Learning to let your PL layouts breathe

I'm not a PL expert by any means but I do know what you mean about your layouts being too busy or cluttered. I struggled with this for a long time and even though I love PL, I almost gave it up because I wasn't happy with the end result. I started doing two things: Started using more filler cards and treated them as white space. I also try to remember the "triangle" rule (I'm sure it has a more formal name) where you make visual triangles on your layout with your photos, colors, embellishments, etc. Noelle Hyman from Paperclipping taught me that in one of her videos and it is probably the single most useful design technique that I have learned! It keeps my layouts (PL and otherwise) visually pleasing and uncluttered.

I’m no help because I don’t look at my pages from an aesthetic standpoint. If I was on a design team I would, but I’m not willing to waste real estate for filler. On those layouts when I have fewer photos or they don’t clash and very little memorabilia my pages are more pleasing to the eye. But I refuse to edit out things I want to add. I also limit myself to one album per year so I’m using almost all those pockets. If you check out my scrappy Instagram (lisacharlotte5685) my pockets are filled and nothing necessarily coordinates.

I think the look you’re after uses lots of white space when framing your subject and/or b&w photos so there aren’t clashing colors. One person who I think does a great job with color that doesn’t look like a jumbled mess is Cathy Vee (hellopaperaddict on IG).

I used a bunch of Simple Stories photo flips in my december daily for this very reason.

The real reason I started to use them was to have room to add a journaling card or a number. Honestly, my album was packed with way to many pictures/stories per day and this was the only way to add journaling and numbers. After a few days, I realized a huge added bonus was the way the pages became more cohesive, pulled together and easier on the eyes. It also made my pages easier to pull together. If my photo, filler card or whatever was not working for the over all page design, i could stick a photo flip on it to make it work.

I don't do PL, but I make a lot of gridded 12x12 pages. The photos in my grids are often all from the same event or location, so the color story for the page is usually pretty coherent, which is helpful. (I don't like resorting to reducing my photos to b/w, though I did reluctantly one time when my DDs wore pink and red to the pumpkin patch. )

Like lisacharlotte mentioned, I also don't like wasting real estate on filler. But I try to keep my pages from looking cluttered by choosing arrangements that don't put similar next to similar (no group shot next to group shot, or scenic next to scenic.) I often find that there's "white space" within some of my photos, and I can use those photos to separate more cluttered looking photos.

For example, if I have two close up group shot photos, I could separate them by placing between them a distanced single subject photo where the subject is surrounded by "white space" scenery. This kind of photo would serve the same function as a filler card would on your page by breaking up the visual clutter.

I'm not sure if any of that made sense, but I hope you can find a solution you're happy with 

My PL was a pretty cluttered mess. I definitely didn't have space to waste on filler cards, so every pocket had a photo and usually some words too (I was doing 6x8).

I felt like the PL spreads I looked at that felt less chaotic had more lightness in the photos - less clutter, more negative space, bright light photos. I tried using a template similar to the Collect app to make white borders around my photos, which also gave me space for the words, but I still felt like the photos were cluttered and busy. When I look at other people's spreads the quality of the photos seems to determine how I feel about the spread much more than the details of the way the pockets were filled. To some extent I just had to accept that my life isn't lived in a bight white minimalist box (or even a moody set of flatlays in hipster coffee shops like KP's). I take a lot of random photos in crowded tricky spaces and I don't often use my big camera that would give me better depth of field to focus on the important stuff.

So -- shrug -- I guess my approach was to accept what I had and not worry too much about it. I didn't see a PL spread as needing to be as visually cohesive as a layout page.
But I also gave up on PL after a couple of years, so maybe don't listen to me!

I don't do many pocket pages, and when I do, it is prob b/c I have an abundance of photos. I usually sandwich the pocket page(s) between traditional 12x12 LO's, so I get my design fix there.

I often start my pocket page by inserting double sided pp or cs pieces into the pockets. Some may be journaling cards, but not every page has one. I then have them all "full", and feel more free to pick and choose where the photos go. I don't usually decorate any of the spaces I leave open, but I have looked at pocket pages constructed by others, and I really like the look.

I keep my journaling and weekly title cards the same through the whole album. The first year I did I used the BH gridded PL cards, a roller date stamp, and the placement and general design of the title card the same throughout the whole year.

The last album I did used a pale pink grid that had a multi-coloured banner across the top for my journaling, and I added "wk _" on a small jewellery tag to each weekly spread. I also tried to keep anything else I used within a set colour scheme that changed from week to week - so any paper layers, embellishments, and the letter/number stickers I used for the week no were one colour + neutrals. On the busiest weeks that one consistent colour helped tie everything together which I hope made it feel less busy.

I'm certainly no PL expert, having done 1/2 of 2016 physically and then switching to the app for 2017 and now 2018. What I've found for me was that I needed to get out of the mindset of having to write about every single picture and instead letting the picture be the story. I try to balance journal cards with a lot of space to write on with those that are mostly design with just a line or two and use that design as part of the breathing space. While I've spent countless hours studying Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration, admittedly I don't know much about design and honestly, for me the sum is greater than the parts. When I look back I'm so glad that I took the time to record those weeks that I can forgive some busyness on the pages.

I don't do a lot of pocket page layouts, but have found keeping white space around the photos themselves does give a 'cleaner' look. I use a lot of layered templates from Tracy Larsen which do that for me. You can check out her Simply White templates in her shop here. Here are a couple of examples. 

anniefb led me to Tracy's templates a while back but I've never seen her have a sale.

She's also just released 9x12 templates as well. I am having a frustrating time with them in PSE though. Why can't I just drop the photo in the alloted space and have it automatically 'fit' itself. I am surely missing something. I still have to finagle the photo to fit into the template space and I hate it not being exact.

Sorry sleepingbooty not sure about TL sales, though perhaps there might be something for iNSD?

sleepingbooty Can I trouble you for some specific directions/steps or a mini tutorial on this?  I have watched a few YT videos but it still seems like a lot of trouble!  Maybe I'm lazy but I really feel like I'm perhaps just missing something simple. Idk. I would greatly appreciate it if you wouldn't mind! 

Hey nicolep, happy to help. Have you tried one of the basic Photoshop tutorials that explains clipping masks to scrapbookers? This one by Liz Tamanaha should provide all the answers. Make sure to select the layer you wish to drop your photo onto, import (simple drag and drop from the file your photo is in), resize (percentages at the top), place and then go to your layer box to select the photo (above the layer with the mask), right click and "create clipping mask."

Sorry, it's 11:30PM on a Saturday night. I'm a little foggy with tiredness and booze... Follow what Liz says. Let me know if it works!

I'm a fan of filler cards. I also use white borders on all of my photos. If my pics are making my page too busy, I like to switch them to B&W. My journaling is also very uniform--I type it all on my typewriter. When taking photos for 4x6 pockets I like to include "blank space" on those too---for example if I take a photo of a face, I will have the face on one side of the photo.