This post is sponsored by Blurb Books, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”... unless that cover is really stinkin’ cute and screams “put me on your bookshelf!” I’ve lived by this (slightly modified) saying since I was little, collecting bright and boldly covered books, stacking rainbow arrangements with them in my room and admiring the illustrations and color palettes. Of course as I grew older I learned to appreciate the content just as much as the pleasing packaging, but I never lost that desire to impulse-buy a book dressed in a jazzy jacket. And in the back of my mind I always thought it would be fun to design my own book that someday might catch someone’s eye in the same way.
Lucky for me, Blurb Books approached me to turn that design dream into a reality. I immediately knew I wanted to round up some of my favorite pun photos I’ve taken and create a book dedicated to the love of puns. They have quite a few different sizes available, but since the very nature of puns are so light-hearted and whimsical I thought a large coffee table book size might be too serious, so I chose Blurb’s 7” x 7” photo book size. The smaller size makes a fun gift size and the photos are still large enough to appreciate the detail and sharp image quality.
While making a book from start to finish might seem intimidating, Blurb is there every step of the way to ensure the whole process is as easy-peasy as possible, and they have lots of helpful tools to choose from. I chose to use Blurb’s Adobe InDesign Plug-In since I feel most comfortable with InDesign and because it let me have total creative control over my layout. The plug-in takes care of just about everything so there’s no math or measuring involved (which I’m oh-so thankful for!). I just plugged in my book size and number of pages and it took care of all the rest so I could focus on the actual aesthetics!
After I uploaded my book via the plug-in and placed an order, my actual book arrived at my doorstep in less than a week (which was awesome since I couldn’t WAIT to see it in person!). Holding the physical copy in my hands and flipping through the pages was such a thrill, especially since prior to my work solely existed on-screen. This is the first time I’ve printed the majority of these photos, and I’m glad I opted for the Premium Paper lustre finish (you can order a swatch kit to select your paper before you commit to anything), it really gives the whole book a high quality feel and gives a great sheen and highlight to the images. I’m so happy with how it turned out, and the wheels are already turning for what other photo series I can turn into a book!
Have you ever thought about creating a book of your work? It’s such a fun way to share your art and ideas with friends and family, and it makes such a wonderful keepsake.
Check out some of my favorite spreads below!
