Year in Sixteen

Year in Sixteen is the annual book with a structure you can fill in an hour: four quarters, each a highlight photo followed by a four-photo grid, then a contact sheet for everything else, a page of writing and a last full-bleed. It is for people who take a lot of photos and want an honest small record of a year rather than a scroll. The riso style gives warm paper, blue ink, a red accent and a little grain, with Space Grotesk for the year on the cover. The cover is a full-bleed photo with the title over it. Page two is a title page for a subtitle and the names of who was there. Then, for each quarter, a large photo with a caption and date and a four-photo grid. After the four quarters come two photos stacked for the best trip, a six-photo contact sheet for the leftovers, a photo with a journal block for the year in a paragraph, a final full-bleed and a quote page.

The back cover carries a small photo and a sign-off. Fill the quarters in order, one highlight and four small moments each; the grid slots are square-ish, so pick photos with the subject centred. Black-and-white photos take the blue ink beautifully if you want the two-colour riso effect all the way through. The paper tone is printed, so ordinary white 120 gsm stock works, but pale cream or grey copy paper saves ink and looks more like a real risograph. The grain and bold type are forgiving of duplex offset. Make one copy for yourself and one for the people who appear most; it is the free tier's full sixteen pages and thirty-two photos.

Printing this booklet means two pages per side on both sides of the sheet: 16 pages is 4 sheets of A4 or Letter, nested and folded to A5 or half-letter. If your printer duplexes, use the flip-edge setting shown on the download card; if not, print Side A, reload the stack and print Side B, and run the free one-sheet test page first so you learn your printer's flip before spending photo paper. 100 to 120 gsm matte paper for the inside, 160 to 200 gsm for the cover if your printer's bypass tray takes it, and score the fold on anything heavier than 160 gsm. Two staples on the spine with a long-arm stapler, or open a normal stapler flat over a folded towel. The template uses 32 photos across 16 pages.