Loktah

Creating your beautiful Loktah album should be easy, but sometimes it helps to have a little step by step. This tutorial takes you from step 1 to step done in no time.

Step 1: Preparing your Artwork.

Before ordering your album you will have to prepare your album artwork. This is an easy process when you use our Free Photoshop® templates (Download Template).

There are a couple of things you need to know about setting up your artwork in using our templates. Here are a couple of pointers.

Template Elements.

1. Bleed. This is the red border you'll see on each spread. The bleed will be trimmed (cut off) when we prepare your album for binding.
2. Page Edge. This is the solid black border. This is the final size of your spread.
3. Text Margin. This is the dotted black box inside each page.
4. Center Line. The absolute middle of the spread is indicated by a solid line running down it. This is where the page will fold.

Full Page / Spread images.

1. Images that stretch to the edge of the page (with no margin or whitespace) must stretch to the edge of the template document to include the Bleed area.
2. The outer edge (¼ of an inch) of your image will be trimmed. Remember this when selecting your full page images.
3. The inside edge (spine edge) will not be trimmed, and your image should

Centered Images.

1. Images that are centered on the page need to be centered against the Page Edge (excluding the bleed area) and the center of the document.
2. If you plan to use a full spread image (covering both pages) remember not to have a prominent feature (like someone's face) dead center, as this is where it will fold.

Text.

The dotted box inside each page is the "Safe Text Margin". Any text placed on your spread needs to be within this area to make sure we don't trim it by accident.

Examples

Example 1.

The below spread has been setup correctly. You will see the following:

1. Images on the left are the same distance from the left edge of the page and the center fold.
2. The image on the right covers the bleed area.
3. The text on the right fits within the "Safe Text Margin"

The image below shows what the previous will look like once it's been printed and trimmed.

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Example 2

This image demonstrates centering techniques for multiple images and a single large image. You will notice corresponding edges are the same distance from the page edge. 

Here is what this layout looks like once it's been printed and trimmed.

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Example 3.

The following Album was setup incorrectly. You will see the following:

1. The image on the left was centered between the edge of the document (not the page).
2. The image on the right does not stretch to the edge of the document (bleed area).
3. The text is outside of the "Safe Text Margin"

This is what this document will and could look like once printed and trimmed.

1. The image to the left is off-center.
2. The image to the right has left a white edge because there was no bleed to prevent this.
3. The text to the right has been cut off because it was too close to the trim edge.

Even though we do check for these issues when preparing your album we take no responsibility for albums that have been set up incorrectly.

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Step 2: Saving your artwork.

The artwork you submit needs to meet the following requirements:

1. Spreads should include the full bleed area. (For example a 10in x 10in album should have spreads of 20.5in x 10.5in submitted) What is bleed?
2. All guide layers should be removed (including safe text box lines, page edges and bleeds).
3. Format: JPEG
4. Quality: 100%
5. Resolution: 300Dpi. What is Resolution?
6. Color Space: sRGB (CMYK and Grey Scale will not be accepted.) What is Color Space?
7. You can submit your artwork one spread per file or as a compressed ZIP file. (Compressing individual images will not reduce file size.)

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Step 3: Ordering - Selecting your Album Options

The first page of your album order includes a couple of options. These include:

1. Album Size
2. Additional Spreads
3. Paper Selection
4. Drop Shipping

Album Size

Loktah Albums come in a variety of standard sizes. These include 8in x 5in, 8in x 8in, 10in x 8in, 10in x 10in, 14in x 10in, 12in x 12in.

The size you select should correspond to the size of the template you use when setting up your artwork.

Additional Spreads

All Albums come with 10 spreads included. Select this option to add additional spreads (2 pages) to your Album. This size should correspond to the size of the Album you selected. The number of extra spreads should be specified in the Quantity field.

Paper Selection

Select the Type of paper you want your album to be printed on. You can order Paper Samples from us by visiting the Samples Page.

Our paper selection includes 3 popular fine art papers: Matte White, Fine Eco and Luster Semi-Gloss.

Drop Ship

We will mail your order directly to your customer at no extra charge. The paperwork will be sent to you. At Checkout add your client's address as the delivery address. Tip: You can add regular recipients to "Addresses" in your Account.

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Step 4: Uploading your artwork.

Once you've made your album options selections you can click on continue. Next you will be taken to the Artwork Upload Page.

Project Details

1. Project Name: Type in the name of your album project. This will help us differentiate between album orders.
2. Company Name: Type the name of your company. This will make sure that your album files are uploaded to the correct remote folder.
3. Click on Album Files. This will open the Upload Dialogue.

Important: Make sure that your files are numbered in page order with your project name for ex. jimmys-wedding_01.jpg. File names should be made up of letters (abc), numbers (123), dashes (-) and underscores (_). No spaces or other punctuation.

Upload Dialogue

Select the files you wish to upload. You can select as many files as you like. Then click Open.

The Uploader

1. Once you've clicked open the file table will fill with the files you've selected.
2. The progress indicator on each file show whether the file is ready to upload (grey), being uploaded (green) or finished uploading (tick mark).
3. You can also delete unwanted file using the red X box.

Additional Order Instructions

Once your files are uploaded you can add additional order instructions and special requests.

You are now ready to submit your order. You will be taken to the Cart page. You are welcome to browse and add other items to your cart.