Mixbook photo book review: an easy-to-create photo book with competitive prices, but a disappointing finish
Mixbook photo book review
There are many options Print photo books online There are different price points, finishes, and formats on the market, so choosing which one will give you the best results can be tricky. Mixbook is a well-known brand specializing in custom printed gifts. They offer a range of photo albums in different themes, such as weddings, holidays, school yearbooks, and more; plus the option to create one from scratch, which is what I tried for this review.
The 12 x 12 inch blank canvas photo book is priced at $88/£66.99 for a 20-page hardcover, with additional pages available for $3/£1.99 each. There are often deals on the Mixbook website, so if the price isn’t discounted, it’s worth holding on. When we purchased this sample book there was a promotion which reduced the price of the 20 page 12 x 12 inch hardcover book to $57.25/£48.55.
I thoroughly evaluated the Mixbook Studio editor to see how it performs when creating a variety of different layouts and using different elements. It’s easy to create photo albums using existing layouts, but Mixbook Studio lacked some simple features when it came to creating my own photo albums.
The interface of the Mixbook website is attractive and user-friendly, but a bit clunky when navigating between tabs or customizing elements. There are editing tools available in the left toolbar, View, Share, and Buy buttons on the top bar, and easy-to-navigate page spreads on the right side of the page.
Sometimes I need to use some workarounds when positioning elements on the page, and the lack of center lines between pages makes life more difficult, but overall it’s a great system to use. I found a variety of preset layouts in the toolbar with tons of design options, from full-page spreads to overlapping collage-style arrangements.
Adding background color is easy, and I have many ways to choose the color. I can choose to use an existing color palette, a color slider, a color from the color picker, or enter a hex code. Additionally, a range of textured backgrounds are available. This option can be used to flip the background image or change the opacity using the slider.
I wanted to see how easy it would be to add blocks of color to the page, but found it was a little more complicated than expected. The best way to achieve this is to add a square sticker to the page and drag it to the desired size. Unfortunately, Mixbook Studio doesn’t give any specific measurements for photos or stickers, but that’s unlikely to be an issue for most people.
My main annoyance with the process is that the stickers have white borders and shadows by default and require several clicks through different tabs to remove. Luckily this was easy to fix, just copy and paste what I had already edited. Another thing I’m curious about is the lack of alignment between the stickers and the photos and vice versa. This meant I had to arrange elements by eye, which became a bit boring after a while.
The page expansion navigation bar makes it easy to copy, delete or drag and rearrange pages. The copy feature makes it effortless to reuse page layouts and simply switch photos. I just drag from the Photos tab in the toolbar and the replacement image fills the existing space and then moves it to the correct position within the frame.
Under the text icon, I found all the settings I expected, such as alignment and changing the text to bold or italic, plus some title ideas. There is a dropdown list of fonts, but unfortunately it doesn’t let me start typing the font name, lest I scroll through them all. It’s frustrating that font sizes are not standardized, for example if I want 64pt text it looks one size in one font but completely different in another.
I have to admit that I really don’t like the zoom feature on the Mixbook Studio. Zooming is controlled by basic plus and minus buttons at the top of the page, and instead of being able to pan after zooming in, I need to drag the page in the preview box that appears below the zoom tool, which proves to be an interesting thing when I When trying to check a lot of details on the page. Popout toolbars for images, stickers, and text boxes sometimes get in the way. They are static at the bottom of the selected element, which can sometimes make alignment tricky.
The preview button at the top of the page allows me to check out the finished product before moving on to the ordering stage. When I did this, a brightly colored pop-up banner at the top of the order page emphasized that there was an error in the book. This is just a blank page that I colored pink at the beginning of the book so that’s not a problem; however, it’s nice to know that this feature is there to flag errors before continuing.
I have mixed feelings about the finished article. The printing and matte finish on the hardcover cover are vivid and beautiful. There’s some very minor blurring around the font, and the cover image overlaps slightly with the spine, but these are within the range of what I would expect for a print.
One unfortunate but avoidable mistake was pinch marks on some pages during assembly. These are only visible in the light on the lighter pages, but are clearly visible on the dark, full-coverage photo pages, which ruins the surface effect. There are also noticeable handling dents on many of the pages, indicating that they were not handled with care during creation; these dents distract from the images and I was disappointed with the book when I expected the pages to be in pristine condition It’s brand new.
Aside from some regrettable marks from the manufacturing process, the finished book looks pretty good. These types of services may not be suitable for those who want high-quality photos, but for those of us who just want to collect our memories in one place, this Mixbook photo album will be more than enough. When taking advantage of the discount, the price is quite good for a large, vividly printed hardcover book. Please be prepared to check for markings before giving as a gift and order in advance if possible in case replacement is needed. If you’d like to explore other photo book suppliers, we’ve compiled some of our favorite photo book suppliers on our website best photo book guide.
Should I buy a Mixbook photo book?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Mixbook Photo Book Review: Also Consider
How I Tested the Mixbook Photo Book
- I created a photo album from scratch to recreate our TechRadar photo album
- I explored Mixbook Studio, testing different features and tools
- I ordered a photo book and evaluated the quality of the finished product
I spent some time testing different features in Mixbook Studio to see how easy their pre-made elements are to use, as well as the different elements they include for free. I also looked into other services that offer photo albums to compare prices and features.
I started with a blank canvas and used the tools available to recreate our TechRadar album. It is important to recreate existing designs so that we can evaluate the capabilities of different services in the face of different demands.
I ordered the completed album and evaluated the finished product, paying close attention to quality, print finish, alignment, and noting any flaws.
- First review: November 2024
- Read more about How we test
