Traditionally, a yearbook’s cover, endsheets, title page, opening, closing and division spreads together form the book’s theme development package. On these theme pages, both the verbal and the visual are important. Recurring motifs-words, graphic elements, and designs-link these pages just as the theme or unifying idea links the sections of the book.
Sometimes a few words are all that is necessary in order to communicate a theme.
If a theme is truly relevant to a specific school and the student body of that year, it will be reflected throughout the yearbook in non-theme areas by the topics that are covered and the reporting methods used. In the mini-mag of the 1998 Lair, the staff covered a variety of issues in a round-table, conversational-style format that was inspired by their theme, “Communication.”
There was no room in the inn. The Holiday Inn, that is. And no room at the Sheraton or Marriott either. In fact, when a fire damaged the ballroom of the Old Town Country Club, reserved for the prom since last June, every ballroom within 80 miles was already booked for the evening.
Yearbook staffs can capture reader interest with stories that reflect students’ lives today. Feature stories should reflect student interests, concerns and lifestyles.
Copy is no longer quote-transition, transition-quote copy written in third person.
Shopping malls are great places to get ideas for designs, fonts, headlines, subheads, folios, and even stories. Trips to two malls with two yearbook advisers and staff members yielded plenty of ideas for yearbooks. The ideas can be found in the Spring 2004 issue of Idea File, Volume 14, Issue 3. However, there were too many good ideas to fit in the printed issue. Here are additional images from the two trips with ideas that you may find useful.
The teaser attracts by arousing curiosity in the reader. This wordplay can be challenging and fun.
Do not settle for the first draft. The best stories evolve from the search for the right angle and fearless rewriting. The article, Swapping Fool’s Gold for Real Gold , in the Spring 2004 issue of Idea File, Volume 14, issue 3, discussed getting writers to find the most interesting aspect of the story they are covering – known as the nugget. It’s the nugget that makes the story about the same topic unique from year to year.
List of stock questions for writers after
they have presented their first draft