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Yearbook Theme Project

This year, I chose to revamp how my staff chose the theme for their book. Instead of coming up with a list of theme ideas and then teaching each component of how you develop a theme, I decided to have my students choose from a set of themes they brought with them at the beginning of the year and work as a group to come up with a presentation that would sell their classmates on their theme idea.

It worked pretty well.

We had four themes presented, including fonts, tenative layouts, graphics, and ladders. Of these four themes, the students chose to use the theme "Soundtrack of our Lives." They didn't stop there, though. They decided to keep some aspects of other theme presentations, as they really liked some of the ideas on individual levels even if they didn't like the theme itself.

I think students chose the theme based on more of a full picture of what that theme would look like, rather than on what it might, possibly, in a perfect world look like. They got to see how the theme would work on dividers and other pages. It gave them a full look at the theme in the book, and I feel it was a tremendous success.

C.R.A.P. I love it!

I think this is one of the more creative publishing acronyms that I've come across. I'm likely to share this with my students.

• C.R.A.P.

Even though this is actually a design tip for web designers, I think it is appropriate for what we're going to be looking at in my yearbook course.

I'll be posting more design ideas for layout as I come across them.

Other Yearbook Blogs

I was doing some searching for other yearbook blogs today. I came across several that have some timely and appropriate tips. I'm linking them here in this post, and I hope that they will yeild some interesting information.

• The Walsworth Yearbooks Blog
• The Idea Garden Blog
• The Yearbook Ladies (Herff Jones affiliated, but interesting)

In the end, I don't seem to have a lot of references for yearbook related blogs that are timely and current. Most that I found were outdated and ceased to be updated around 2008. Here's hoping I can do better. :)

Introductions, Please

This is a blog where I will attempt to share my efforts in creating an award-winning yearbook at Mariemont High School in scenic Cincinnati, Ohio. My yearbook class, which produces the Chieftain, meets once a day and we are striving to take our book from the annual picture-book of old to being a piece of journalistic excellence and a great historical record.
Follow along if you want. I think we'll be having quite a ride.

Michael Becksfort