Make Your Yearbook Theme Stand Out From The Crowd

WHAT’S A THEME?

Any good yearbook will have portrait pages, club photos and sports sections. But a great yearbook will use a single element to tie all those sections together to tell a story. The element that’s used to hold all the different parts of your yearbook together is called the yearbook theme.

The theme can be used both verbally and visually throughout your yearbook, but will especially be used to design the cover, endsheets, title pages, divider pages, folios and sidebars.

WHERE TO START?

Theme inspiration can come from anywhere, so gather your staff for a brainstorming session and try to come up with some themes that are as unique as they are! Some schools use their mascot, school colors, school name or initials, but you can think even further outside the box and brainstorm conceptual themes. Here are some tips for choosing a theme:

• Use color and fonts to help convey the feel of your theme.

• Draw inspiration from things you love, but don’t copy song/movie titles that might be outdated in a few weeks’ time.

• Bookmark an idiom website where you can search for idioms based on keywords.

• Use school anniversaries, events or the year as theme inspiration.

• Don’t box yourself in with a theme that’s too specific.

• Consider going abstract: convey your theme through shapes or design elements like circles or paintbrush strokes.

Download The Theme Development Handout to use for a class brainstorming session or our list of Yearbook Theme Ideas.

THE GOOD NEWS

If you need more help with theme ideas, you’re in luck! Our Theme options allow you to choose from a range of professionally pre-designed yearbook covers, graphics, backgrounds and more! We have entire design suites ready and waiting for you, which can take some of the pressure out of choosing a theme.