Spreadu: The Album Designer Built for Wedding Photographers
Album design software used to be something wedding photographers put up with. Spreadu, an online album designer built by and for photographers, is one of the reasons that’s starting to change. Our friend Maciej Suwałowski, known to most of the WUN community as Magic, put a video up on his YouTube channel about the tool. It got our team messaging each other about it. This blog post is what came out of that thread.
Watch Magic’s video first. Then keep reading.
What is Spreadu?
Spreadu is an online album designer built for wedding photographers, portrait photographers, and anyone else selling printed albums to clients. It runs in a browser. Nothing to install. Nothing to update. You drop your photos in and the spreads arrange themselves around what you gave them.
How Spreadu compares to other album design software
Most album design software works like a colouring book with a nicer paint set. You choose a template and hope it fits your photos. Spreadu doesn’t work that way. Your images stay uncropped unless you say so. The spreads build themselves around your framing, not around a grid that decided what your framing should be.
Below is a live embed of Spreadu’s playground. Drop a few photos in and watch the layout react.
The differences that matter to photographers considering an album designer:
- No templates. Spreads generate from your images, not from a pre-built grid.
- No software install. Everything runs in a browser on Mac, PC, or iPad.
- No auto-crop. Your images stay whole unless you crop them yourself.
- Client proofing included in every plan. Not sold as an addon.
- Preloaded lab specs. Miller’s Lab, WHCC, Queensberry, Wooden Banana, Loxley Colour, nPhoto, and dozens of other album labs are configured.
Client proofing that clients can actually use
Client proofing comes with every Spreadu plan. Send the client a link and they open the album on any device, leave comments where they want changes, and can move photos around themselves if that’s simpler than describing what they want. No PDF full of arrows and question marks required.
Why Way Up North recommends Spreadu
Way Up North is a community of wedding photographers before it’s anything else. Tools come up when they make the work better, and Spreadu has been coming up. A photographer who delivers a printed album gives the couple something to pull off a shelf twenty years from now.
Album design software you spend time fighting is time out of the rest of your life. Spreadu makes it faster without giving up the control that matters. They’re a Way Up North sponsor, and that’s the short version of why we’re writing about them.
Spreadu pricing
Spreadu is free to try. There’s a free playground on their site that lets you build an album with sample photos so you can see whether the workflow makes sense before you commit. If you’re a Way Up North photographer, your first album with a client is free.
Beyond the free tier, pricing runs the way the work does. Subscribe if you build albums often, or pay per album if you don’t.
FAQ
What is Spreadu?
Spreadu is an online album designer built for photographers. It runs in a browser, requires no software installation, uses no templates, and includes client proofing in every plan.
Who is Spreadu built for?
Wedding photographers, portrait photographers, and studios that sell printed albums to clients. It also works for boudoir albums, family portrait albums, and personal photo books.
Does Spreadu use templates?
No. Spreads generate around the photos you drop in, and the layout responds in real time as you move images around. Your images are not auto-cropped unless you crop them yourself.
Does Spreadu include client proofing?
Yes, in every plan. Clients open the album from any device using one link, leave comments on any spread, and can move photos themselves without needing to email you a marked-up PDF.
How much does Spreadu cost?
Spreadu is free to try. There is a subscription option for photographers who design albums often and a pay-per-album option for anyone who designs them less regularly. Way Up North photographers get their first client album free.
Which album labs does Spreadu support?
Spreadu is preloaded with production specifications for dozens of album labs, including Miller’s Lab, WHCC, Queensberry, Wooden Banana, Loxley Colour, nPhoto, Graphistudio, Serendipity Albums, and Fravero. Export files come out ready for the lab you choose.
Do I need to install any software to use Spreadu?
No. Spreadu runs entirely in a web browser on Mac, PC, or iPad. There is nothing to download, install, or update.
A note on the links: none of the Spreadu links in this post are affiliate links. We’re not earning anything from you clicking through. Spreadu does run an affiliate programme though, if you’d like to earn a bit of income for sharing the tool with your own audience.
