I love cows, I loved the picture… and pretty soon I hated how impossible it was to assemble the puzzle! I sat there with my brother as we passed puzzle pieces of abstract black and white splotches on solid green back and forth, only matched by sheer luck. About a fourth of the pieces were solid blue. When we made that realization, we abandoned our cow-field puzzle for our legos.

You see, even the most beautiful photos can make terrifying puzzles, the kind that haunt you as they lie unfinished on the living room floor. How do you prevent such a thing? Follow these three puzzle-creation tips!

1. Choose Wisely. Consider the size of the puzzle you’d like; at Venue Puzzles, we offer nine different choices suitable for different levels of puzzle fiends, but we’d like to impress that some of these are very large. To successfully complete a large puzzle, you need plenty of visual variation to help break up the puzzle into sections.

2. Think in Grids. Imagine that you’re going to assemble the puzzle yourself! Look at your photo and visualize how it’d look if you divide it up into a grid. If there’s a whole section of one color, that’s okay! You’d probably group all those pieces together to match them up. But if there are multiple grid blocks of the same color throughout your photo (for instance, if your grid has three sections of blue sky), then you’ll have a substantial pile of pieces with little matching help. If you’re designing the art yourself, why not use gradients to break up the blues?

3. Pick Patterns! The floral design in Aunt Bo’s shirt, or the variation of colorful leaves on your fall family photo, will really help you match up those pieces. Or maybe you have a child’s favorite art project, full of patterns of dried lentils, buttons and green peas. You can preserve that creative endeavor in a way you both can enjoy for years to come, and make a really fun puzzle to assemble while doing so.

These are just a few tips to help you pick the perfect photo for your picture puzzle! Remember, if you have any questions about which photo to choose to creatively commemorate a favorite moment or memory, refer to our handy guide here, or email us at [email protected] to double check if your puzzle photo is suitable for printing. Happy Puzzling!