Being totally honest, who of us doesn’t struggle with the title sometimes when we work on a page? There are so many things that can either make or break a layout, just because of poor use or placement of a title. Now, I have to admit, I’m not a graphic designer or a professional in this area by any means, so a lot of the things I’m going to share with you today are mostly based on personal preference. However, after doing a little bit of research on that topic, I find that there are a few things about working with titles that are rather useful to know.

This tutorial is going to be a rather lengthy one. To give you a brief overview, I’m going to touch on:
1. Title – Yes or No
2. Character of a Layout
3. Photo Inspiration
4. Bold or Subdued
5. Determining the Size
6. Some More Basics (6 quick tips)
7. Layouts to Give You Inspiration

Title – Yes or No
Now, before I get all into talking about layout titles and the likes, let me clarify one thing:
A scrapbook page doesn’t always need a title. Some pages work perfectly without a big fancy caption.

With other layouts you can’t tell whether what is written on the page is a title or actually the journaling.

Looking through my gallery, though, I find I use titles most of the time, so when working with captions there are a few questions that should be asked:

What do I want to say with my page?
What am I trying to convey?

The answer to these questions will determine what kind of title you choose.

 

Layout Character Determines Title
Generally, we can say that there are two types of layouts:

1. Event Based Layouts: Pages which document certain activities/occasions/happenings in our lives – anything from the description of what happened on Christmas morning to reporting about a simple walk through a park in summer.
2. Thought Based Layouts: Pages that use any type photos and describe the mood/emotions/thoughts, rather than the actual event that took place.

Determining on which of the two choices you base your layout, also influences the tone and therefore your choice of title/words/design. Personally, I think working with alphas and big bold fonts is perfect for “Event Pages”, while staying with fonts and brushes works great for those reflective pages some of us love to create. But again, there are always exceptions to the rule, and my own gallery is full of them, lol!

Photo Inspiration
Another major aspect when it comes to deciding what title work to choose is the photo. To me, the photo is the driving force of a page. Unless it is a photo-less layout, which, of course, is another whole scrapbook category of its own. If we use a photo, though, then the picture will have a major say in what our title is going to be about, and what it will look like. If you ever really get stuck on a title, then simply use your photo as inspiration.

Bold or Subdued?
Of course, there are lots of other things to consider when it comes to working with titles. Some scrappers love to go bold, using patterns, large elements, and lots of color on their layouts, while others are minimalist scrappers who love to make use of their “white space” and try to keep their pages clean and simple. Which type of page you create also has a big say in how to deal with the title.

Determining the Size
As a general rule of thumb: If you want your photo to be the focus of your page, then your font/alpha should not be larger than the subject on your picture. If, however, you decide to make your title the subject – the bigger the better, and your photo will become the “support” to your title. Both are acceptable, but you have to know what it is on the page that you want to highlight. Let’s take a look at two examples:

This layout was part of a double page spread, and the photo wasn’t my main focus here, because there were some more pronounced pictures on the other page. So I went big with the title. That way, whoever looks at the page immediately knows what I’m talking about is the zoo.

On this page, however, I love the photos. And though I wanted the observer to know that the pictures were taken on Easter last year, I still wanted the main focus to be on the photos, esp. the one in the center. So, I made sure that the title didn’t get too prominent on my page, even though it still plays a big role.

Some More Basics
Lots and lots could be said about scrapbook titles. They are a big part of our scrapbook pages. To keep things short, I’m just going to list a couple more things that are good to consider (though remember, a lot of them are my own preferences and by no means exhaustive).

1. Keep your titles short: Captions should be no longer than 5 words (when you use fonts), and if you use alphas – the shorter the better. Long titles only clutter the page, draw (unwanted) attention and confuse the eye. One or two words usually work best.
2. Use titles & subtitles: Start with a catchy word for the main title and add a little phrase to that. Or you can just take apart a phrase of several words – choose one word that is larger in size and more pronounced and arrange the words for the rest of the phrase around that main word. Working with titles and subtitles works perfect for me on most of my layouts. When doing this, simply keep in mind: the larger the title the more important it is on the page. The smaller you keep it, the less important it becomes.
3. Vary alphas/fonts: Though it is one major rule in graphic design to use no more than 2 fonts in the same document, when working with titles on a scrapbook page, I find it rather useful to use different alphas to make one title. I.e. you can choose one alpha for your title and then another alpha for your subtitle.
4. Combine alphas to form a whole: I like to loosen things up even more by mixing letter alphas with brad/tile alphas, or by using a brush (or stamps, etc. on the background paper or even on a strip of paper) and combining it with another alpha that I layer somewhere on top. When you layer an alpha on top of another one, though, keep in mind that when you cover the upper part of the letters it’s a lot harder to read them than when you cover the bottom.
5. Title inspiration: For some of us the greatest challenge is to come up with a new title for each page. Getting a catchy caption, though doesn’t have to be such a hard task. You can draw inspiration from well-used everyday phrases/slang, from song titles and quotes, and there are even websites that have a large collection of titles especially useful for scrappers. I will link you up with some good resources in another tutorial in the future.
6. Use Word-Art: Now, if everything for you fails when it comes to making your title work pop, then there is always the option of using word-art that a lot of designers create for people just like you. Simply check your scrapbook kits (most of them come with some word-art) or the stores (look for elements or word-art or any similar categories and most stores have something to offer).

Getting You Inspired
Finally, let me point you to one of my favorite “great-title-scrappers” without question:  ingridfasquelle.

Her perfection in combining alphas and finding catchy phrases just amazes me!
Check out her gallery for more inspiration.

For further reading check out these helpful tutorials:

• Text, Titles & Journaling – 101 by Taylormade is one of the best tutorials I’ve ever read on the subject. Her tutorial is lengthy, but quite worth a visit.
• Terrific Titles for Scrapbook Pages is another great tutorial at The Digi Files.
• Scrapbook Layout Titles provides a nice collection of links to help you improve in this area.