Articles: keepsakes

Photographs from a family celebration usually stay on a phone and then quietly disappear. That is why the same idea keeps returning: move some of them into the world of objects - onto a nicely printed disc, a memory stick in a wooden box, into a guest book or a memory box. The articles here suggest how to do it without slipping into kitsch.

A design that will not age too fast

The biggest trap is excess. A date in a heavy decorative font across the whole surface, endless flourishes and whatever motif was fashionable that year - five years later it all reads as a time stamp. A calm layout is safer: a name, a date, one gentle graphic element and plenty of empty space.

• One leading motif - the same colour and the same way of writing names on every item.
• Short wording - name, date, perhaps the place; the rest is inside, in the photographs.
• A good photograph - sharp, bright, chosen carefully rather than grabbed at random.
• Sturdy packaging - a box or a case protects a keepsake far better than an envelope in a drawer.

A series rather than a single item

When the keepsake goes to a dozen people, it helps to think of it as a set. Godparents and grandparents can get a more personal version, other guests a simpler one kept in the same style. Everything then looks considered, and preparing it takes less time because it happens in one go.

If you are planning mementoes for a christening, a communion or a wedding, choose the carrier first and design afterwards. A disc, a memory stick and a printed card each ask for slightly different layouts.