Whether you’re decorating your home or looking for a creative marketing piece for your business, there’s no better way to capture a multitude of ideas than a photo collage. By layering photos and combining them with different graphic elements, you can create any aesthetic for your photo collage design—quirky and trendy or clean and corporate.
And, once you’ve made your photo collage, you can do anything with it: hang it on a wall, set it on a coffee table, put it on a business postcard, or share it on social media. Collages are incredibly versatile, interesting to look at, and easy to make.
Start with the fun photo collage ideas below, and you’ll be bursting with inspiration to make your own.
8 Eye-Catching Photo Collage Design Elements
Photo collages certainly have photos, but that’s not the only thing you can feature. Check out this list of eight creative design elements that will elevate your DIY photo collage.
1. Your Own Photos
It’s no surprise that the most popular design element in a DIY photo collage is your own photos—but who says you have to leave them exactly as originally taken?
If you’re creating a photo collage digitally, you can easily apply awesome effects and edits to your photos to give them a distinctive vibe.
With a program like Shutterstock Create, you can:
- Make images sepia-toned or black and white
- Replace colors in photos
- Apply Instagram-esque photo filters
- Remove photo backgrounds with a click
- Layer colors or textures over photos
- Add a glitch, glitter, or scribbled effect
2. Professional Photos
If you’d like to level up your own photos and create more of a curated aesthetic, then you can’t beat well-chosen stock assets.
Professional photos will complement your own design and serve as a gorgeous background—reinforcing your desired mood without drawing unnecessary attention away from your own photos.
3. Landscapes
For collages that will serve as decoration (such as a wall hanging), landscapes are always a beautiful choice. Set the scene with a breezy beach, a dark and mysterious forest, or a charming view of the countryside.
You could even insert illustrations or icons to add yet another layer of visual appeal to your nature photographs.
If you’re taking your own photos to show off, use these tips for jaw-dropping landscape photos on a smartphone.
4. Text
Text overlays add a level of sophistication (and practical information) to any photo collage design.
What kind of text might you add? Well, basically anything! Here are a few ideas:
- A fun headline that captures the mood, like “Joy!” or “Love”
- Labels for dates, places, and people in photos
- Social media handles if you’re creating a collage for business purposes
- Location, date, and time if you’re creating a collage-style event poster
5. Torn Paper
To achieve that classic collage feel—similar to a project you might have done in school—throw in some ripped paper and hand-jotted notes. Layer these papers in front of and behind your photos for cool dimensionality and texturing.
Even if you’re designing digitally, you can still get that ripped paper effect!
6. Doodles
Hand-drawn elements add charm to any kind of photo collage. Depending on the color, medium, and graphic style of the doodling, you can make your collage look fun, child-like, friendly, grungy, edgy, or artistic—all with a touch of personality.
7. Cool Backgrounds
By starting your photo collage with a stock photo like this one, you can create an entire mood with a lot less effort.
Just print out the image or upload it directly into your collage-making program. Then add your own photos into the scene, layering them on top.
8. Literally Anything
There’s no wrong way to make a photo collage! Take a page from the experimental art styles of Cubism, Dadaism, and Surrealism by combining random materials and objects into visually arresting collages.
Take anything you find and glue it into a physical collage, or create the same look in a digital collage by creatively cropping, rotating, and layering photos and text.
To make the most artistic impression, try to create a visual pun or surprising juxtaposition of ideas with your collage.
5 Creative Layout Ideas for Your Photo Collage
Now that you’ve got a better idea of what to put in your collage, it’s time to think about the arrangement. Browse through these layout ideas to find one you love.
1. Grids
Perhaps the most tried-and-true photo collage style is the grid, similar to what you might see in Instagram layouts.
Grids come in countless variations—basic two-by-two squares or more complex layouts with photos of varying sizes. Grids are especially easy to work with digitally because you can resize and crop images to fit any spot in the layout.
2. Heart Shaped
If you want a little more oomph for your photo collage, try putting your pictures into a heart shape. For a physical photo collage, just place your photos on poster board, trace a heart, and cut it all out.
If you’re creating your photo collage online, then use a heart-shaped clipping mask. Easy.
3. Letters
One step more complex than a heart is an entire word. For the most attractive results, stick to a word that’s short and easy to read, like “love” in the example above.
For those who aren’t the biggest fans of scissors and glue, you can easily mimic this look in Shutterstock Create. Simply add your text and then fill it with an image to create a text mask.
Want a background photo collage to use as a social media banner or cover photo? Then be sure to stick to a wide, horizontal design so that all of your photos are displayed well.
Check out this guide to common website and social media banner sizes, or get the specifics for different social media platforms:
5. Board Style
One of the most common uses for a photo collage is as a mood board—either for a commercial client (usually in the form of a brand board) or for your own life (usually in the form of a personal vision board).
Board-style collages often have more white space, more of an organized grid, and a strong focus on curation and aesthetic.
5 Popular Photo Collage Styles to Inspire You
There’s a style for everyone in the photo collage examples below!
1. Vintage
Vintage-style frames, an aged beige color palette, and a clear tape effect make this photo collage design feel handmade.
2. Modern
Layered shapes, sharp angles, and interesting photo transparencies work together to give off a contemporary vibe.
3. Unique
This picture-in-a-picture is technically a photo collage, but it’s probably not like the ones you’ve seen before. A glittery gold frame adds a touch of festivity.
4. Trendy
This fruity photo collage combines so many hot trends from recent years, from flat-lay photography to bright yet minimal colors.
5. Quirky
In this photo collage example, a serious-looking portrait photo is mixed with some hand doodling for an interesting juxtaposition and a pop of personality.
How to Make Your Own Photo Collage
Whether you’re making a collage-style poster for a music festival or a personal mood board to hang in your gorgeous home office, it’s easy to make your ideas happen.
Here’s how:
- Go to Shutterstock Create.
- Open your favorite photo collage template or start with a blank canvas.
- Upload your photos or select from millions—yes, millions!—of professional visual assets.
- Make customizations like adding text, applying filters, layering photos, and more.
- Download your collage to print or share online. That’s it!
For even more ideas, check out these beginner-friendly photo collage tips.
Cover image via popovartem.com.
