Our Nations Photo Lab Album99 is a professionally printed, flush-mounted, lay-flat photo album designed to beautifully preserve your memories. This tutorial will walk you through creating your Album99 using our online design interface.
🎥 Video Tutorial
Click HERE for a video on how to order an Album99.
⚠️ Before You Begin
Once you begin designing your Album99, the following selections cannot be changed without starting over:
- Album size
- Cover type
- Page thickness (Thick or Thin)
Please review these selections carefully before clicking Customize Now.
📘 Choose Your Album Specifications
On the Album99 product page, select your preferred:
- Album size
- Cover type
- Page thickness (Thick or Thin)
- Spread Count
📏 Available Sizes
Album99 Photo Albums are available in 7 sizes:
- 8×8"
- 8×10"
- 8×12"
- 10×8"
- 10×10"
- 12×8"
- 12×12"
🎨 Cover Options
Choose from:
- Genuine Leather
- Linen
- Vegan Leather
- Photo Wrap (Lustre or Canvas)
📄 Page Thickness
Thin Pages: Approximately the width of a dime
Thick Pages: Approximately the width of a penny
📚 Spread Count
All Album99s begin with a minimum of 10 spreads (20 sides).
Spread limits:
- Thick Page Albums: Up to 25 spreads (50 sides)
- Thin Page Albums: Up to 40 spreads (80 sides)
Spreads must be added in increments of 5 spreads (10 sides).
⚠️ If your Album contains an uneven spread count, the system will prompt you to make adjustments before adding the product to your cart.
💡 Helpful Tip:
10 spreads = 20 sides
Looking for full cover material and color options?
👉 View our Album99 product guide HERE
🎨 Choose Your Theme
Click Customize Now to begin designing and select your preferred layout theme.
Theme Options:
Blank Theme – Panoramic
A completely blank panoramic spread layout for full manual design control (left + right sides conjoined).
Blank Theme – Two-Sided
A completely blank two-page layout for full manual design control (left + right sides separated).
Full Page Photos – Two-Sided
Automatically places one photo per page side.
Full Page Photos – Panoramic
Automatically places one photo across full panoramic spreads.
✨ Autofill (Theme Dependent)
Autofill is available for:
✅ Full Page Photos – Two-Sided
✅ Full Page Photos – Panoramic
Autofill is not available for:
🚫Blank Theme – Two-Sided
🚫Blank Theme – Panoramic
Blank themes are intentionally designed to provide full creative control for manual placement.
If using a Full Page Photos theme, you can:
- Autofill when starting your Album
- Autofill later at any time from the Photos panel
📤 Upload & Manage Your Photos
The Photos panel gives you access to your image galleries and upload options.
You can upload additional images at any time during the design phase.
Select the gallery you'd like to upload into. Then, click Manage to upload photos from:
- Your computer
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- Google Photos
Photos are uploaded directly into your selected gallery.
The Filter icon allows you to change the view of your gallery. You can view all images within your gallery, the images you haven't used, or the images you have used.
⚠️Your image may appear blurry or pixelated, even if it meets our recommended print dimensions. This is because the image is scaled down to deliver the fastest experience possible to you, but we use your high-resolution file when it's time to print. Please don't worry; there's no reason for concern unless you're receiving a resolution warning.
🔍 Preview Images Before Selecting
When viewing your image gallery, hover over an 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.
📖 Begin Designing Your Album
Your Album opens in the design workspace, where you can begin customizing spreads.
Album99 spreads include a ⅛” bleed/trim area.
⚠️ Important:
Anything placed in the orange trim zone may be cut during production.
Helpful resources:
👉 Bleed & trim information: Click HERE
👉 Photoshop templates: Click HERE
👉 Low-resolution image guide: Click HERE
🛠 Design Tools
When designing your Album99, you will have a range of design tools at your disposal.
📐 Layouts
Choose from a variety of layout options for each spread.
Layouts depend on:
- The number of photos you want to use
- Your preferred design arrangement
All image boxes remain adjustable after placement.
Keep important image details inside the safe zone.
🎨 Styles & Backgrounds
Apply preset background styles or customize the background color of your spread.
You can:
- Choose from preset colors and designs
- Use the Pick a Colour tool to select a custom color visually
🔤 Add Text
Add custom text anywhere within your Album99 spreads.
Customize:
- Font style
- Text color
- Text size
- Text alignment
- Text adjustments: bold, italicize, or underline
Text color options include:
- Preset colors
- Pick a Colour custom color selection
🎭 Clipart
Add decorative design elements using the Clipart tool.
Clipart includes a variety of categorized graphics you can use to personalize your Album design.
To use Clipart:
- Open the Clipart panel
- Browse available categories
- Select your desired graphic
- Drag it into your page layout
🖼 Image Editing Tools
When selecting an image, additional editing tools become available.
✋ Pan / Zoom
Move the image within its frame or zoom in/out for better positioning.
↔ Transform
Resize or reposition image boxes.
You can:
- Adjust image box dimensions
- Move image boxes around the spread
- Fine-tune layout positioning
⟳ Rotate
Rotate your selected image.
🖼 Set as Background
Apply an image as the full page background.
You may also revert the background if needed by clicking Minimize.
Or you can click Spread to apply the image as a full spread.
⬛ Add Borders
Add a colored or designer border to image boxes for added styling.
🗑 Remove Images
Remove an image by:
-
Selecting the image and clicking the Trash icon
OR - Dragging the image off the spread until it turns red
🔀 Reorganize Spreads
Click Reorganize to open the full-screen page management view.
From here, you can:
Move Full Spreads
Use the black 4-way arrow icon at the top of a spread to drag the entire spread to a new location.
Move Individual Pages
Hover over one side of a spread.
A blue 4-way arrow icon will appear, allowing you to move a single page to a new position.
When finished, click Spread View at the bottom of the screen to return to the main editor.
➕ Add / Remove Spreads
You may add or remove spreads during design.
Rules:
- Minimum: 10 spreads
- Thick pages: Maximum 25 spreads/50 sides
- Thin pages: Maximum 40 spreads/ 80 sides
- Must be added in increments of 5 spreads
Pricing updates automatically as spreads are added.
If your Album contains an uneven spread count, the system will prompt you to make adjustments before adding the product to your cart.
👀 Preview Your Album
📖 Full-Screen Preview
Use Preview to check:
Cropping
Alignment
Spelling
Duplicate images
Empty photo boxes
💾 Save for Later
Need to come back later?
Click the Save icon in the upper-right corner of the design workspace to save your project and return later.
✨ Review Your Selections: Add-Ons & Personalization
Once your Album99 design is complete, click Add to Cart.
Before proceeding to the cart, a Review Your Selections window will appear where you can review and choose available add-ons for your Album.
Available options include:
✅ Color Correction
Apply professional color correction adjustments to your images.
Click the info icon beside this option to learn what color correction includes and preview a sample comparison image.
✅ Embossing (Leather and Linen covers only)
Embossing allows you to personalize your Album cover with custom text.
Available embossing options include:
- Bottom-right embossing
- Center embossing
Click the info icon beside each embossing location to learn more about:
- Embossing placement options
- Available embossing colors
- Available font styles
- Eligible cover materials
- Example embossing previews
If embossing is selected, additional customization options will expand, allowing you to choose:
- Embossing text
- Font style
- Embossing color
Important Notes:
- Up to 3 lines of text
- Maximum 20 characters per line
- No live embossing preview
- Unsupported characters: | , / { } ( )
🛒 Add to Cart
Once you’ve reviewed your Album design and add-on options, your Album will be added to your shopping cart.
❓ Need Help?
If you have questions or need guidance while designing your Album99, our Customer Support Team is happy to help.
👉 Please submit a request through our Contact Form.
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