I ordered a high-quality photo book using iPhoto, opting for the premium size and finish. The packaging process was reminiscent of Apple products, showcasing careful attention to detail. The book features impressive image quality and professional layouts, creating a brochure-like feel. The positive reaction from friends indicates a growing interest in creating similar personalized photo books.
Unpacking an iPhoto Photo Book
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Last week, I used the iPhoto "Print Book" option to order a High Quality book with the most beautifull pictures from our last holiday. I went for the most expensive option: Bonded, Big (28 * 21.5 cm), mirror finish. The process of creating the book in iPhoto was very easy and fun. I chose a theme which doesn't leave space for labels as I was too lazy to type a description for every picture I used.
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s1_big.jpg" target="_blank" alt="Pic 1"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s1.jpg" alt="Pic 1" /></a>
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This is how the package arrived. A nice squeezed box from the Royal Kingdom, labeled as Royal Mail, lacking any reference to Apple whatsoever, I actually
wondered what this might be (for a second, that is).
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s2_big.jpg" alt="Pic 2" target="_blank"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s1.jpg" alt="Pic 2" /></a>
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After opening the box, - feeling similar to russian dolls - another box appeared, this time in the wellknown Apple design. It didn't feel like unpacking an
iPod or a PowerBook but the similarities were striking, especially if comparing with unpacking other companies products.
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s3_big.jpg" alt="Pic 3"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s3.jpg" alt="Pic 3" /></a>
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Here you can see the Apple box in all it's glory. It's quite big, I already thought if there're other purposes I could use this box for, like keeping track
of all those Apple Software Discs I have floating around
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s4_big.jpg" alt="Pic 4"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s4.jpg" alt="Pic 4" /></a>
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The second box finally contained the actual product I ordered. My Navy Blue Photo Book, and the accompaniying bill. The book was wrapped up in transparent packaging paper. Apple definately tried hard to prevent any harm to my book on it's way from the UK to it's destination.
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s5_big.jpg" alt="Pic 5"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s5.jpg" alt="Pic 5" /></a>
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This is the Photo Book, still wrapped up in transparent packaging paper though. The front page looks neat, the whole thing has a very professional touch to it.
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s6_big.jpg" alt="Pic 6"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s6.jpg" alt="Pic 6" /></a>
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Here is a example of how it looks if pictures outfill the whole page. I like it very much, it has some sort of vacational brochure feeling to it. The pictures were taken with a 5mpx camera, and they still look very good at such large sizes.
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s7_big.jpg" alt="Pic 7"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s7.jpg" alt="Pic 7" /></a>
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Another example from inside the book. The layout of the pages can be defined in iPhoto - of course.
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<a href="/projects/iPhotoBook/s8_big.jpg" alt="Pic 8"><img src="/projects/iPhotoBook/s8.jpg" alt="Pic 8" /></a>
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The last page contains a nice 'Made on a Mac' logo. That I like :)
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Overall, I've to say that I'm impressed with the quality. Sure, it's nothing cheap, but bundling your most valuable vacation or celebration pictures like this
only does them justice, in my opinion. When showing this book to friends everybody was very excited. Many people wanted to know how they could create similar books with their pictures; there obviously is a market for this. I guess that this is a good way to create advertisement brochures, too - if you need a dim amount that is. I'm glad I tried this, and my next holiday will see a similar book.
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