It’s official! The 2024 President’s Collection video series has come to a close. As you were listening to Jim Jordan and Sabrina Schmitz, CJE, celebrate all 34 books in this year’s President’s Collection, you may have noticed there were some common themes (pun intended) throughout. Let’s take a look at the top six things that set award winning yearbooks apart.
Number One: Make your theme package all at once, and do it early in the school year
This is Jim’s top tip! Design your theme package all at once, and start it early. The cover, endsheets, title page and opening division spreads set the tone and drive the design of the rest of your book. This is the key to having a cohesive theme throughout. For a deeper dive into developing a strong theme package, check out Jim Jordan’s Idea File article on the topic.
Number Two: Balance it all out
When designing your theme package, balance is important to keep the reader engaged. If you have a bold, in-your-face cover, consider a simple and minimal endsheet. If you have two spreads for your opening, utilize a full bleed photo on one spread and a small cluster of photos on the other. Take a look at some other examples from this year’s President’s Collection.
Chieftain, Jupiter Community High School, Jupiter, Florida
For Jupiter High School, their staff utilized a bright green and blue color combination on the cover, and balanced it out on their endsheet with a wash of orange, blue’s complimentary color.
Brickhouse, Shawnee Mission North High School, Overland Park, KS
This simple red cover from Shawnee Mission North is contrasted by a full bleed photo on their front endsheet.
Having the perfect balance in your chosen method of contrast can elevate the look and feel of your publication.
Number three: Portraits, Portraits, Portraits
Let’s face it, the portrait section is not the most exciting part of putting together a yearbook. But when you go to pick up your yearbook 20 years from now, the portrait section is likely the first you’ll want to flip to. So get creative and bend the rules a little bit. Just because they have always been done a certain way, doesn’t mean you can’t switch up and do things a little differently.
Showcase, UPrep, Seattle, Washington
The portrait section is a great place to add nuggets of coverage and get more students included in the book. Add a mod here and there to break up the rigid structure of the portraits. The staff at UPrep did a great job of sprinkling in mod coverage on everything from Calculus II, to the reality TV show where they would best succeed.
Eyry, Charlotte Latin School, Charlotte, North Carolina
consider playing around with the placement of student names, instead of listing the names to the left and right of each row, consider placing the student’s name directly below their photo. Experiment with your copy placement to suit the needs of your overall design.
Number four: Highlight students doing cool things
The number one goal of any yearbook is to tell the stories of your student body and to include as many students as you can. For the stories that are larger than life and the students that deserve an extra spotlight, a profile story is a great option. Consider reaching students who pursue their passions outside of the scope of your school to cover a variety of student voices.
Raider, Gulliver Preparatory Middle School, Coral Gables, FL
In addition to telling a cool story, profiles also have the added benefit of introducing a new spread structure to your publication. Profile spreads have less components than traditional coverage spreads, which adds some balance and contrast to the section.
If you can’t afford a full spread for a profile, consider dedicating a page to them in your portrait section. Just like the mod coverage in your portraits, profiles add variety to your portrait section. Both options give those stories and students the spotlight they deserve.
Number Five: Create a Versatile Tagline
Once you have landed on your theme phrase for the year, get creative with it and see if there are any variations of the phrase you can use in your book. Spin off theme phrases are most often utilized in one of two spots – on the back cover and within the section names of your book. They can also be effective in headlines and mod packages, too.
Heritage, Shawnee Mission South High School, Overland Park, Kansas
Shawnee Mission South High School’s theme phrase for 2024 is “maybe the little things.” On the back cover, the staff continued the phrase with “are actually the big things.” This sums up their theme copy perfectly and leaves the reader with a strong sense of closure.
The Ship, Presque Isle High School, Presque Isle, Maine
The staff at Presque Isle used spin offs of their theme phrase “Made You Look” for their section names. As seen on their endsheet listed above, they used the phrase “Made the Grade” for academics, “Made the Play” for Sports, and “Made it Ours” for student life to name a few.
While spin off phrases are a creative and clever touch to your theme package, it isn’t something that should be forced. Spin off phrases are something that will happen organically in your theme development process and may not work with every theme phrase.
Number Six: Make your Photo Layout Organic
One of the many trends pointed out by Jim and Sabrina was the placement of photos within a spread. Instead of following a traditional eyeline structure in the layout, many president’s collection books utilized photo clusters and organic photo placement.
Reflector, Lee’s Summit High School, Lee’s Summit, Missouri
This Men’s Soccer spread from Lee’s Summit is a great example of the use of photo clusters. The spread has a grouping of photos in the bottom left corner, and still maintains a clear hierarchy with the large dominant photo to the right.
The 2024 President’s Collection showcases the best in yearbook design, storytelling, and creativity. By incorporating these six key elements, you can elevate your own book and create something truly unforgettable. Take inspiration from this year’s winners and start planning your award-worthy yearbook today!
