Categories: Blog

Designing the Yearbook Your Way

What can you do to make sure your Yearbook crafting experience is a good one? Any shortcuts? Tricks?

AI generated image of an old-fashioned yearbook.

The Task of Creating the Yearbook

Are you the Yearbook Committee chair? I didn’t know I was until a concerned parent asked about the yearbook. “When do I need to pay for it? Will there be one?”

I didn’t know the answer to that, so I went to the principal. “Who’s in charge of the yearbook?“ I asked.

“Well, no one,” he started, “yet.” He looked me squarely in the eyes, “Would you want to?”

And so, I took it on. It was a big task, and I had only a month to throw it together.

Components of a Yearbook Design

I pulled out all my old elementary school yearbooks for inspiration (yes, I still have those). I noticed a few key components were present in each:

Cover (Usually with art, school name, year)
Inside Cover page (with a picture of the school, the address, and name of the principal)
Staff Pictures
A page for each class’s student pictures (they had up to 20 students for each page)
Pages filled with teacher-captured photos
Autograph pages

So, I started there—a blank template I could throw all the rest of the stuff into once I had it.

I remember taking hours to use Microsoft Publisher to get the spacing just right. Once I had the page template, I went to work crafting the remaining components.

I will include links to the full template and the page template at the end!

Have Fun With It

At my school, the years I headed the yearbook creation, we held a contest. Any fifth graders could submit their art for consideration, and after the due date, staff would vote on their favorites. The winner’s design became the Yearbook cover!

I also sold the yearbooks as cheaply as possible, after coordinating costs with the print shop. It was a huge success.

Have teachers submit pictures of their classes to include, too!

If you’re missing any pictures of students or staff, just go around and get them yourself! Students and staff appreciated having a yearbook with no missing pictures!

Yearbook Resources

As promised, here are the resources I created to help me with yearbook creation. When I made the yearbook again, I finished it quick! The template made a huge difference!