When designing eligible products on the Nations Photo Lab website—such as Photo Books, Album99, Cards, Metal Prints, and other customizable products—you’ll use our online design workspace to personalize your project.
This guide provides a walkthrough of the tools available within the design workspace and explains what each option does.
Please note: Available tools may vary slightly depending on the product you’re designing.
⚠️ Before You Begin
For the smoothest design experience, we recommend reviewing your image files first to ensure they meet our print-quality recommendations, then uploading your photos before you begin your project.
Need help uploading your photos?
👉 How and where do I upload my photos to the website? (Desktop)
📤 Upload & Manage Photos
The online designer now uses a more consistent photo management experience across the Nations Photo Lab website.
In the design workspace, the Photos panel lets you upload, manage, and access your image galleries while designing.
Upload Photos
At the top of the expanded Photos panel, you’ll see an Upload Photos button.
This option lets you quickly upload image files directly from your computer to your current photo gallery.
Manage Photos
For additional upload sources and gallery management, click Manage within the Photos panel.
This opens the full photo management interface.
On the left side, under Add Photos From, you can upload images from:
- Your computer
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- Google Photos
On the right side, you can:
- View all uploaded photos
- Open specific galleries
- Upload images directly into the gallery you’re currently viewing
- Rename galleries for better organization
This updated workflow provides more flexibility and makes organizing your photo library while designing much easier.
Preview Images Before Adding
Hover over any image thumbnail.
A magnifying glass icon will appear in the top-right corner.
Clicking this icon will:
- Open a larger preview of the image
- Display the full file name at the bottom of the preview window
This helps confirm you’ve selected the correct image before placing it in your design.
Adding Photos to Your Design
To place an image into your project:
- Open the Photos panel
- Select your desired gallery
- Locate your image
- Click and drag the image into your design template
✨ Autofill
Some products and design themes support Autofill, which automatically places your photos into your design.
Autofill availability depends on the product and selected theme.
For supported products, Autofill may be available:
- When starting a new project
- At any time later from the Photos panel
Blank templates or manually designed layouts may not support Autofill.
🎨 Design Workspace Overview
The design workspace contains tools for customizing your project layout, images, text, colors, and decorative elements.
Available tools may vary depending on product type.
📐 Layouts
The Layouts panel lets you apply pre-designed layouts to your project.
Depending on your product, layouts may include:
- Single-photo designs
- Multi-photo arrangements
- Text/image combinations
- Full-page or full-spread designs
To apply a layout:
- Select the page or area you’d like to modify
- Open the Layouts panel
- Choose your preferred layout
🎨 Themes
The Themes panel applies coordinated design styling to your project.
Themes may include:
- Background designs
- Text styling
- Image frame styling
- Product-specific design layouts
For eligible card products, card back layout options are also managed within the Themes panel.
🎨 Backgrounds
The Backgrounds panel allows you to customize your design background.
Available options may include:
- Preset colors
- Decorative patterns
You may also use the Pick a Colour tool to visually choose a custom background color.
🔤 Text Tools
Use the Text panel to add or edit text within your design.
You can customize:
- Text content
- Font type
- Font size
- Text color
- Bold/italic/underline
- Text alignment
✨ New: Text that was previously set to auto-size can now be manually resized for greater customization control.
Text colors may be selected from:
- Preset colors
- Pick a Colour custom selector
To add custom text:
- Click into your design
- Open the Text panel
- Choose Add Text Box
- Enter and customize your text
🎭 Clipart
The Clipart panel lets you add decorative elements to your project.
Clipart includes a variety of categorized graphics and embellishments.
To use Clipart:
- Open the Clipart panel
- Browse categories
- Select your desired graphic
- Drag it into your design
🖼 Image Editing Tools
Selecting an image in your design reveals additional editing tools.
✋ Pan / Zoom
Adjust how your image appears inside its photo box.
Use this tool to:
- Reposition the image
- Change the crop
- Zoom in or out
↔ Transform
The Transform tool allows you to:
- Resize image boxes
- Adjust shape
- Move image placement
- Rotate image boxes
This is especially useful for custom layouts.
⟳ Rotate
Rotate your image in 90-degree increments.
🔀 Front / Back Layering
When working with overlapping images or decorative elements, the Front/Back controls let you adjust the layering order.
Use this tool to move selected items:
- Forward
- Backward
This is especially useful in collage-style designs.
🖼 Set as Background
Apply a selected image as the background of your page or design area.
Be sure to review image crop placement after applying.
You may also revert the background if needed by clicking Minimize.
⬛ Borders
Apply decorative borders to selected photo boxes.
Please note: If an image completely fills the design area, the border may not be visible until the image box is resized.
🗑 Delete / Remove
Remove selected:
- Photos
- Text boxes
- Decorative elements
by selecting the image and clicking the Trash icon.
You can also drag the image off the design area until it turns red.
Empty image or text boxes will not print.
💾 Save Your Project
Need more time?
Click the Save icon in the upper-right corner of the design workspace to save your project and return later.
✨ Review Your Selections
Once your design is complete, click Add to Cart.
For many products, a Review Your Selections window will appear before checkout.
Depending on product type, available options may include:
- Color Correction
- UV Coating
- Embossing
- Envelopes
- Remove Logo
- Other product-specific finishing options
Helpful info icons are available throughout this review process to explain available selections.
🛒 Add to Cart
Once you’ve reviewed your product design and add-on options, your product will be added to your shopping cart.
⚠️ Helpful Notes
Please keep in mind:
- Available tools vary by product
- Some templates support Autofill, while others require manual design
- Empty image or text boxes do not print
- Once an order is submitted, design files are flattened and cannot be edited by our team
If you’d like our Customer Support team to review your design before placing your order, we’re happy to help.
👉 Please submit a contact form.
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