It’s here! Make modern photo books from your phone in 3 easy steps: choose a book, add photos, submit your order.
With the new iPhone app we’re introducing our 5×5 softcover book in 2 beautiful designs. It’s perfectly mini and modern - great for bringing your Instagram photos to life. We think you’ll love it.
Photo Books By: @bookhou, @sweetwoodruff
We wouldn’t call ourselves Facebook advertisting experts by any means. We have, however, stuck around long enough to reach a plateau in the learning curve. In addition, we’ve recently completed a 4 week program with a member of the Facebook Account Team to help us optimize our ads on the platform. This program was fairly helpful in demystifying some of the nuances of how the Facebook machine actually works. However much of it remains a bit of a mystery, even to their veteran account team. Other findings were unfortunately the kind that make you want to never give Facebook another ad dollar, like the way they control who sees your posts on your Business Page. Essentially, only about 12% of your fans see your posts. You can boost views by posting stuff that those 12% will Like or Share organically, otherwise, you gotta pay for them to push your posts. Hm. If it weren’t for the fact that Facebook ads are currently the best way to specifically target iPad users that we know of (if you are not a game) then we might be spending those ad dollars elsewhere.
Now for the real reason we’re here - today marks the occasion of Baby’s 10th Facebook ad. Yay! Let’s celebrate by taking a look back at the ads. Baby’s had an interesting journey to that idyllic beach on the island of Mustique (see above). It all started in the most unlikely of places, a Movember party and a handlebar moustache…Baby took it up a notch for ad number 2 by dressing for a black tie event in honor of the launch of our new Black Tie Photo Book. We admit, that tiny hat is a bit creepy and didn’t stick around too long.
Being a die-hard Trekkie, Baby couldn’t resist getting into the Cyber Monday spirit with a little homage to Geordi: ‘Captain, traffic to our website is off the charts - we’ll have to jettison the warp core!’ An invitation to visit Santa’s workshop put a little rosy in everyone’s cheeks in anticipation of the Holidays. Less silly, more gooey. Our installs took a slight dip.
Silly hit a new high with a little ‘Baby Rudolph goes to college’! While this particular ad was probably executed with the least graphical design ability, it did become our most popular. The lure of the big red nose - (whispering) ‘tap me…tap me”
Baby’s new Facebook fame was now requiring a disguise in public to fend off admirers and errant cheek pinching. This one did the trick and allowed Baby to get some late Christmas shopping done for the Impressed Team.
Don’t put Baby in a corner! A wallflower, Baby is not. At only 7 months old, Baby has already checked ‘Party in Times Square on New Years Eve’ off the bucket list. The magic of Photoshop.
After a well-deserved break, where Baby indulged in a little too many mushy peas and Baby NumNums, the gym was high on Baby’s list of destinations. Never has purple spandex looked better.
With Baby’s new confidence, it was time to up the game for fans. A stylist was hired. Baby’s new look? Sweet, with a bit of a rock edge. The change did not go unnoticed, Baby was hired as an extra in Miley Cyrus’ new music video.So what’s the equation you ask? Silly (Humour) + Baby + Face + Call to Action = Installs. Facebook told us that food and animals also work equally well, so maybe Baby becomes a foodie and gets a yorkie. You’ll have to register to see what happens next 
Any guesses? If you have any Facebook ad secrets to share, we’d love to read them in the comments!
Photography has really made huge strides over the last 10 years. Not just by going digital and creating a new visual way to communicate but by seeing our lives through a photojournalistic lens. Instead of how we spend our time dictating what photos we take, more and more, the photos we want to take are dictating how we spend our time. It’s fascinating to see this shift. Because people are using social networks like Instagram and Facebook as a kind of visual life journal, we are being inspired to act by seeing what others are shooting and doing. Here are some examples of photo stories that would inspire us to do something!
This collection of gorgeous Instagram shots from photographer @annanovak of her trip to Maine makes me nostalgic for my seaside place of birth in Nova Scotia - mental note, book a trip for the summer to take the kids exploring the beaches, seaweed, shells, rocks and creatures of the East Coast tidal pools.
American adventuress living abroad @quiteheatherly is always making me bump Europe to the top of my travel destinations list. So much so that I just booked a trip to one of my favourite Euro destinations, Italy, for the end of May. Carpe Diem, as they say. On a smaller scale, this particular story inspires me to visit my local market and have a French-inspired picnic spread and a great bottle of red for a stay-at-home date night this weekend.
Our previous blog contributors and subjects @kate_inglis, @mikekus and @mainemomma have also inspired us to act. To plan a weekend family adventure at the seashore and end a crisp Fall day with a freshly baked loaf of pumpkin bread.
Mmmm. Now I have spicy pumpkin carbohydrate goodness on the brain - must squeeze some baking into this weekend…
No more waiting for someone else to make your Valentine’s Day special - make it special for someone else, your kids! So how do you show them how much you love them? We find it sometimes difficult to spontaneously conjure up a list of all of the things that make each of our children special (does that make us bad parents?!). We’re just too close to see the obvious sometimes. Here’s an easy way to get perspective - go through your camera roll on your phone or your collection of photos from the past year and it’s all right there. Taking photos is one of the ways we capture that love so it makes it easy to use them for inspiration.
We also know it’s a parents’ job to preserve these photo memories so we’re suggesting that you make it a tradition to dedicate a photo book to each of your kids on Valentine’s Day. Their expectation each year will be that extra incentive for you to get those photo books ordered. The rush of Christmas is gone, it’s a new year, you have a new headspace. Capitalize on that little window of opportunity in January, collect photos of each child, and then pop them into a photo book. We’re making it easy for you with our new ‘Be Mine’ Photo Book brought to you just in time for Valentine’s Day in the Impressed App.
Kids really love traditions and we think they will look forward to this one for a very long time. Here are the 3 steps to a family Valentine’s Day to remember.
STEP 1 (January) Go through your photos and choose approximately 30 photos of each of your children. Put them in an album on your phone, ipad or computer. Of course many photos you take are a mix of the entire family so it’s okay to repeat! Remember, these books are just the beginning of an amazing collection they will cherish when they have their own kids.
Use the Impressed app to make a ‘Be Mine’ photo book in just a few minutes. Use these tips to get your photos onto your iPad if they aren’t there already.
STEP 2 (January) Make sure your fondue pot is in good working order and you have the right accessories because you are now planning a family Vday dinner the kids will anticipate all year…cheese and chocolate fondue. If you don’t have a fondue pot you can buy one as an investment in Valentine dinners to come or borrow one from your parents! Some of our picks:
STEP 3 (A Week Before Feb 14th) Source your table decor and dinner ingredients. For our table we used a heart punch to make gold hearts and scattered them on the table. We accented with red napkins and pulled out our most ‘romantic’ looking table accessories like our grandmother’s scalloped edged platter and French country glassware. Here are some ideas to inspire your table:
With fondue you just have to accept that this will not be your healthiest meal of the week. It’s just one night so pick things that the kids really love. Here are some ideas…
For cheese:
For chocolate:
Now enjoy a delicious meal while re-living moments from the past year. The delight on your kids’ faces is one of the best Valentine’s Day gift you could wish for
I’ve always liked the idea of High Tea. Tiered trays of tiny soft sandwiches and sticky sweets…flaky scones with butter and jam. And of course the ‘slow’ ritual of steeping and pouring fragrant teas from Eastern Lands into delicate cups on saucers. And then there’s the average Brit’s slightly less romantic interpretation, where the term ‘Tea’ refers to their dinner or a late afternoon meal eaten in the hours of 4-7pm. Whatever the words conjure up in your imagination, ‘Tea Time’ was what has inspired our Photo Story idea this week. Read More
Last Saturday Impressed held its First Photo Book Challenge at Pikto during the annual Toronto Christmas Market. It was a chilly day at the Distillery so everyone was grateful for the warm place to land and the gingerbread cookies! The crowd was a mix of those who brought in their iPads to print photos they carefully pre-selected, to those who saw our sign and decided to take the challenge of making a photo book in 10 minutes, streaming photos from their iPhones or their Social Media Accounts.
The photo books ranged from special events, friends, and travel, to family, food and weddings. All in all, it was a big success and we can’t wait for everyone to see their new Impressed photo books!
Don’t forget about our #BOWTO Contest: show us how you are celebrating the season by taking a photo with a bowtie, hashtag it #BOWTO, and share it on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest for a chance to win a Year of Photo Books.
Introducing a new photo book design - our Limited ‘Black Tie’ Edition - to make your photo book gifting that much more special this holiday season. Just in time for Black Friday and available only here for the Holidays, the Black Tie book comes in a sleek matte black theme with a stunning black linen interior that elevates your gift and your photos to ‘Black Tie’ status.
We wanted to create a book that makes a unique and special gift you can’t get anywhere else, with a design that really conveys the celebratory nature of the season. This is just the first of our Limited Editions in the App as a way to make one-of-a-kind ultra high quality photo books at a great price point of $29, in a matter of just minutes.
This month we are lucky to be able to feature the inspiring photography of Karen Walrond in the Black Tie book so get the app and take a little trip to Paris with us!
The ‘Black Tie’ Book is available over the holidays until Jan 15th and is kicking off with a free shipping offer for, fittingly, Black Friday weekend– from Wed, Nov 27th to Monday, Dec 2nd. Send personalized gifts from the comfort of your sofa - what could be better?
You know those little treats you’ve found on your phone or iPad. Tongues stuck-out, samples of lego mastery, hee-hee-ha-ha moments when your back was turned and they let loose with 40 shots of goofy dances, then decorated after-the-fact with that app that turns everybody’s face into ‘Minecraft Steve’.
Here’s a thought: thinking ahead to Christmas, why not give them a thrill by putting the kids in charge of creating their very own photobook?
Encourage them to decide what they want to include: their rooms, their creations, their drawings and stuffie toys; their funny faces, their friends. Let them do the shooting and decorating, if that’s their thing—there are a ton of post-processing apps out there that turn images into lego, or pixels, or that add little monsters or funny lips, noses, or ears after-the-fact (some of our favourites include #WayCooler, Minecraft PhotoFX, and LEGO Photo).
Let it be a creative project, and then surprise them with a real, printed book of all their adventures. Let them take it to school to show around, and then use as an autograph book.
It’s a golden rule of parenting, I figure—we may as well go with the flow, and celebrate what *they* think is funny, what *they* think is cool. Way cooler. —Kate Inglis
Food writer and filmmaker Aube Giroux shares her love of cooking on her farm-to-table blog Kitchen Vignettes, and in turn with the good folks at PBS Food. Today, she inspires us with a creative challenge: the next time you have one of those grand holiday gatherings—Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthday—try capturing it with a storyteller’s eye for the whole affair. Not only the festivities, the people, and the table, but the food, the preparation, the sun gleaming through the last of the leaves on the trees. How does your family celebrate?
Aube Giroux is a passionate organic gardener and home cook who likes to share the stories of how food gets to our dinner plates. Her work has been shown on television and at international film festivals. In 2012, she was the recipient of Saveur Magazine’s Best Food Blog award in the video category.
