the side and replace it with images of their backs etc.

I designed it in Photoshop CS2 - I plan to purchase InDesign (CS3?) when the season starts rolling along - I was inspired by Swan to stop using actions and start designing freestyle. So far, I am much happier and know that my workflow will speed up even more with InDesign.

I can't wait for Kevins tutorial!

But thanks again for the compliments.

Cool Johnny,

I'm also intrigued by the InDesign thing. This album was done with Lumapix and it was all freestyle (didn't use any templates). It only took me around and hour and 30 minutes. Do you think InDesign will be faster than that?

Bentley

That was very nice, Bentley!

And hour and a half! Not sure if ANYONE or ANY PROGRAM can beat that time... that's impressive. Of course, I have a really hard time just focusing on any one thing - so my edit times/design times are always slow.

Does Lumapix save the files as unflattened psd's? Or are they saved as .jpg's?

The benefit of Photoshop or InDesign is the fact that the files are all modifiable after you have designed them. And InDesign works in a low-res environment, which speeds up your overall book design - plus you can view your whole book as a complete project and not just as individual spreads.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that is why InDesign is the way to go.

Thanks!

It's my understanding that the newest version of Lumapix will save as .psd. This is good news for me as it will make changes much faster when they are necessary. I usually just leave my ACDSee program open so I can view my project as I go. Never really been an issue for me.

THAT is a HUUUUUUGE album!!!
looks great though

great job! loving the shoes!

Got an email back from the b&g today - they LOVE it!

And, they want me to run with it!!!!

They pre-paid for a $1500 credit, this book is an additional 56 pages... @$55 per page!
I plan to give them a great discount for taking it as is.


An awesome way to kick off 2007!

congrats!! that is great!

Thanks Nicole - I am really excited since this is the 'real' second 'pre-design' I have done (using Gary Fongs method). It blows my mind! I have 6 weddings from last year that I am designing for right now. These are weddings who did not purchase any book or book credit. And I am positive they will go with what I design for them.

So my experience is yet another example of the beauty of Pre-Design.
If you haven't yet, you all need to buy Gary's DVD set and apply it to your business!