School has started and the most important decisions about the yearbook must be made at the beginning: Theme, Tone, and Style!
Theme: What do you and your student staff want the yearbook to be about? Express this idea in ONE sentence.
Tone: You are creating a mood or attitude about this theme. Ask what you want the readers to feel.
Style: This is the expression of the theme and tone. The "How to..." is answered in the colors, fonts, picture size, the kind of pages (free-flowing or rigid-grid) format, and more.
Your Cover
A cover is the coherent display of your selected theme, tone, and style. In this situation, people DO judge a book by its cover. It should be the most creative, expressive model of what you accomplish in the rest of the book. Reminder: Decide on the theme before you finalize the cover. The cover should significantly match the look of the inside material. Impart the colors and imagery of the cover into the inside. Again, focus on consistency between the cover and the coherent theme, tone, and style.
Designing a Cover Case
Pay attention to the spine and back cover. The graphic design, color scheme, and cover enhancements surround the entire yearbook.
Your Layout Design
Graphic design should be a fully creative opportunity, but it would be wise to make sure if the school has any tradition about the cover. If you have complete freedom, you have many decisions to make. The graphic design needs to be compelling, imaginative, and anticipatory. You have resources to use: a purchased image, a photograph, a drawing, a painting, or a combination of these.
These two pieces, the Title, and Slogan, will be displayed prominently on the front Cover and spine. A slogan is optional, but a unique way of describing the spirit, culture, and student life. Capture that slogan into a theme of a few specific powerful words.
Your Color Scheme
COLOR is a powerful way to impart the theme. The colors create the perception you want to portray. Select the main color for the cover and the entire book. If you use two to three colors, introduce them on the cover so they integrate with the graphic design, the sections, and the pages inside. Next, find a complementary color(s). Our United Yearbook professionals suggest you only use up to two complementary colors with the main one.
Your Cover Enhancements
United Yearbook offers you many options you may not have considered. We will help you pull the creative image out of your mind and into a solid realistic manifestation. Options include: foil-stamping, embossing, gross-grain embossing, die-cut, heat-sensitive ink, real or imitation leather, spot UV, and many more. Please view these on the UYB website. Remember all the variables need to work together and enhancements could affect the color scheme and graphic design. We can assist you with the process.
So which do you decide first?
As the adviser, you and your staff will compromise to decide the best options for your school. We come alongside you to produce that meaningful, beautiful, and marketable yearbook. I hope we’ve been able to help you make some vital design decisions.
United Yearbook values the fundamental work of the first couple of weeks of the school year. In addition, there are resources such as curriculum and year-round workshops on this and other areas. Make sure to subscribe to our blog and our newsletter, and visit our website at www.unitedyearbook.net & our resource store to learn more! Use this link to schedule a one-on-one consultation with our representatives and find out all the design options that are available to you. United Yearbook is available to assist you throughout the school year.
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Editor: Donna Ladner obtained a B.A. in Education and a minor in English from California Baptist University, and a M.S. in ESL from USC, Los Angeles. After she married Daniel, their family moved to Indonesia with a non-profit organization and lived cross-culturally for 15 years before returning to the U.S in 2012. Donna has been working as an editor and proofreader for TSE Worldwide Press and its subsidiary, United Yearbook since 2015.
Contributor: Jessica Carrera, Associate Editor at TSE Worldwide Press and Marketing Manager at United Yearbook, holds a B.A. in English with a concentration in writing from Biola University. She aspires to touch the lives of others through her words.