Creating your personalized coffee table book adds another layer of joy to the experience. It puts you in the role of photographer, editor, designer, and publisher. You have total control over your coffee table book’s unique content ideas and style. You have virtually infinite choices for themes and designs, from personal mementos such as year-in-review albums to photo books showcasing a business or hobby. Consider the types of books you would love to keep out on your coffee table. Brainstorm ideas for your own creations and use the Mixbook editor to bring them to life!

Your Custom Coffee Table Book: Step-by-Step Guide

The process for creating a custom coffee table book is very straightforward. You simply choose your photos, pick a blank canvas or a theme, and use the intuitive editor tool to configure the layout. Add captions, quotes, or other text of your choice. Consider embellishments like custom backgrounds and stickers.

Pay special attention to cover design, materials, and finishes. These factors will make your coffee table book as stunning as any you could buy – except yours is totally unique!

Selecting Content

Coffee table books should have a cohesive theme. That theme is entirely up to you, but always keep it in mind when selecting the photos for your book. Consider your book a showcase of the best images that fit your theme, and be very selective with your choices. Just a few examples include:

Family history book
Special occasions
Artwork portfolio
Celebration of a hobby
Travel photo books
Career retrospective for a retirement gift

It will be worth it to take the time to edit photos for maximum appeal, whether in a program like Photoshop or using the tools built into the Mixbook editor. Aim for consistent aesthetics, for example, using the same filters or making all the photos black and white.

Be thoughtful about the text, too. What would anyone browsing your coffee table books want to know about each image? You might want brief captions with details of the time and place that each photo was taken or perhaps accompanying poetry or quotations. Keep your text formatting consistent from page to page, for example, using the same text size, font, and placement. This will ensure your coffee table book looks cohesive and professional.

Layout and Design

Coffee table books are typically large in scale, so choose a bigger photo book size. A common size for this type of book is 10x10 inches. Browse theme options that suit your style, or start with a blank book for total customization. Minimalist themes are always a good choice for coffee table books, as they let the photos alone capture the reader’s focus.

Large, page-filling images are typical of professional coffee table books because they’re an excellent showcase for stunning images. However, smaller-scale photos and multi-photo spreads can be effective as well. For the latter, ensure the photos that share a page have a unifying element and make sense together.

Cover Design

Considering its function as a decor piece, a coffee table book’s cover design is important. It should be eye-catching and stylish and hint at the contents within. There are many ways to achieve this, but you might want to look at best-selling coffee table books for inspiration. “Wonderland” by Annie Leibovitz, for example, has a minimalist cover. It’s simply the book title and photographer’s name on a textured taupe hardcover.

You could play around with typography or feature a favorite, most eye-catching image from inside the book. A good example is the coffee table book “Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak.” The charming book has one of Sendak’s most iconic illustrations on its cover. Another option is a grid or collage of small photos from inside the book, as featured on the cover of “200 Women.” All these cover design choices are excellent representations of the book’s overall contents and design.

Materials and Finishes

Choosing the best quality materials and finishes you can (within your budget) is the best way to enhance the look and feel of your coffee table book. Mixbookers usually prefer glossy covers for stunning photos. Some prefer a matte finish due to lighting and fingerprint concerns. Opt for premium-lustre paper for a superior finish.

Order Your Book

The pricing for coffee table books varies with size, materials, and finish. You can make changes to suit your budget and design preferences before adding the book to your cart. Order one copy or multiple, and know that you can order additional copies later — the project will be saved to your account. Choose a shipping option to suit your timeframe.

What Are Coffee Table Books?

Coffee table books are usually large-scale hardcover books intended for display and casual browsing. Their contents are primarily photos or illustrations, plus captions or small blocks of text. Together, they offer a visual journey or overview of a theme.

The modern coffee table book concept is commonly attributed to the Sierra Club. In 1960, the organization published This Is the American Earth, featuring nature photography by Ansel Adams and words by Nancy Newhall. The volume is often called the first coffee table book.

Nature photography continues to be a very popular theme for coffee table books. So are art, travel, architecture, fashion, portraiture, and other visually focused subjects. Today, it’s hard to imagine a topic that hasn’t been featured in a coffee table book. This list of 25 best coffee table books includes such wide-ranging topics as palace interiors, wine, sneakers, “colorstrology” and Japanese gardens. Browse the countless options available at your local (or online) bookstore for inspiration for your own coffee table book.

The Joys of Coffee Table Books

There are many fun aspects of popular coffee table books that might inspire you to create your own. Since they do double duty as browsing/reading material and decor, they can be a tangible connection of beauty and intrigue that feels rare in a digital world. The popularity of coffee table books has even been studied by psychologists. Among their conclusions, coffee table books showcase our identities — they’re great conversation starters and evoke positive emotions, including awe, curiosity, and nostalgia.

For business owners and anyone in a creative profession, your coffee table book can showcase your best work. You could keep copies available in your office waiting room or give them to important clients as holiday gifts. Coffee table books with a travel theme are also a nice touch for vacation rentals and guest rooms. Coffee table books with family themes, such as family history books, make perfect gifts for relatives.