“That’s a Wrap” – Yearbook Cover Layout Parameters

Your yearbook cover can set the tone of your entire yearbook.  It establishes the theme and invites people to see what’s inside.

So let’s make sure that all of your hard work doesn’t get trimmed away and that all of the components of your cover – front, back, spine, and wrap – are as perfect as possible.

What you should first identify is the “safe zone” on your cover template. Just like your Pictavo pages, a Pictavo cover has a “safe zone” on both the front and back of your cover.  This “safe zone” is within the green line frame.  Keep all significant design elements that you don’t want to run the risk of being trimmed off within that zone (the full name of your school, or one half of someone’s face, for example).

The yellow border that outlines the green frame is the trim or wrap area.  Any artwork contained in that area may be trimmed off of your soft cover, or wrapped around the inside of your hard cover.

If you’re producing a hard cover or soft perfect bound book, you may also be able to add “spine” text.  The spine of a book is the edge of the cover that you see when your book is displayed on a bookshelf.  The text on a yearbook’s spine usually contains the name of the school and the year.

The “safe zone” for spine text is contained between the two pink horizontal lines in the center of your cover template.

To add spine text to your book, you have to first create a text box somewhere on the cover and enter the one line of text that you would like include on the spine. To place the text box on the spine, first “spin” the text box clockwise.  Then place that text box between the two pink lines in the center of your cover template.  Adjust the font style, size, and text box location to your liking at this point.  Be sure to keep your text within the green lines at the top and bottom of the spine text safe zone.

Traditionally, spine text runs top to bottom, facing the back.  That is why you spin the text box clockwise.  If you prefer to have your text run the opposite way, spin the text box counter clockwise.  Of course, the design style is your choice.

Keeping all of your significant work within the safe zones as indicated above will assure that all of the art work that absolutely must appear on the cover, does appear.

Yearbook Theme and Motif Development

A theme is the central idea, or unifying “attitude” of the year captured by the yearbook itself. It should tell a story about what makes this school year different and unique from other years—something that everyone can relate to and identify with.

A motif is the visual cues or recurring symbols that reinforce the theme and remind readers about the central idea. Motifs create mood and sentiment by using images, shapes, colors, patterns, etc. repeatedly throughout the yearbook.

Your theme should be woven throughout your yearbook in every section using your motif—the sports section, student life section, clubs and organizations section, portrait section, academic section, advertisement section, endsheets, etc.

Choosing Your Theme

Developing a theme for your yearbook should be fun and creative. Your theme should reflect the attitude of your school that year. Is your school going through a growth phase? Celebrating an anniversary? Initiating new changes? Welcoming new administration? Your yearbook is the perfect medium to tell this story so it is remembered by all. It should document the events and celebrate the milestones of the year in a story format that ties into a main idea.

Planning Tip: Many schools choose mascot- or spirit-related themes that tie in with school colors or anniversaries. Whatever you decide, make sure you keep it consistent throughout the book and add art and text that support it.

Brainstorming Tips

Listed below are a few theme ideas to brainstorm around. Take a moment to review some of these ideas when developing your school’s theme. Make sure to use it throughout your yearbook – on the cover, endsheets, title pages, division pages, and sections of the yearbook. There is no “wrong” theme; however a theme may be underdeveloped and difficult to understand. To avoid this, make sure to brainstorm ideas with everyone on your yearbook staff or ask faculty to weigh-in.

A Cut Above
A Day in the Life
A Flash from the Past
A New Awakening
A New Point of View
A Season of Change
A Step Above the Rest
A Touch of Class
Any Way You Slice It
Attention to Detail
Between the Lines
Breaking Thru
Built to Last
Capture the Magic
Catch the Moments
Caught in the Act
Check Us Out
Check It Out
Color me ___________
Come Learn With Us
Days of Our Lives
Deep in the Heart of…
Destined to Be…
Distinct Impressions
Every Step of the Way
Eye On…
Face The Facts
Find Your Place
First Class
For Members Only
Forever Young
From This Moment On
From Start to Finish
Get the Picture
Going In Style
Going Places
Gotta Have It
Great Moments in…
Had to Be There
In Quest Of__________
In the Making
Inside And Out
Into Something New
It All Adds Up
It All Begins With You
It Goes Without Saying
It’s A Small World
It’s About Time
It’s All in Your Mind
It’s Anyone’s Guess
It’s Our Time
It’s Your Choice
Just Passing Through
Just for the Fun Of It
Just Had to Be There
Laying It on the Line
Let’s Face It
Lights, Camera, Action
Listen Up
Living the Dream
Look at The Best
Make Your Mark
Making the Pieces Fit
Moving On Out
Never Had It So Good
Never Say Never
New Beginnings
Nobody Does It Better
On Our Own
On the Edge
One and Only
One Size Fits All
Once in a Lifetime
One Last Look
Only The Finest
Our Time to Shine
Pardon Our Dust
Picture This
Piece By Piece
Pieces of the Puzzle
Reach for the Stars
Remember This
Right On Target
Road to Success
Say It With Style
Seeing is Believing
Seize the Day
Signs of the Times
Simply the Best
Still the One
Sum It Up
Take Another Look
Take a Closer Look
Take It from the Top
The Best of Times
The Show Must Go On
The Spirit Of…
The Times of Our Lives
The Year to Remember
This Is Our Time
Too Hot to Handle
Turning the Page
Unbelievable
Under Construction
Unforgettable
Unleashed
We’ve Got It All
What’s Next?
Year of the __________
You Had to Be There

How To Develop Your School Yearbook Theme

As a yearbook publishing company, we are often asked to provide our expert opinion about the yearbook publishing process. One question that is repeated time and again is what are the best ways to develop a yearbook theme, or ideas for developing your yearbook theme.  YearbookLife is happy to share some yearbook theme ideas for your elementary, middle or high school yearbook project.

What is a Yearbook Theme?

  • Consider the yearbook theme as the attitude or personality of the year for your school
  • It is a perfect medium to tell a story that will be remembered by all in a positive or spirit-related format
  • Your school yearbook should record the events of the year and celebrate the milestones of the year under the unified story format of your the theme.
  • School yearbook themes come in different shapes and sizes based upon the attitude of the year.
  • Yearbook themes are discussed and portrayed in all sections of the yearbook, especially on the cover, endsheets, title pages, opening pages, closing pages, and division pages for each section of the yearbook.

Possible Yearbook Themes

The key to developing a theme is making sure you address the theme in every section of the yearbook.  Here are a few themes you can consider just for starters:

  • A Cut Above   
  • A Day in the Life
  • A Flash from the Past 
  • A New Awakening
  • A New Point of View  
  • A Season of Change
  • A Step Above the Rest 
  • A Touch of Class
  • Anyway You Slice It  
  • Attention to Detail
  • Between the Lines
  • Breaking Thru
  • Built to Last
  • Capture the Magic
  • Catch the Moments  
  • Caught in the Act

Choose a theme and begin to develop it.

Example of a Theme

The key to developing a yearbook theme is making sure you address the theme in every section of the yearbook as well as the cover and endsheets (if applicable).

Consider playing off words of the theme as titles for each section or work on conceptual themes that play of an idea vs. words. 

Consider working with a theme like: “Inside & Out”

  • Stud. Life: Inside our Walls 
  • Sports: On the Sidelines
  • Clubs: Siding with Others 
  • Portraits: Side by Side
  • Acad.: Sides of Success 
  • Ads: Outside our walls…

Did you notice how a word that is part of the theme is developed and ties to yearbook theme as well?