Just like a title page in a book, a title page in a scrapbook album can be a nice way to introduce the subject matter., especially when your working on a themed album or larger project. Although I’m sure the theme would eventually become evident while viewing the layouts within, a title page allows for a bit more clarity and detail in conveying the subject matter. Your chosen title, subtitles; and things like the inclusion of dates, quotes or other details, gives the viewer a clear understanding of the scrapbookers intent for the album, because unlike a book, many scrapbook albums do not have an external cover to convey anything about their contents. Not only do title pages convey a clear direction from the get go but they also allow for a little more artistry and freedom in creative play because they’re not tied to the normal conventions of crafting a layout where you have the usual suspects of a title, photo(s), journaling and and design.
The page I’m sharing with you today is another layout from my Exchange Album and as you can see very heavy on the text aspect of design. It was important to me to introduce my feelings about the experience via the title and to include the dates, because to be honest this far down the track I had completely forgotten when it finished. Just like a great book title, your chosen title is an entry point for the viewer to be drawn into the contents of your scrapbook. It can simply be a statement of facts like ‘December Daily 2011‘, ‘Our Wedding‘ or ‘2015‘ for a chronological album; or it can be as imaginative a lead-in as you want to your album . The working title for this album has always been ‘America Album‘ because it chronicles my exchange year in America. However that does nothing more than give the location of the events. I could have also gone with ‘My Exchange Album‘ but that only conveys that I was an exchange student (and possibly not very well, at that). Instead I chose to go with ‘My Awesome Exchange Adventure‘ for my title because I feel it’s the best fit for hitting all the important points. Firstly it conveys that the experience was awesome – clearly I enjoyed it, and that I am the sole author. Secondly that this album it is about being on exchange – not everyone has the desire and if the desire, the opportunity to travel overseas and certainly not for something as immersive and lengthy as a year long student exchange. Thirdly I feel that calling it an adventure brings with it a whole slew of connotations that are applicable to the experience. The word ‘Adventure’ has a certain element of the unknown about it and implies a myriad of experiences, encounters with unique individuals & emotional ups and downs, and there were certainly plenty of those during my exchange year.
My subtitles then convey the simple facts about the country my exchange year was in and the dates of when it occurred. Nothing groundbreaking there, but certainly they add clarity and detail to the viewers understanding of what the album contains. I deliberately used a hierarchy of text sizes and styles to add visual weight to the different elements. The main title was stamped on pattern paper and mounted on copper sheeting to stand out more, and the other details graduate in style and size down to the date details which I chose to mount on patterned paper in a colour that blends into the background paper as it is the element that requires the least visual weight. However you may prefer a more subtle approach to the same concept of titling like Shimelle’s, here. While my approach was to focus mostly on text for this particular example, there is nothing that says a title page has to be so very wordy, you may instead convey you title more through imagery. Still in keeping with a photo-less layout concept this may be to do a mood board style layout using a bunch of random ephemera that doesn’t fit elsewhere in your album, but that you still wish to keep. Or perhaps do a mixed media drawing/painting/artwork etc. that’s representative of the album contents like an illustration or cover design on a book or art journal, (Olya Schmidt has some awesome artistry to inspire you if that’s your jam). Perhaps your project calls for something like Lisa’s colour blocked squares and fun embellishments or just a title on patterned paper. If you can’t find a photo-less option that works for you then there’s always the classic photo collage or photo board option as well.
Nowhere do you see more examples of Title Pages than in Project Life Albums. Many of the ones I see have been used to introduce the year the album covers and often details like the family name, the individual family members and current images of them. It is after all why they include such wonderfully designed title cards in their Project Life kits. Both the physical kits and digi versions have great options whether you choose to go Photo-less or not but it can work for any themed Project Life album like these great examples by Michelle, Denise, Kelly, and Noelle (who also has a great post about titles pages on that link). I also like this one found on Pinterest, and love the use of the family silhouette cos its such a fabulous take on the family picture thing. Another place you see a lot of title pages are in December Daily albums I include one most every year in my own albums but check out these by Geralyn and Stephanie.
As you can see Album Title Pages are great for all types of albums no matter what the subject or size or style of the album. It is merely a matter of choice as to whether you think your particular project could do with one or not. If you have any ideas or links to other great title pages, please feel free to leave me a comment below. Next time I’ll be sharing ideas for Section Titles for those big projects.
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