Do Your Facing Pages Have to Match?
 

I'm working on my 2018 album, and I'm having such a hard time finishing because of my need to make the facing pages coordinate colorwise.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9bde40b5_n.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6234ddb1_n.jpg

These two pages face each other, but the bright yellow in the unfinished page doesn't work with the color scheme from the other page. Even if you tell me it does, my brain tells me that bright yellow pictures need to be scrapped with primary colors. And primary colors will definitely clash with the gorgeous colors in A Summer Afternoon that I used for the pictures of me and my kids.

What do you do when your pages don't match? Do you just not care or do you make them match anyway?

It's not a hard requirement for me, but I do try to arrange my pages to put "complementary" pages adjacent to each other. Complementary for me, means the color tones are similar. I prioritize chronological order over whether the pages complement each other, but I will move things around so that I don't have adjacent pages that completely contrast each other.

For me, "match" = "exact same colors and/patterns." "Coordinate" or "complement" = work well together even if not exactly the same/matching.

IMO, your pages complement each other really well so far. The lightly-patterned gray bg ppr complements the bright plaid (bright vs neutral, light pattern vs bold pattern). (At least I think it's a paper and not part of the template?) You tie the plaid together by using a tiny strip at the top, but not so much that the eye can't find a place to settle and just glazes over everything. I'm on my phone so maybe it's due to the small size , but there is something in the finished LO's left photo--I can't tell what exactly because the LO blurs when I zoom in--that is definitely bright yellow and that looks very similar to the yellow in the award photos. So they do tie together.

You could try to color correct the award photos and take some of the yellow out--maybe change the saturation so it's less bright?

If all else fails, convert the yellow photos to b/w and call it good. :) Or think about an art gallery or an art museum: they don't coordinate the art work and no one badmouths them or expects the art to match each other or even coordinate. Scrapping is your art: you do what you want. And if what you want is to make those pages match, I respect that. But it's also okay if they don't match perfectly. I figure I've never tried to make printed photos match in my photo albums, so it's okay if my printed scrapbooks' pages don't match, either. (But that's just me. I don't scrap chronologically so it would be difficult to gauge where each page would end up. I can't handle that type of layout stress lol!)

No, I don't really worry about it. I honestly didn't notice the bright yellow in the photos until your pointed it out in your text description of the problem. My brain was focused on the pretty plaid paper on both pages. I would probably take Sara's suggestion above and desaturate the yellow paper in the photos a bit to make it a bit less bright and blend in better.

I love 2 pg layouts. I like to spread out lots of photos and have all sorts of space to tell a story visually. My paper albums from years ago have many more double-page spreads than single ones. When I switched to digital, scrapping spreads that span 2 pages became more difficult. The files get huge if you are doing a 24x12 layout, and it is harder to scrap across single page files.

My big hangup is that my brain likes things to be chronological. It is much more important to me to have things in the correct order date/time-wise as that is the way I remember things best. Scrapping out of order was a muscle I had to learn to exercise for quite a while after going digi. I have stacks of printed single pages that aren't in albums because I need to sort them by date and figure out which album they go in, and split already overly full albums, etc....

Nope, I don't worry about matching pages whatsoever, and everyone loves their albums.

I don't worry about it either--I'm like Melinda, though, and I like pages to be in chronological order as much as possible. I'm trying to let that go, but it's HARD. You do what makes sense to you--if you like them to match, and if it's going to bug you every time you look through your albums, then it may be worth the effort to get them to match. As Jacinda said, everyone is still going to love his or her albums, no matter what the order is.

Yes, they would have to match...I think it's an OCD thing for me. I have that with several things when I scrap. LOL Sometimes it makes scrapping a bit more difficult but usually, it ends up fine :)

No. I would never get any scrapping done if they had to.

Same :)

I prefer my pages to match and usually end up doing 2 page layouts because I want the pages to go together in the albums. It's just kind of how my brain works and I like everything to coordinate.

Mine have to match! LOL! Since I first started scrapping.

I've done two projects ever when they don't. My book of me doesn't have matching pages. And I started working on a book for Keira, 1 layout a month of my favorite photos of her, I'm doing two volumes and volume one I did none matching pages. I don't hate the way it turned out, but in a project like that with 125 pages, I had to use 125 kits, that was way too much. I did repeat kits some, but I went back to kits I had from Zoe and Lauren Grier, things that I been retired for 6-7 years. So for volume 2, I'm doing matching pages.

I actually prefer that my facing pages don't match too well unless they're the same day/event. Having them match makes it seem like they're connected pages (ie, from the same birthday party) when they're completely separate pages with different themes. Is it just my brain that works like that?

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I agree with Rachel. If they match or coordinate, my brain thinks they should be about the same thing.

My facing pages never match or coordinate. Neither do my travel or Christmas albums.

Do these have to be facing pages?

My facing pages don't match (like Rachel & LeeAndra said, unless they're about the same thing), but I will move things around if I look at them & feel like they really clash. I do not scrap or print in chronological order, though, and I'm pretty laid back when it comes to my printed projects (just happy to have something on my shelf/in my hands!) Someone else might look through my books & feel twitchy ;)

No, I don't.. to me, they are a separate memory/story to tell and I want that memory/story to have it's own place to shine. Plus I never scrap in order so I might scrap about making Jake's birthday cake right after his birthday and then years before I would go and do the page of the birthday party.

I only make my two pager (or facing page) match if they needed to be, but after printing photobooks, I hardly notice whether there's a striking color on a page whenever I open it. For me, as long as they are chronological, I'm good.

Not unless it is a double page. I don't scrap in order nor print in order so my books are very random. It doesn't bother me.
Lately I try to keep a similar kit for an event but other than that pages don't match. I just did a book on my Instagram @Leavingalegacydesigns that is from our DC trip and pages don't match. I am working on getting our Universal trip up and I am sure those pages won't match either.

In my vacation albums, I like the facing pages to match. I would go crazy if they didn't.
Like these two:
https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...halet22web.jpg https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...halet23web.jpg

I make them match by using the same background paper. If I don't use the same kit on both pages, they will still match by background paper.
Like these two:

https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...Chalet10eb.jpg https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...halet12web.jpg

For my yearbooks, I let go of the idea of the pages to match. I wouldn't get anything done if they had to match.

Never even remotely try to make them match. I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything. I wouldn't have a 2nd event to "match" the first event most times. And I agree with Rachel that if they did match I would assume they were from the same event.

Fascinating how all of our brains work differently!

I don't worry about them matching! I will rearrange pages if I need to (If they really clash or just don't work well together). But it's usually only a page or 2 out of order if I do that! I don't scrap in order, so it is usually by accident if they really go together well (or if they are scrapped as a 2 page layout). When I am ready to print, I go through and write down the titles in 2 page squares to get an idea of how they will flow. This is usually the process where I will change things around if I need to!

I like them to be matching, maybe that's why I make a lot of double page spreads lol, But if it is a single layout I don't think it will bother a lot, I could always add a similar colored background next to eachother

Short answer...yes and no...lol
Long answer... All my pages had to match when I started scrapping... for years! Now, If I'm doing a special book or album, (like vacation, special occasion or a yearbook) yes they usually match.
But since I do lots of scrapping randomly and CT work, I do lots of pages and when I drop them into their albums, they do not match.

I don't worry about it at all :)

I wish I could not care! I think I'm going to eliminate the page of me & the kids from the yearly album (It's already in a separate album where I put layouts of me and the kids), and match the certificate page against another page. It means I'll have to leave out something else, but the July part of that album is already 20 pages, so I suppose it wont' hurt, lol.

what about changing the pics to B&W?

Same here.. too stressful. This needs to stay fun for me.

I match them by using the same background
Border.

I don't make sure they match, but sometimes if they clash really bad, I will flip different layouts in order.

When I started making albums I tried to make everything cohesive, but soon found out if I wanted to get one album complete I needed to not worry so much about it ... I make sure they don't look terrible together, but that's about it. Good luck with your project!!

Depends. I usually scrap events with one kit so they all match. But if there is an uneven number of pages, that event could be paired with something completely random.

I do try to keep things chronological in books and if a double page layout is split because of chronology, I may put a page out of order to get the event together. I then usually end up with 2 individual pages that don't match.

Doesn't bother me if that is the case.