The Yearbook World of Scott Geesey

from Jostens Yearbooks of central/northern Pennsylvania

ARCHIVE - MARCH 8, 2020
 

WHAT MAKES FOR A GREAT PAGE DESIGN? Here Are The Keys...

Hello! Sure enough, early spring. We had a smattering of snow at my house last Friday, and then it disappeared as quickly as it came. This is a far cry from a year ago at this time when my windshield was smashed by a large piece of ice flying off a tractor trailer on I-80. Amazing, absolutely nothing out there now.

Instead we now have this coronavirus to worry about. Already some schools in parts of the country are planning long term closings to let the virus run its course. Is that you? If not it might be prudent to do some planning anyway. For my Jostens advisers I've already messaged you about this.

For spring book schools, there are many with a final page submission deadline in the next couple of weeks. Hitting your final deadline is always crucial to your ultimate success so keep on pushing and if you hit any snags this week please let me know right away.

Congratulations to the winners and placers at the annual PIAA wrestling championships last weekend. We had a good number of gold medal winners from our neighborhood. And I'm keeping an eye on the state basketball championships which are now underway. Good luck if your team is still playing!        

No matter the weather, St. Patrick's Day hits the calendar next Tuesday the 17th. It's one of the fun holidays of the year - anything special planned at your school this week or next week?

Want great pages for your yearbook? Follow these guidelines...

While spring yearbook staffs are finishing up their book work, fall book staffs are getting very busy right now. I've seen quite a few good looking pages in my recent travels.

What are the keys to a great page design? Some of the judges of our past Jostens page contests gave some thorough rules on what they consider a great design, no matter if it's online or via software. And then I add my own simple translation on each key...

  • The design is reader-friendly. Topics are placed on the spread in a thoughtful way. Backgrounds and graphics enhance the content of the page rather than distracting from it. Scott's Translation: only use backgrounds if it actually adds to the page, not just as filler. Too many backgrounds distract from your all-important school images.
  • The design shows an awareness of accepted yearbook design standards like alignment, spacing conventions, eye-lines, and dominance. Scott's Translation: haphazardly designed pages filled with different shapes of picture boxes don't add anything to your storytelling. Good design used consistently throughout your book means balanced coverage for all.
  • The design effectively presents visual and verbal content to the reader. In other words, though this is not a journalistic contest, the spreads should include a headline, captions and a story when appropriate. Scott's Translation: never be afraid to WRITE. Those stories and details you add in body copy and captions fill in the empty spaces of the design, information people will start to forget just a few years after leaving school.
  • The design employs a creative and contemporary graphic style that is appropriate for the content and appealing to a school audience. Scott's Translation: don't go crazy using multiple font styles on a page. Be consistent with your font usage and use graphics that complement your page design. Think about using font families - same basic style, different versions in bold, italic, black, thin, etc.
  • Dynamic photography is helpful to every design. Scott's Translation: VERY helpful. HUGELY helpful. Don't just take photos, take the time to get GREAT photos. We want to thrill students with great images of themselves and their school year.

As you create your remaining pages for your 2020 yearbook or spring supplement, or perhaps you're already planning ahead for your 2021 edition, please keep these design keys in mind. Advisers, print out this week's update and post it somewhere in your classroom so that these keys are always visible.

A simple rule from me - content first, page design second. An old line in yearbooking and creative design is that content drives design. Concentrate first on your content on a topic - gathering the pictures, the information, consider some infographics, That's what your audience really wants. Then tackle your page designing with the word "consistency" in mind, balanced coverage throughout your book so that all get great, even coverage.

If your staff just doesn't have the time or desire to create their own top notch page designs, absolutely use some of our terrific Page Surfer or Design Gallery templates to fully tell your stories in your book. No, you won't win a page design contest that way, but you'll still have a very readable yearbook that your students and families will enjoy READING for many years to come. And THAT's why you do this entire project in the first place.