Personalized Maps Add to the Storytelling Power of Photo Books

Whether they’re on paper or on a screen, there is something magical about maps. Not just a tool for finding our way through the world, maps can also be an amazing adornment to the visual storytelling power of photo books.

Mixbook has made it so easy to add custom maps to your photo books. The versatile new Maps tool in Mixbook Studio™ offers a simple, creative way to document the best journeys of your life. Adding maps to travel photo books is a no-brainer, but the tool is also great for giving a sense of place to all kinds of photo book projects.

From road trip books to those capturing other literal and figurative journeys that have deep meaning to you, maps are a marvelous feature. Here’s how to add great-looking maps to your next photo book project, plus some creative map-making suggestions.

How to Add a Custom Map to your Mixbook

Open a new or existing project in Mixbook Studio™ and locate the “Maps” tab at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Click on the tab to open the interface, which you can expand for a wider view.

Follow these steps to add a map to any page of your photo book:

1. Type a location in the text box at the top of the Maps interface. This can be a point of interest, an address, a city, or a state.
2. Add additional locations, if desired, and check the boxes to connect those locations by direct line or road. Click “edit locations” to change or rearrange the points on your map. You can add up to 10 points of interest to display on the map.
3. Choose a map style. Seven different styles of maps are available, including vintage-inspired sepia and black-and-white designs, stylish colored maps, and a classic road map style.
4. Click and drag your chosen map style onto a single page or two-page spread in your photo book.
5. Customize your map:
• Reposition and resize the map by clicking and dragging the corners.
• Zoom in or out and move the map view using the +/- icons and the hand tool. Click the “Click finish to resize” button when you’re done.
• Click on your map to open the maps toolbar. Here, you have options to edit location names, fill the page or span across a two-page spread, move the map forward or backward (relative to other items on the page), or delete the map.

Experiment with different styles, locations, positions, views, and other elements of your map. Remember, you can click the “undo” and “redo” buttons as often as needed, until you’re happy with the design.

Creative Customization Ideas for Maps

For example, in a wedding photo book you might add heart stickers on a map to show the places you met, had your first date, got engaged, and held your wedding. If you’re making a road trip book, add a car sticker along the road, a tent sticker at a spot where you camped, food-themed stickers at memorable dining locations, and camera stickers at the most scenic viewpoints. Decorate maps with flora and fauna stickers, such as cactus and succulents over desert areas, or aquatic-themed stickers along the coast.

Add Custom Text

Use the “Text” tab to add custom text boxes over your map. You could replace or add to the text displayed on the map, or overlay text boxes with any font, size, border, and fill for a fully custom look. Give your map a bold title or quirky captions, or write meaningful words that suit the journey you’re showcasing. You could write up quotes about destinations, lines from a poem that capture your experiences, or little snippets of memories of each place.

Photos and Maps

Photos and maps displayed together on the page tell a multi-dimensional story, bringing together memories of people, moments, and places. There are endless composition options blending photos with maps, plus optional text, backgrounds, and stickers.

Browse suggested layouts in the “Layouts” tab and consider putting a map in the place of a photo frame. Use a full-page map as a background for photos, which you might place over less-important areas of the map. Place thumbnail-sized photos over your map in fitting locations, such as photos of grandchildren in each of their birthplaces for a grandparent book. Create a travel map for a photo book with snapshots of tourist attractions and arrows pointing to the matching map sites.

Ideas for Adding Maps to a Travel Book

Maps are an ideal feature for travel photo books, whether they’re for family vacations, romantic getaways, gap year adventures, or cross-country road trips. You might start with a fully mapped-out itinerary on the front page, or dot various maps alongside matching photos throughout the book. Options range from a zoomed-out map of the word with a flight-path, to a detailed city map with points of interest plotted all over.

Create travel maps to remember the micro and macro, from big-ticket tourist attractions like national parks and world-famous monuments, to off-the-beaten-path viewpoints and that little cafe that had amazing coffee.

Other Ways to Feature Maps in Photo Books

Ideas for maps in photo books aren’t limited to vacation projects. All our most memorable experiences took place somewhere, and many involved elements of travel, even if it’s just locally. Get creative with the Maps tool to add visual interest to any book. Here are some ideas.

Map Your Love Story

Love stories are some of the most spectacular ones we share. Yours might have taken place in your home town, or perhaps you crossed the globe to be together. A custom map can be a beautiful way to share your special story.

How about adding maps to a destination wedding album, or to show how far your wedding guests traveled to celebrate with you?

Maps for Friends and Family

Maps can be thoughtful additions to photo books dedicated to special moments with friends and family. You might use a map to recall all your adventures with your BFF, or your journey to pick up your beloved pet. A map in an adoption story photo book can show the journey to grow your family.

Retirement Books

A photo book celebrating a retirement could feature maps showing a lifetime of travels for work. Whether a career took you around the globe, or to various different workplaces around your state or country, a map is a great way to document those experiences upon retirement.

Graduation Books

Many students’ journeys to graduation are literal journeys, so consider adding a map to a graduation photo book. You might plot a series of schools and colleges across a map, with annotations to show the academic achievements at each one. A student who studied abroad could create a map to capture the memories and learning experiences in different locales.

Year-in-Review Books

If a full year in your life took you all over the place, use maps to capture those wide-ranging experiences. Add different maps for vacation memories, work trips, family visits, and local explorations to a custom year-in-review book.

Family History and Remembrance

Family history and remembrance books can benefit from custom maps alongside photos, documents, and memorabilia. Use maps to communicate your family’s immigrant experience, whether it was recently or centuries ago. Incorporate other visual and written elements to capture the importance of heritage, culture, and place in your family history.

Sports Books

If you’re making a sports photo book to celebrate your child’s (or your own) athletic experiences, consider including a custom map. For kids on travel sports teams, or whose sporting activities involve local travel, a map is a great way to capture the memories of a season. Plot the different venues where they played, practiced, or competed, plus details like winning scores and highlights.

Ready to Create a Custom Map?

The Maps tool is live in Mixbook Studio™, so head over there and check it out. Creating a personalized map is easier than ever, and an amazing way to add a new dimension to your visual story. Plus, you get to create a map with an aesthetic that matches your personal style.

If you’ve used the Maps tool for a photo book, we’d love it if you shared your customer story! Email us at hello@mixbook.com.