A memorial photo book is a beautiful way to celebrate the life of a loved one. Filled with candid photographs, anecdotes and personal tributes, a memorial book lets you concentrate on celebrating all the moments – big and small – that made that person’s life uniquely theirs.

How to create a memorial photo book

We make the creation process simple at photobox so that you can focus on the parts that matter most: commemorating a life well lived. We’ve taken all the hassle out of the process with a great selection of memorial-themed photo book designs, all completely customisable from the colour scheme and fonts to the layouts and graphics.

From choosing a theme to a final read-through before printing: read on for our full guide on how to make a memorial photo album.

1. Choose a theme

The first step to creating your memorial book is to choose a theme. Either come up with your own theme and start your photo album design from scratch or select one of our ready-made memorial themes. Keep it simple and sophisticated with a classic memorial design, or opt for a modern and colourful design to bring a vibrant feel to their story.

2. Start adding photos

The second step to creating a memorial book is finding and adding photos to your design. One option is to start at the beginning: first find childhood photos and then work your way through the years. Flick through old family albums or boxes of old photos, and select a range from every stage of your loved one’s life.

For older photographs, easily make a digital copy by scanning them and saving them on your computer. If you don’t have a scanner at home, try a scanning app and do it straight from your phone.

3. Involve others in the project

Creating a memorial book is a wonderful way of commemorating the life of someone you love and can often be quite an emotional project. At this stage, you may want to share the experience with friends and family and invite them to work together on your memorial photo book. If it feels right, arrange a cosy evening where everyone brings personal additions to the memorial book. Spend a couple of hours swapping stories, laughing, crying, and celebrating happy memories.

4. Include letters and notes

A customised memorial book doesn’t have to only feature photographs. Think outside the box when it comes to the content of your memorial book. Whether it’s letters, postcards, or just silly little notes from over the years: handwritten messages are a lovely addition to your memorial book and can bring a story to life when paired with the right photos. Think about pairing a postcard with a snap from the destination they sent it or a birthday card alongside a gallery of the special day.

5. Add hand drawings

Drawings and doodles are another great addition to a memorial book. If your loved one was a budding artist or avid doodler, scan a couple of copies of their work and include it in the memorial book. Or did they save a childhood drawing given to them years ago and cherished forever? Scan a copy and include it.

6. Add their favourite music

Music plays a big part in our lives, and our favourite songs often stick with us for a lifetime. Include the lyrics of a few of your loved one’s favourite tunes throughout the book: whether it’s the whole song or just a couple of lines. Was there a song that they always sang to their children or grandchildren? Or maybe a karaoke classic that never failed to get them up on stage? Add them to the book.

7. Write captions

With your images, stories and mementoes in place, the next step is to write captions for your pictures. Captions are an easy way to create a flowing story within your memorial book, whether it’s just a simple date and location or a whole anecdote.

8. Play with the extras

We know that creating a memorial book is a personal process and that no one design can fit all. That’s why all of our photo book themes are completely customisable, allowing you to play with the design features to create something that is as one-of-a-kind as your loved one. Change the colour palette, choose their favourite colours, play around with different fonts and text sizes, and explore our library of illustrations and graphics to add an extra special touch.

9. Final check

Go through each page and check for typos in any stories and captions, double-check that dates and locations are correct and make sure that you are happy with all the images and added extras. Once you’re finished, simply select the number of memorial books you’d like to print and complete your order.

Creating a memorial book is a meaningful way to commemorate the life of someone you love. To design your memorial photo book, explore our memorial-themed photo book designs and get started.

CREATE YOUR MEMORIAL PHOTO BOOK