But they gave the highest ratings to skin tones, which didn't drift into the pinks or greens that we saw with photo books. Judges weren't impressed with the basic-grade paper quality of the cover. You cannot place images on the back cover, however - as you can on Mixbook, Printique, and Shutterfly. ![]() The book includes an attractive dust jacket (with images on the inside flaps) - the only one in our roundup - as well as a protective sleeve for storage. Those pages have a pleasing, smooth, matte finish that limits glare. ![]() Construction is quite good, with sturdy binding, thick end papers, and thick, high-quality pages. Our judges placed Mimeo squarely in the middle of the pack for overall print quality. If you ever get stuck, both the online interface and the apps offer live chat support. If you want to buy multiple items (say a book and a calendar, you'll have to place each order separately and therefore may pay more in shipping. And Mimeo doesn't offer a traditional shopping cart that you can add multiple items to and review-or go back to later. For instance: You can't specify the number of cards to order until rather late in the process. The ordering process was inordinately complex. One nice touch: In addition to adding photos, a background, and text to the front cover of the calendar, you can do the same to the back. (Other software such as Mixbook have the option to show one or both pages for a given month.) And the top-page preview doesn't state what month it goes with. The overall calendar design interface is slightly confusing, as the preview shows only the top (image) or bottom (calendar grid) page at a time. When you edit or create an event, you can add configurable text (though not with outlining) and an image that appears in that square on the calendar. You can also add any custom events you want, such as Diwali, Day of the Dead, or My Birthday. For instance, calendars include, by default, a long list of holidays, such as Christmas Day, St. The interface and options are very similar between book, calendar, and card designs, with a few calendar-specific features. For instance, you could have yellow flowers on a blue background, pink flowers on a tan background, etc. There is a very fun customization option for the patterned backgrounds, in which you can change the color of both the foreground pattern and the background behind it. You can't create custom colors, but the tools for configuring them on other services are overly complex for people who aren't design pros. The tool provides a vast array of pre-set colors organized in color families, such as Reds, Red-Purples, Teals, and Greens. Mimeo's backgrounds are excellent, however. All products include a small Mimeo logo on the back, which you can't remove using the web interface (but you can in the plugin app for MacOS photos). But Mimeo provides extensive options for customizing the width and color of these borders. Photo borders are also limited to basic square designs there are no patterned versions such as zigzags or lace. And you can't add backgrounds to the grid pages in calendars, only to the upper page featuring the photos. ![]() (Although we did find it was a bit slow to load.) But with simplicity comes some limitations.įor instance, Mimeo lacks photo image filters and editing capabilities, stickers/clip art, and drop shadows. (It doesn't, for instance, offer wedding invitation templates.) Mimeo's design software presents a clean, spare interface that may be less intimidating than the pro-designer look of tools from Printique or Shutterfly. (You can also create your own from scratch, as I did.) For instance, Printique offers 295 card templates, and Costco has 805. Mimeo offers just 38 book templates, 37 calendar designs, and 44 card options-far fewer than rivals. Matte and glossy finishes are the same price, and Mimeo doesn't offer any extras, such as rounded corners or metal foil print. 5x7 and 7x5 folding cards start at $1.99 (Envelopes are included with all options.) The price per card does not decrease with volume-unlike with most other services. Mimeo offers flat cards in two sizes and orientations: 4圆 and 6x4 starting at $1.19 each, and 5x7 and 7x5 starting at $1.69.
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