What Is A Yearbook Theme?A theme is something important to yearbooks and helps hold them together. A theme is used throughout the book in many ways and is a way to get people interested in what's on the inside. Can you guess what this yearbook is about? How might they have used the theme "From All Angles"?
While not the most important part of a yearbook, a theme is a solid way to unify your book. If you pick the right one, its development should be easy. If you don’t, it will seem forced and trite. One of the important things to remember is that your school is a lot more sophisticated than most people think. Comic book and fairy tale themes are hardly realistic for high school yearbooks. Your theme needs to be real and to fit the year without gimmicks to carry it through the book. Let’s say your school is under construction. Try to find a way to say it that is sophisticated and doesn’t rely on hard hats and jack hammers and hammer and nails to carry it through. It would be a good guess that not a single one of your students would identify with those. Your challenge is to make your theme real, realistic, memorable, relevant, and recognizable through repetition and consistency. |
Let's Practice This Theme |
Our first theme to practice with is "Out of the Ordinary". Here's a little info about the school for this particular year:
* All students wear uniforms: Polo shirts with no logos * The whole school has a fresh coat of beige paint * The new principal is the first woman principal at the school * Kicker on the football team is a girl * Same 7-period schedule * Zero-Hour classes * 1/2 days once a month for teacher in-service Now let's take a look at what we have Write words that mean out of the ordinary Write phrases that mean out of the ordinary How well did this school choose it's yearbook theme? |
Let's Think About Our Theme |
Ok, this one is for real. Let's do some brainstorming to help us come up with ideas for our theme.
1. List what's different about our school, characteristics we're known for, and things that never change. 2. Brainstorm theme ideas here. Circle the key words that seem to have meaning or possibilities. 3. Brainstorm words that mean your new theme idea. 4. Brainstorm phrases that mean your new theme idea. 5. Now let's take your favorite phrases. Brainstorm how the phrases could be used for a sidebar. These lists now become the tools for theme development. The word list spices up theme copy, theme caption headlines and theme headlines. The phrase list now becomes the titles for sidebars used throughout the book. A session with an any-school, any-year theme makes great practice. Students understand the process without emotional ties to a personal idea for their own yearbook. When ideas are slow to follow, it’s a clear indication the theme just might not work. |
Purpose of a theme
• To tell the story of the year.
• To unify the book.
• To create a personality for the book and the
year.
Make sure the theme helps tell the story rather than the year being forced into telling the theme. Regardless whether a concept or stated
theme is used for developing a yearbook or not, it should hold the book together and reflect what is unique about the year, the students,
the school, the facilities and the community for just this year, just this school, just this group of students.
• To tell the story of the year.
• To unify the book.
• To create a personality for the book and the
year.
Make sure the theme helps tell the story rather than the year being forced into telling the theme. Regardless whether a concept or stated
theme is used for developing a yearbook or not, it should hold the book together and reflect what is unique about the year, the students,
the school, the facilities and the community for just this year, just this school, just this group of students.
Theme Ideas
This list came from https://www.walsworthyearbooks.com/theme-ideas-list/
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We Have Our Theme, Now What?
We could have a design cover contest
If we have a contest, what is the prize, how will artist be recognized, and will words be drawn or added later? |
We could design it ourselves
We could sketch ideas, ask for feedback, and design it in Pictavo or Pixlr |
We could use a template
But other schools use these too |