A Gift To Remember

A picture paints a thousand words. Most of us do not have the brains to remember many beautiful one thousand words that cross our path everyday. This is the very reason why digital cameras have been selling like hotcakes the past several years. People who would not normally use a camera took to this new gadget like ducks to water. Many a memory has been kept alive by the convenience of a digital camera handily stored in a waist pouch or handbag.

Some of those images are irreplaceable. I have many. They deserve to be kept for posterity in something more fitting than in plastic pockets of generically gaudy photo albums. A local company has come out with the innovative idea to keep those memories alive in specially bounded photobooks. Now, everyone can self-publish their handiwork in a professional way. This is something I would have loved to do with a number of the selected images in my collection. Therefore when James asked if I was interested in reviewing the photobook, I readily agreed.

Pixart (M) Sdn Bhd was incorporated in 2005, when an enterprising group of friends saw the need to create a more attractive and professional way to display photos. Based in Kuala Lumpur, we have continued to grow with consumer and market demands. We are the first PhotoBook provider in Malaysia, and in keeping with our trailblazing nature, look out for even more cool products soon.

They have developed a software to make publishing photobooks simple. The free program, called Photostylist, must be downloaded and installed into the computer. This is all hassle-free and simple. After that, it is all a breeze. All that is needed are four simple steps. The first is to select the digital images. It is advisable to copy all the digital images first into a folder and work from there. There are several templates to choose from and photos can be dragged, resized, cropped, rotated and tuned. After the selected images have been fitted into the templates, the penultimate step is to create a title page. The image selected should represent the theme of the entire photobook.

When all that is done, the last step is to fill up the form and send the file to Pixart for processing and printing. Payment can be made securely via credit cards online. Pixart is also flexible with other modes of payment. It will take about five days from the time the order is made to the time the photobook is delivered by courier via PosLaju.

The package that arrived was well padded. The items inside remain unscathed. I selected maroon woven fabric for the cover. I love maroon. Other available colours are black, grey and navy blue. Brown synthetic leather is the other choice. A stand was included. The quality of the stitching was good. The quality of the printing is almost equal to coffee table book. My only gripe is that I could not open the book easily due to the way it was bound. I am not one to succumb to the commercialisation of special occasions but I have no qualms in recommending this as a Valentineโ€™s Day gift in place of exorbitantly priced roses. This is one gift that will be remembered for a long time.

Update – Reply from Pixart:
With regards to the way the photo book is binded, the paper could be a bit stiff at the start (as we are using thicker paper). Please press down the paper at the area where it meets the spine of the book when opened to have the book totally open up. We use stitch book binding which is a method that is better than using glue.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

7 thoughts on “A Gift To Remember”

  1. I did one for Zara too.. If you are doing.. go for the digital print (thick paper, like a coffee table book). I think it’s more durable than the photoprint ones (just like big sheet of photographs). Especially if there’s lots of flipping of the pages.

    I did my first one using photoprint. I had to refrain Zara from touching in although it’s her album, just in case she leaves finger prints.

    Peter:
    Good advice. There is always the risk of leaving fingerprints on those glossy type of paper.

  2. I found you via JoMel’s blog. Just wanted to say hello.

    Digitial photography is great. I like that it takes up less space with CDs instead of photo albums. Also easier to share photos with friends and family.

    Peter:
    Hey there. I have never looked back since I traded my SLR for a digicam.

  3. The photo album quality from Pixart looks great yeah..but i never try it before, i saw a few ppl blog about it. ๐Ÿ™‚
    It’s good to keep some memorable photos in our life, photos can be the evidence of our foot prints crosses the life path, coz our memory in mind one day will fade out. Photos can be sweet or sad one to keep…of coz u know what i mean right?
    Nowadays the techno is great, digital photo enable us to share the photos among frenz and others in the fastest way. ๐Ÿ™‚ Light & Easy.

    Peter:
    As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. Priceless are photos of memorable moments. That is one of the reasons why I carry a digicam with me wherever I go.

  4. Hello,

    I am now in the midst of creating my photobook. And I have a question…

    I have a photo (1.65MB) which is sharp and clear, as seen on my computer and when I print the photo out. However, when I use the “Gallery – Single Pix” or “Edge 2 Edge” layout theme. I noticed the photo is blurred, when I use the “preview pages” function.

    How would the photo look like when the coffee table book is printed? Will be clear and sharp as what I see on my computer? Or will it be blurred?

    Thanks!

    Peter:
    Your question have been forwarded to Pixart.

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