Great Collage Ideas for Next Year

The news is spreading: Collage is in as a major decorating theme for the coming year. Collage combines old-school crafty fun with a modern edge imbued with memories and great images of friends, family, and fun events. When combined with modern printing techniques and other dramatic design ideas, collage can be one of the most surprising and powerful design elements in any room.

Collage ideas go beyond just scraping together some photos and pasting them together. Great design needs purpose and intent, and with collage that means selecting, sizing, and positioning every image carefully. Here are some great ideas for creating powerful collage moments for your walls in the coming year.

The Card Collage

Every year families and individuals around the world engage in one of the most joyous and simple holiday traditions: Exchanging cards. Christmas, birthday, birth-announcement and other occasion cards are spreading between cultures and religions (and even the non-religious) to become a standard way people stay in touch in the modern day.

Many of these cards, whether created by a company and bought at the store or created from a family’s photos, are quite beautiful. One of the most powerful collage ideas at the moment is to collect all of the cards you receive during the year for any occasion and scan them in as you receive them. Then create a spectacular collage piece from these incredible images that can be hung on the wall – until the next year replaces it with an updated version.

The Meta Collage

Another of the more recent ideas that elevates collage from a mere collection of photos is the ‘meta collage.’ This fun project involves not just creating a collage, but creating a collage in a specific shape on the wall that creates a silhouette.

For example, an obvious use of this technique would be a wedding photo collage where the photos are arranged to be in the shape of the bride and groom. Another idea is to take a collage of moments as a couple and arrange them in the shape of a heart. Or a collage of photos of the extended family in the shape of a ‘family tree!’ Feel free to get creative with the subject, the photo selection, and the meta-shape you choose.

Words

Another great idea for collage is to arrange your photos in the shapes of letters to spell out a message or a word. This multi-dimensional approach can be a direct, straightforward comment on the photos or the subject matter, or it can be more subtle and indirect, forcing your guests and other observers to think a little about what they’re seeing. Either way, the power is undeniable.

In the end, collage is more subtle and powerful than most give it credit for, and can be used to great effect in just about every room. We’d love to be part of your collage and wall art efforts – just click here to see what we can do for you!