Treering Blog

Making a yearbook is a lot of work, but it can be fun too. We built our yearbook software to take away as much of the hard work as possible, so you and your yearbook staff can focus on the fun stuff. No more fighting with changes in portraits or keeping track of yearbook purchases; whether it's making your yearbook, managing your yearbook staff, or collaborating with your community, we eliminate the pain so you can focus on capturing your school's year in a beautiful yearbook.

Manage Your Yearbook Program Like a Pro

Call it your very own mission control. Right from your dashboard, you can see who has purchased and who hasn't. See a running total of how much money you have raised for your school throughout the year.

Work from Anywhere

For the parents in your community who are on the go, they can do everything from their mobile devices. They can add photos to your community's shared folders, design their student's custom pages, and purchase their student's yearbook while waiting in the pickup line.

Assign Roles and Permissions to Your Yearbook Staff

Grant some users an all-access pass to your yearbook by making them the Chief Editor, or limit their responsibilities by making them a Staff Editor or Restricted Staff Editor. Some people on your yearbook team may only need to add photos or edit text, while others need more responsibility. The choice is yours!

Your entire yearbook staff will be able to edit only those pages you have assigned them, making it clear for the editors to understand their responsibilities and easy for you to manage in one place.

Make suggestions and share ideas on each page within the book. Get notified each time you go in to edit the book if there are new notes, comments, or questions to read.

Once a page is finished, the editors of that page can mark it complete. Now you know their progress (and the big picture). Your finished pages are safe from unintended edits.

Keep Track of All Your Students

Treering's yearbook software will automatically build an index for your yearbook. Never again worry about making sure each student gets equal coverage in the yearbook, or trying to make the index yourself.

Never again worry if a photo has been used on a previous page. Or how many times each student is in the yearbook. With Treering you can tag students in each of your photos, and easily see which photos have and have not already been used.

Easy Layout Creation

Save time and easily create your yearbook with theme-driven, drag-and-drop templates. Powerful tools and an intuitive interface give you the easiest yearbook software you'll ever use.

Auto Layout

Organizing photos perfectly on a page can be tedious, but it shouldn't be. With Treering, just select the photos you want on a page and our yearbook software will automatically drop them into a beautifully designed layout.

If InDesign is more your thing, no problem, you can upload all the designs you'd like.

Portrait Auto Flow

Point, click, grab some coffee. Yearbook portrait pages are no longer painful. Automatically arrange yearbook portraits. Customize the page layout. Make changes easily. Boom. Between 40-60% of your book is complete, and if you want to add more content to your portrait pages, you can.

Perfectly Aligned Photos in a Snap

It is nearly impossible to manually ensure each photo is centered and aligned on a page perfectly. We've made it possible by adding gridlines that don't get printed, but make book-building a breeze. If you'd like to make it even easier, you can have all your photos snap to the grid. Oh snap! With this kind of precision, you'll feel confident knowing your book will look perfect.

E-Commerce

Raise Money with Recognition Ads

Set your price per size, and let our yearbook software do the rest. When parents log in to buy the book, they will be given the opportunity to purchase one or donate one. Parents get to celebrate their children, and you get to provide your school some extra money to cover the cost of new cameras, field trips, or whatever you might need.

Online Marketing and Photo-Sourcing

School community involvement in the yearbook is crucial, whether that's making them aware of how to buy the book, help contribute photos, or participate in the annual yearbook signing party, you need your community to be involved. We've got you covered from yearbook sales and online purchases to digital signature capabilities.

Crowdsource Yearbook Photos

Get more photos for your yearbook by sourcing them from your parents, students, and teachers. With Treering's yearbook software you can create shared photo folders to which your entire community can add photos.

Build your own shared folders for your yearbook staff to use for everything from retakes and doubles to sports and clubs. You can also create a private spot for just you and your yearbook editors rather than the entire community.

Upload Photos from Anywhere

We understand that all communities store school photos in different places, so we've made sure that our yearbook software will easily allow you to upload from anywhere. Facebook, Instagram? Yup. Google Drive, Google Photos? Got it. Or if you've got photos on your mobile phone or desktop, we can upload them from there too, whatever is best for you.

Yearbook Sales Made Simple

Treering doesn't make your school commit to minimum orders meaning no financial pressure, but it's still something you'll want to do, so we wanted to make it easy. You can add links to your community's Facebook page. You can send emails directly to just those parents who haven't yet purchased. On top of all this, we have a bunch of professionally designed flyers for you to use. If you'd like to have some printed, no problem, we'll do that for free, cause fees just aren't our thing.

Keep Your Yearbook Community Accurate

Sometimes students change schools, or a parent accidentally creates two accounts. Our yearbook software helps you keep your community organized. You can quickly merge or separate student accounts, and add or remove students throughout the year as things change.

Even More to Love

E-signatures

Technology has changed the way students socialize. With Treering's software, students can e-sign their friends' yearbooks with photos and stickers which can be printed on their free custom pages just in their yearbook. 

Ensure Consistent Design Throughout the Yearbook

Set the theme, photo styles, text styles, and more in one place for your entire yearbook. Define all of it, none of it, or just some of it—whatever fits your yearbook style.

Favorites

With so many professionally designed templates, it could be easy to forget where you and your yearbook staffs' favorite ones are. Simply click the stars on the ones you like and they will all be in one spot moving forward.

Scroll through your yearbook ladder and try not to panic at page after page of emptiness. To help with planning, we compiled this list with the understanding that you would have the meat and potatoes of a yearbook:

• School portraits
• Candid photos
• Headlines

New at this? Pick one or two to include in this year’s yearbook. As your tenure as an adviser grows, so can your repertoire of things to include.

1. Autograph Space

This is why we throw yearbook distribution parties. It’s why we wait until the last vote is counted in the ASB election and last ribbon is awarded at field day. Three weeks after clicking “I’m Ready to Print,” boxes of books magically show up.

Autograph pages are easy to include in your yearbook: you use a pre-made template or design your own. It doesn’t have to be fancy.

2. Table of Contents

This is the most underrated spread in the book, a table of contents is the must-have launch pad for the reference book that is your school annual. It’s also something that can take a few clicks to create, if you’re using a Treering theme.

3. Collage Layouts

Many times, we see upwards of 60 photos slapped on a spread with no layout structure. The number of students covered is overshadowed by a chaotic layout.

https://blog.treering.com/collage-page-ideas/

PSA: Just because Treering offers layouts with up to 65 photos, doesn’t mean you should use them. Every student should be recognizable. Aim for their faces to be the size of a dime.

4. Superlatives

Superlatives—is Greg Heffley the only one who calls them “class favorites?”—are yearbook awards based on student surveys. These “Most Likely to…” awards highlight standouts. 

Check out our list of 100 superlatives focused on creativity, character, and community contributions.

5. Year-in-Review Spread

Unless your yearbook is chronological, including a year-in-review spread is a way to increase storytelling. It gives a holistic overview of the year, both in and out of school.

School-Level

A designated school year-in-review spread can feature images from events throughout the year, giving an overview of the activities and achievements across campus. Many yearbook creators love to use them for photos that may not have “fit” anywhere else or as a way to cover different students from saturated events pages.

We adapted it. Search "calendar" under "all page templates" to include this in your yearbook.

World-Level

Some schools include what happens beyond school walls on a year-in-review spread. To do this quickly, use Treering’s pre-designed one.

Yearbook classes and clubs that want to create their own should

• Meet and list the significant events at the end of each month; focus on moments students will remember, from sports championships to viral challenges.
• Use royalty-free websites to safely and ethically source images.
• Give credit where it is due: place a photo attribution in small text under the photo, in a sidebar, or on the colophon page.

Keep in mind: if your year-in-review pages include celebrities, logos, photos someone on your staff did not capture, even in educational yearbooks, you may run the risk of copyright. The Student Press Law Center has a digestible guide on fair use for student media.

6. Storytelling Photos

Both classroom moments and hallway hangouts show student life on campus. It’s important to include candids, academic photos, and even lunchtime snaps to balance posed portraits.

7. Content on Portrait Pages

Another way to break up posed portraits is to include content on portrait pages.

Shrinking your portraits to free up space for storytelling photos or even feature coverage, deepens your coverage and adds value to class pages.

8. Stories and Captions

This is last on the list, not least on the list. Regulars to the blog have seen this charge before: If there is no writing in your yearbook, add captions. 

https://blog.treering.com/caption-this-writing-tips-for-yearbook/

Master them. Then, include expanded captions. Then, body copy. 

No matter your team size, you can include extras in the yearbook that elevate it beyond a photo album and make the difference between a book that gets browsed and one that’s cherished.

School finances are tough. Compound that with murky yearbook invoices, and you’re left repeating, “I don’t know,” when meeting with the school finance clerk. Between boxes of “extra” yearbooks that will sit in a storage closet instead of a student’s shelf and a final invoice amount that differs from the initial bid, it’s a pain.

https://blog.treering.com/why-are-yearbooks-so-expensive/

Many yearbook creators tolerate vague yearbook pricing because the thought of going publisher shopping is a worse evil. It’s not until we hit our breaking point with one of these:

• Price
• Turnaround time
• A general sense that there has to be a better way

Yes, it’s a memory book, and it gives all the feels. One of those feels shouldn’t be a burden.

Understanding Itemized Bids

Shipping, art fees, camp costs, and proof charges may appear as line items on a final invoice. They don’t always appear on yearbook pricing proposals. That’s why you must be proactive when soliciting different yearbook publishers for a bid. 

Pro tip: include your current publisher in the bidding process.

The Timeline: When to Look for a New Yearbook Publisher

It will take about a month or two to complete the bidding process. Beginning is simple: define your needs and non-negotiables to share with each publisher:

• Book size
• Cover type
• Page count
• Number of copies

Allow two to three weeks to evaluate the bids, ask clarifying questions, and get everything in writing. Align this with your school’s budget process for best results.

The Bid: What to Expect When You’re Expecting

The scope of your bidding process differs if you are shopping for a single school vs. a district. (More on district bids below.)

Schools should consider specs, staff needs, and budget when soliciting bids. Your bid should include

• Set up charges
• Personalization charges
• Donated yearbooks
• Shipping estimates
• Included training
• Materials: cover board, paper weight, cover treatments
• Contracted minimums
• Ad fees (aside from credit card processing, ads should be pure profit)
• Image storage fees
• Technology credits
• Contract length
• Reprint or second order policy

Add it all up and divide by your contracted minimum for the per-book price. Oftentimes, these costs of doing business increase your core book price by $2-12 each. And if yearbook math wasn’t your college minor, there is another way.

The Treering Difference

When yearbook creators receive a bid from Treering Yearbooks, it includes a per-book price with no minimum order. The core book price is based on cover finish and page count. It includes:

• Custom cover
• Bulk shipping to the school
• Software usage, including access to themes, art, and templates
• One free printed proof and 99 PDF proofs
• Professional development and support through live webinars and Treering’s Help Center
• Yearbook curriculum
• The flexibility to extend your deadline or reduce your page count

That’s it. 

How to Evaluate Yearbook Bids

It’s safe to say most yearbook companies will look fab on paper (or spreadsheet). Resist the temptation to choose on price alone. By personalizing the process, you position your yearbook team as the leader. Your publisher should work for your program. 

1. Talk to other users. Each company should provide you with three users from a similar situation. Consider size, quantity of yearbooks ordered, and staff structure. Not only will you hear individual experiences, but the synergy of the reference will show whether or not the publisher understands your situation.

2. Do a trial of the software. Spend an hour playing with any proprietary software tools. Are you able to create a sample page? Do you know how to find self-service help?

3. Define your publisher support team: who helps with technical questions, how you find design inspiration, and who is training your team. If you have an individual servicing your account, define the role your rep will play and how you expect the rep to support your yearbook creation process, including expected response time.

Finding the right fit for your campus will take time. Trust us: it will be worth it when you have your Cinderella moment.

Navigating an RFP

Those who represent a larger group have purchasing and negotiating power. Learn the requirements in your district or state before you solicit bids. You may not even need to bid because your school may have more flexibility than you thought. Or, if there is a purchasing cooperative in your region, your school may be able to piggyback on a neighboring contract.

If you are managing a bid for multiple schools, create an itemized list for each site's individual needs. For example, a high school may want a hardcover 9x12 book, and an elementary school may want to offer hardcover and softcover 8x10s. 

Treering works with each district’s process, whether it’s co-ops, POs, invoicing, or vendor approvals. Each RFP is customized to the needs of the schools within the district. (We’ll leave the templates for easy yearbooking design.)

Scoop, there it is! You covered the year, and now it's time to show off your work. With the books printed, passed out, and signed, we're kicking off our first-ever cover design contest. What's even cooler: Three yearbook teams will win Back to School Bashes for their entire school!

Cover Contest Entry Period

Treering will accept submissions in each of the three categories from May 27 to June 10, 2025. The submission window closes at 11:59 PM PT.

Who Can Enter?

Entrants must be 18 or older and a Primary Chief Editor or Chief Editor at a US Treering school for the 2024-2025 school year. The school must also have an active Treering account for the 2025-2026 school year to redeem the prize package.

The winning schools must also submit three videos and six photos using a provided shot list for use on Treering's social media. A school official must sign a release to redeem the prize package.

To participate, complete the submission form and share a screenshot or photograph of the front and back of your yearbook cover.

Incomplete and multiple entries will not be considered.

Winner Selection and Notification

A panel of yearbook parents, journalism educators, and graphic designers will select the winners. Judging criteria include wow factor and creativity in one of the following three areas:

1. School Spirit - mascots, school colors, and anything else that shows off your community
2. Theme Development - an introduction to your visual and verbal theme
3. Elementary Student Art - original art by K-6 students

We will notify all the finalists via email and phone on Monday, June 16, 2025. To meet prize eligibility, a representative from each school must complete the media release and agree to share video and still photos from their Back to School Bash.

Winners must redeem their prizes by October 31, 2025.

Prizes

All winners and finalists will receive 10 free yearbooks for the 2025-2026 school year.

The grand prize winner in each category (School Spirit, Theme Development, and Elementary Student Art) will also win a Treering-sponsored Back to School Bash.

*Quantities based on the enrollment reported in your 25-26 Treering account.

Release

By submitting your yearbook cover, you have verified the approval of the original artist and anyone pictured, and you approve Treering to use your name, write-up, and school name for any marketing purposes, including but not limited to treering.com, social media, and mass media.

Contest FAQs

When beginning to develop your yearbook theme, the choice of a traditional or trendy theme determines the layout design and the overall feel of the book. Many see traditional and trendy as opposing ends of a design spectrum. We hope to show you how you can fuse them as you create your yearbook theme.

Traditional Design

Traditional yearbooks can be timeless. Their design structure is safe and predictable, easing readers through each turn of the page. Their appeal is not limited to students: parents, teachers, and alumni also feel included. 

When following traditional design, design elements such as consistency, repetition, alignment, and proximity bring beauty and order to the design. Everything has a place and a purpose. 

Some may argue that traditional design takes away from creative freedom, and they opt for the opposite: a yearbook led by a visual trend.

Trendy Design

Inspired by a new social media platform or pop culture movement, trendy yearbook themes can be the creative equivalent of a blank check. Graphics and layouts can be playful, dynamic, buzzworthy, or a combination of all three! The immediate response from the student body is reactive, in a good way, because a trendy theme is an in-the-moment one. 

Beyond hashtag sensations, fashion and art trends may drive the visual concept. Retro, scrapbook, and organic yearbook themes capture the spirit of students. Each conceptually has an authentic vibe and pushes traditional design norms by being more aligned with a DIY ethos. 

Cons of Using a Trendy Yearbook Theme

Because they are deeply connected with a visual concept, they may not be fully developed verbally, leaving the theme concept feeling unfinished. While trendy yearbook themes immediately connect with the student body, they may also quickly feel outdated. 

Take a look at these three tech-inspired Treering themes. Each captures a specific moment over the past ten years: the advent of "likes," virtual classrooms, and a glow up.

How to Choose?

The best way to select a visual identity is to begin with the verbal. What story do you want to tell? Why?

https://blog.treering.com/how-to-choose-a-yearbook-theme/

Think about longevity and what value you want the yearbook to have in ten years or more. Determine if you want to create another volume in your school’s legacy or capture a specific moment.

Classic and Current: A Blended Approach

A traditional book can feel dull with page after page of safe design. Conversely, a trendy book without proper hierarchy and balance feels chaotic. That’s why we advocate for trend-forward with timeless structure; it’s the Hannah Montana of yearbooks. Traditional design grounds the book, and trends bring it to life. 

Ideas to blend traditional and trendy design:

1. Font pairings: Use contrast to create your headlines

2. Color palette: Add a pop of color to a traditional color palette

3. Visual “hits”: Use up to three elements throughout the book to add variation

4. Showstopper spreads: Punctuate portrait pages with a highly visual spread

5. Trending treatment: Add a photo treatment to break up a traditional layout

Keep in mind, great design never goes out of style. And, when paired with quality captions and copy to tell the story of the year, that’s what makes your yearbook stand the test of time.

Our guest expert is David Burns, President of Color Portraits - a longtime Treering school photography partner servicing Illinois and Wisconsin. He's been framing perfect team shots since back when "post-game snacks" meant a chocolate bar with nougat and parents weren't yet reading ingredient labels.

After 20+ years and thousands of school photo sessions across the Midwest, I've seen it all—from squinting soccer teams in harsh sunlight to last-minute makeup photo scrambles for absent students. At Color Portraits, we've mastered the art and science of school photography, turning potential chaos into seamless operations that produce stunning results. These battle-tested strategies will transform your yearbook from good to unforgettable—without the headaches, delays, or disappointed parents. 

Efficient Scheduling Strategies

For group photo days, we recommend scheduling one group every five minutes. This allows photographers to:

• Set up each group while the next one arrives
• Arrange students in height order for quick positioning
• Maintain a smooth flow throughout the day

For larger groups (school plays, entire grade levels), allow 10 minutes to prevent scheduling backups.

Middle School/Junior High Considerations

Middle schools typically schedule sports pictures three times yearly (fall, winter, spring). We recommend:

• Scheduling after school to accommodate parent-volunteer coaches and uniform changes
• Taking pictures during each sport's season for proper uniform distribution
• Capturing individual photos as athletes arrive in uniform, followed by group shots when coaches arrive

Composition Tips for Various Group Sizes

Create rectangular rather than square compositions to properly fill the frame. For optimal results:

• Utilize stairs, risers, or bleachers to ensure every face is visible
• Incorporate props for club photos to add character and personalization
• Consider photographing sports teams in their natural environment (soccer teams by goals, track teams on the track)

Lighting Techniques: Indoor vs. Outdoor

Indoor Photography:

• Provides consistent controlled lighting
• Allows for fixed flash distance and stable exposure settings

Outdoor Photography:

• Cloudy days offer less light variation but muted skies
• Sunny days provide vibrant backgrounds but create shadows and squinting
• Position groups with the sun behind them and use flash to reduce shadows
• Avoid direct sunlight into the lens

Student Identification Strategies

Send digital images to coaches or club sponsors for proper student identification. Maintain basic row formations to facilitate easy identification.

Balancing Posed and Action Photography

Our standard sports shoots focus on group and individual photos outside of game days. For action shots:

• Collect images from parents or yearbook staff taken during actual games
• Create collage pages featuring action shots from different grade levels
• Position these collages before or after formal group photos

Handling Makeup Sessions

When students miss the original photo day:

• Leave space in the original formation to add missing students via Photoshop
• This approach looks more natural than retaking group photos
• Retakes often create new absences, compounding the problem

File Organization Recommendations

Create an intuitive organization system:

• Establish separate folders for each team and club
• Request proper labeling (team grade level or club name) when parents submit photos
• Always back up all images to cloud storage or external devices

Accommodating Photo Restrictions

For students with privacy concerns:

• Ask parents if listing the child as "Not Pictured" is acceptable
• Omit names completely when parents request
• Prioritize parental decisions regarding their child's privacy

Timeline Planning for Yearbook Deadlines

Plan your photography schedule strategically:

• Capture club photos early in the school year when groups form
• Take sports team photos during their respective seasons when uniforms are available
• Complete all team photography by February at the latest
• This timeline provides yearbook editors ample preparation time

This comprehensive approach ensures your school's sports and club photography will be efficient, professional, and ready for yearbook publication.

You might be missing these favorite yearbook ideas. If any part of your yearbook process feels stuck, scattered, or stale, one of these posts is probably the solution you didn’t know you needed. Read them. Share them. Build them into your curriculum or club routine and watch your yearbook program transform.

1. Easy +1: A Guide To Leveling Up Your Yearbook

This comprehensive guide outlines five key ways to elevate your yearbook beyond collage pages. It provides practical steps to add something new to next year’s book: a focus on storytelling, expanded coverage, better photography, or modular design. 

Use the five focus areas to create

• Rotating workshop stations early in the year to build foundational skills.
• A self-assessment rubric for your team.
• A “Level Up” day where each leader identifies one area to improve in their section.

https://blog.treering.com/guide-to-leveling-up-your-yearbook/

2. How to Choose a Yearbook Theme

This piece walks you through the theme process without relying on chaotic verbal brainstorms. (Some yearbook creators even find its anti-brainstorming angle a little divisive. And we liked it.) It provides teaching support to non-designers and new advisers with practical, flexible guidance.

It includes prompts, real-world examples, and tips for involving students at all grade levels. 

https://blog.treering.com/how-to-choose-a-yearbook-theme/

3. 10 People To Thank

Yearbook creation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. This gratitude-focused post highlights the unsung yearbook heroes, including the front office staff, IT teams, principals, coaches, and more. Yearbooks are a high-stress, deadline-driven project; injecting gratitude is a reminder that the yearbook extends beyond your class or club.

Make gratitude part of your yearbook culture:

• Include a recurring “Who Helped You This Week?” check-in during staff meetings.
• In the yearbook, you can include a “Behind the Book” thank-you spread.

https://blog.treering.com/10-people-to-thank-for-yearbook/

4. Adviser Advice: Keep, Change, Stop

One of the few tools that seamlessly transferred from student teaching to the newsroom is "Keep, Change, Stop," a structured reflection tool. It helps teams evaluate the yearbook process with three simple prompts: what to keep, what to change, and what to stop doing. (Clever name, eh?)

It’s an adaptable debrief for editors, staff, and advisers alike. 

In this blog post, four yearbook advisers share their POV. Based on their real-life examples, we have a framework to drop what's not working and preserve beneficial habits each school year.

Doing this exercise with middle and high school yearbook creators encourages student voice and leadership in shaping the next year’s book. “Keep, Change, Stop” promotes a healthy, intentional yearbook culture.

https://blog.treering.com/keep-change-stop/

5. Yearbook Debriefing: A Summer Reflection

This five-minute read outlines a strategic, low-stress way to reflect on the yearbook process over the summer. It offers questions and prompts to help advisers and returning staff capture what worked and what needs to shift before the next yearbook creation cycle begins.

This post helps you process what happened while it’s still fresh, and with a little distance. 

To use it now, assign editors a summer reflection form based on the post's questions and use their input to build your back-to-school agenda.

https://blog.treering.com/yearbook-debriefing-a-summer-reflection/

We all want our yearbooks to stand out, and sometimes the best yearbook ideas (wink, wink) are hiding in plain sight. We hope these five blog posts deliver the clarity, creativity, and strategy you and your staff need. 

No one reads yearbook stories. Sound familiar? I felt that way in my first five years advising. Focusing on photojournalism was almost an act of rebellion against the genius who mentored me in my high school’s newsroom. Yes, pictures are worth a thousand words and all that. By adding writing to your yearbook pages, you give names to faces and intent to actions. It’s more than so-and-so on the thing doing the thing; it’s context and clarity. It's a change for the better.

Copy as Design

I’ve said it for years because my aforementioned high school adviser brainwashed me (in a good way): Content drives design. If you plan on increasing your yearbook’s written content, learn how to design with copy. 

Headlines

Headlines are a great way to connect yearbook spreads back to the theme. On a spread about robotics, push yourself to make the main verbal entry point read more than “Robotics.” Your headline font, weight, color, and placement are just as important as the dominant photo.

https://blog.treering.com/how-to-improve-yearbook-headlines/

Captions and Stories

While not every topic may need a story, (nearly) every photo deserves a caption. Captions are entry-level writing opportunities. Compare the two spreads below. They are from the same yearbook. One is captions only; the other has a story.

The captions are close to the photos they complement. The story connects to the headline and subheadline.

How to Introduce Writing to the Yearbook

As an adult, it can be tough to approach another adult and have a conversation (cool mom at the playground, I’m looking at you). Likewise, getting students to approach their peers isn’t the easiest skill to teach. As with all skills, take the easy +1 approach: start small, master that skill, and add another. 

A progression, like the one below, builds confidence while building familiarity.

1. Introduce a Question of the Day (QOTD)

The heading says it all. Advisers or the editorial board select a question, and yearbook students ask four non-yearbook students the QOTD. 

• How do you pass the time during passing periods?
• Which childhood foods will you eat forever?
• How do you prepare for finals? 

Yearbook creators are encouraged to start with their peer groups and branch out. The only caveat is that they cannot ask a student a QOTD twice until everyone has had a chance. No repeats. You can track this with a BOLO (Be on the Lookout) board, via a Google Sheet fed by a Google Form, or with your roster.

Do the math with me for a second: if six yearbook students each interviewed four students daily, that would be 120 student voices added to your yearbook in a week. With a larger staff of 18, that’s 360 new voices. Use these as Q&A moments in your portrait section or sidebars through athletics, arts, and student life spreads.

With those figures, you could get a meaningful quote from nearly everyone on campus each quarter.

2. Practice interviewing in class weekly

Repetition builds skills, and we educators know that. In the yearbook classroom or club space, the work of photoshoots, layout design, and marketing sometimes overshadows the process of creating. Take time to teach, practice, and evaluate your team’s skills. Here are a few ideas:

• Provide interview “notes” to the class and have them backfill the questions or craft them into a story
• Interview one another and create staff bios
• Have a student teacher or coach come in for a group interview
• Read an article together and reverse engineer the questions the interviewer may have used (Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone magazines work well for this)

3. Take it to the street!

The key to a good yearbook interview is to have good questions. While there are hundreds of lists on the interwebs (we list some of our favs below), tailoring the interview to the subject will always give you the best material.

The best way to prep is to craft questions using the Five Common Topics: definition, comparison, relationship, circumstance, and testimony. 

https://blog.treering.com/using-the-five-common-topics-for-yearbook-copy/

Once you have a list of questions—“Give me a quote for the yearbook” does not count—ask them! 

The late Casey Nicols inspired a love of focus groups in me. As a journalism mentor, he encouraged me to bring in clubs or teams at lunchtime and interview the group. There was strength in numbers for them, as interviews were new for our yearbook staff. And our staff received some of the best quotes because they would play off each other. 

As a result, their writing became interesting. Students read it. It became the expectation.

4. Start small

Remember, easy +1. If there is no writing in your yearbook, add captions. Play with sentence structure so it’s not always subject-verb-adverb. Add a prepositional opener. Make it a complex sentence. Then

• Second year: add expanded captions
• Third year: add body copy
• Fourth year: add personality profiles

You don’t have to do it all. Ever. Tell your community’s story your way. 

Help with Interview Questions

Use these lists of interview questions for creating QOTD, practice interviews, and as launch pads for longer form copy.

• 11 Yearbook Bell Ringers to Teach Writing
• 40 Evergreen Story Ideas
• 75 Awesome Interview Questions

You can even have students rank their favorite and least favorite questions. Make sure they have a reason why. Re-write the “bad” questions and craft follow-ups for the helpful ones.

You, too, believe every child deserves the spotlight. And when you took on the open-ended challenge to celebrate in style, your creativity, honesty, and heart were on full display.

We're honored to showcase the showstopping designs and the stories of the creators who brought them to life.

Grand Prize Winner

Narrowing down over 1021 entries to the top 100 took two days. We reviewed every submission carefully, appreciating the heart behind each one. Designs that went beyond the template rose to the top because they had personal touches.

In each round of evaluations and re-sorting, one spread stood out and eventually became the $500 Grand Prize Winner.

Why we loved it: It showed how design can be energetic and balanced. Both the warm colors and shooting stars are lively.

"It screams, 'third grade,'" a judge said.

And yet, with all that is going on, the main entry point is still the headline, and your eyes move in a circular pattern. There are verbal guides to highlight the five main sections. Cotari keeps it grounded by using a consistent photo style and typeface.

Cotari said, "It matches [my daughter's] personal style, hobbies and interests, and her playful personality!"

POV: People Sent their Favorite Moments and Somehow they're OURS Too!

Nearly all the submissions captured a different perspective: students shone across academics, athletics, and activities. Grandparents held places of honor and remembrance. Together, we gushed over pet pics and cried over stories of overcoming trials. Check out the top 100 submissions before seeing the Big Ten.

Thank you for embracing the spirit of Treering's custom pages and giving your child the spotlight.

Custom Page Design Contest Finalists aka the Big Ten

A group of judges combed through the top 100 to create the top 25, then top 15, and finally, the top ten. Each of the runners up earned a $50 Amazon gift card for their visual interest and originality.

Tonya Renoud, Sweet Home, OR

Why we loved it: Renoud had us at start here.

"When he looks through these years later, he can walk down memory lane," she said.

This is exactly what she gave us. There is a path peppered with highlights from the end of summer to the start of next summer. Pets—this might be our first-ever duck submission—are especially timestamps in childhood.

Valerie Shannon, Findley, OH

Why we loved it: Brutus and Boden.

At a glance, these two family members stand out because of their cute factor. Once we stopped to read, Shannon won us over with her tongue-in-cheek copy, which she called a "fun peek into our homeschool day."

"The theme of this year's contest was 'Every Child Deserves the Spotlight,'" a judge said, "and she managed to use her spread to give four kids, the dog, and herself a moment to shine."

Shannon's design is clean despite being full of copy. We love how she chose a color palette and anchored each family member's daily routine with one color using a tool line and circular frame. Both the frame and the knockout on the heading text are offset. It's these little details that elevate the design.

Therese Wright, Albuquerque, NM

Why we loved it: This was one of two magazine-style custom pages that captivated us. We loved the torn elements and how Wright used the black paper to highlight moments from her daughter's senior year. For Wright, these design elements held further meaning:

"Torn pages with rough edges, curving tracks, splashes of pink (representing moments of easier breathing) brighten up the darker moments that have strung these ups and downs together and keep her rock 'n rollin toward an unknown future, able to face each new challenge and sing, 'I am ready! Hold Tight!'" Wright said.

The watermarked roller coaster further illustrates the Wright Family's journey, which began with a 17-month ICU stay. Despite countless hospitalizations, communication barriers, and daily health challenges, Wright's daughter has persevered with strength and joy, communicating through American Sign Language and music.

This is the ultimate senior celebration.

"Albuquerque Sign Language Academy gave her a voice in the world and a place to belong from 1st grade to 12th," Wright said.

Tracy Guara, Katy, TX

Why we loved it: The photos as badges caught the judges' eyes, as many identified with this milestone as troop leaders or former Brownies.

"This is a moment in time," said a judge. "It's exactly what custom pages should be."

Guara's daughter is a fourth-generation Girl Scout who achieved badge and cookie-selling goals.

"I was honored to create this spread mimicking a Girl Scout Brownie sash," Guara said.

Hannah Wong, Knoxville, TN

Why we loved it: It looks complicated.

"This spread is not just a collection of photos and milestones," Wong said, "it's a heartfelt tribute to her dedication, growth, and the pride I feel as her parent."

The layers made it rich. With a single photo as background across the spread, Wong layered photos, editable shapes, and textboxes to create this magazine-inspired look. Even with all the content, she maintained alignment in her columns (the designers really geeked out over this) and pulled color from the background to connect the top five headlines.

While it looks complicated, the layout is clean and straightforward to recreate with Treering tools.

Dana Denning, Albuquerque, NM

Why we loved it: Everything points us into the spread.

Denning's choice and use of graphics here are masterful: the plane is flying toward the center, the arrow points to the center, and even the shadows on the skyline at the base of the spread lead toward the center. Additionally, her spread uses a design hierarchy we don't see outside of traditional yearbook pages.

Rolly Garcia, Macon, GA

Why we loved it: It's cliche, but this spread truly put the cool in school. With playful colors, encouraging graphics, and photos of highlights in- and outside the classroom, Garcia captured the spirit of early childhood education.

"The filmstrip has those fine motor milestones in the classroom," said an educator-slash-judge. "We see pencil grip and dexterity skills developing."

Garcia said, "A notable element in the design is the paper airplane, which symbolizes the concept of 'soaring'—reflecting the idea that when students learn and grow, they are empowered to reach new heights."

Kirsten Megaro, Great Meadows, NJ

Why we loved it: Megaro's extra touches of texture made us want second, third, and thirtieth looks.

"I know this was made in the Treering app," said a judge, "but I can't help but think it was first a pen-and-ink creation in a notebook during math class."

The judges loved the rectangle at an angle, the use of circles, and the font choices. They also emphasized the black scribbles and frames, which brought clarity to what could have been a complicated visual.

"We want to celebrate and remember the 'regular' moments of life," Megaro said, "not just the school-related stuff, so these pages allow us to do that and we love being able to look back on them from year to year."

Ashley Babelon, Chicago, IL

Why we loved it: Max's kinder to-do list became an "eye spy" moment for us. We wanted to see if he ticked all the boxes. (He did!)

"Max also loves 'Toy Story' and Minions, and so the color scheme and font act as a mini time capsule of the things our little boy loves right now," Babelon said.

Ileana King, Stevenson Ranch, CA

Why we loved it: From the interview to the before-during-after photos, we loved the depth of coverage on this spread.

King said, "To add a fun twist, I used AI to create the sticker of a capybara and a T-rex, two of his favorite animals, riding a roller coaster. Then I added Treering graphics to make it look like Space Mountain, which is my son's favorite roller coaster."

One of the judges said, "This is one of the things you pull out when a future daughter-in-law comes over."

Thanks to all who entered and shared their story with us.

Here at Treering, we keep school yearbook prices simple. Your yearbook pricing has two factors: page count and cover type. With this all-inclusive approach, there are no minimum orders, shipping costs, contracts, or hidden fees to consider, and your team will have access to everything they need (templates, design tools, support, and more). This way, you don't need to go searching all around the internet for "Treering Coupons."

But if you did that—and ended up here—we'll give you the inside scoop on how we approach discounts, so you know when and how you can save money.

Treering Coupons for Parents and Students

Treering discounts school yearbook prices in the fall. This early purchase discount is a marketing tool for advisers to gain momentum for book sales and it helps parents lock in a great price. We think it’s a win-win-win.

Here’s how the discount schedule works:

• August: 10% off
• September: 10% off
• October: 10% off

Because these discounts are automatically built in, parents and students don’t even need Treering coupons to take advantage of the deal. They’ll automatically get the sale price when they pre-pay. 

Treering Coupons for Yearbook Advisers

When yearbook advisers work with Treering, they can score their friends a great deal on their school’s yearbook prices while also earning free books for their school.

Here’s how it works:

• Yearbook advisers using Treering share their special referral coupon code with friends and fellow yearbook advisers.
• When yearbook advisers sign up their schools with Treering for the first time, they can use that special coupon code to receive 10% off their school’s yearbook prices.
• The yearbook advisers who shared the code earn up to 10 free yearbooks for their school each time those new schools sell their first yearbook through Treering.

Not Using Treering For Your School Yearbook?

Treering has helped more than 20,000 yearbook advisers do really cool things with their yearbooks without their efforts feeling like a full-time job. We’ll show you how we can do the same for your community.

Scrapbooks are deeply personal and emotionally charged. They’re where Millennial moms stash ticket stubs, scribbled notes, and snapshots. Students also lean towards the collage aesthetic via pop culture inspiration—like the Burn Book in “Mean Girls” or My Adventure Book in “Up.”

While the Burn Book itself is not the kind of sentiment you want to capture in a school yearbook, its visual style has inspired many scrapbook-themed designs: magazine cutout lettering, sticker overload, and chaos-meets-craft aesthetic speak to the way students envision personal memory books. 

Likewise, Carl and Ellie’s book is a love letter to scrapbooking itself. It balances whimsy, sincerity, and nostalgia. (We’re not crying. OK, maybe a little.)

Three Free Treering Themes to Get the Scrapbook Vibe

One of the best parts of the scrapbook yearbook theme is its flexibility. You can up the visual intensity depending on your staff’s skill level and your community’s taste. We have three complete yearbook themes that model scrapbook yearbooks. 

Because a scrapbook style mimics personal journaling, students feel connected. It looks like their notes, their lockers, and, to an extent, their social feeds. The collage-inspired layouts also let you pack in more visual content, perfect for schools that crowdsource images from parents, staff, and students.

“Crafted” - Intro to the DIY Aesthetic

The 75 pre-designed templates have built-in white space and subtle borders, which gives a clean scrapbook look. The 64 graphics, which include a variety of torn papers and tapes, allow teams to add variety and rough edges. This look works well for journalistic high school books that want polish with personality.

“Collage” - Scrapbooking to the Max(imalist)

Lean into creative chaos with 862(!) design elements. This theme mimics a real-life scrapbook packed with overlapping images, ripped notebook paper, buttons, stickers, and magazine-style clippings. Because it is a maximalist look, you can create unity among the varied elements by

• Using the magazine letter for headlines and a clean font for body copy and captions
• Keeping photos to rectangles

“Venture” - the Vintage Journal

Inspired by antique books, this yearbook theme includes 100 aged paper backgrounds plus 616 graphics including typewriter keys, delicate handwritten fonts, antique elements, and photo corners. The textures and photorealistic elements work well in layers with a handwritten or type-writer font. Like the maximalist approach above, remember the rules of design to keep it from looking cluttered.

A scrapbook yearbook theme works at any level, elementary, middle, or high school. It can look rustic and handmade. Retro and analog. Colorful and chaotic. Minimalist and soft. The best part? It doesn’t lock you into a single aesthetic—it's more of a concept than a rulebook.

Editor's Note: Welcome to the inaugural profile in our special "Picture Perfect Partnerships" feature series. We'll spotlight the remarkable photographers who partner with us to create lasting memories for schools nationwide. Our first profile celebrates Van Gogh School Photographers, a family business that has captured student smiles in the Chicagoland area for over 75 years. We talked to President Jack Zucco (pictured above with son Michael) about his family’s legacy.

How did your family's school photography business begin, and what inspired your father's initial entry into this specialized field?

Van Gogh School Photographers was founded in 1947 by my father. He believed every student deserved a well-crafted, lasting memory of their school years. With a passion for photography and a commitment to excellent service, he set out to build a business that not only took pictures but also preserved cherished moments for families and schools alike.

What were the most significant challenges your family faced when establishing the business in 1947, and how did they overcome them?

Resources were limited, technology was far less advanced, and building a customer base from scratch was no small feat. My father had to earn the trust of schools one by one, going door-to-door to demonstrate the value of professional school photography. He overcame these hurdles by staying true to his core principles—offering reliable service, consistent quality, and a personal touch that set Van Gogh apart.

How has the business been passed down through the generations, and what traditions or values have remained consistent?

Each generation has brought new ideas and innovations, but the fundamental values—quality, professionalism, and a customer-first approach—have remained constant. Barrington, IL has been our headquarters for almost 50 years.

What significant changes or pivotal moments shaped your family business's evolution across three generations?

There have been several defining moments in our history. The transition from film to digital photography was a major shift, requiring new equipment, training, and processes. Another pivotal moment was expanding our services beyond just portraits to include yearbooks. Our 12-year partnership with Treering has been one of the most significant milestones, allowing schools to create personalized, on-demand yearbooks that give students and families a more meaningful way to preserve memories.

How have you personally contributed to or innovated within the family legacy since joining the business?

Since joining the business, I've focused on modernizing our operations, refining our photography process, and improving efficiency without sacrificing quality. I've also played a key role in expanding our yearbook services through our partnership with Treering.

Can you share a particularly meaningful school photography project that spans multiple generations of your family's work?

One of the most meaningful aspects has been capturing school portraits for multiple generations within the same families. There have been instances where we photographed a student and years later took their children's and even their grandchildren's school portraits. Seeing those families return to us decade after decade is incredibly rewarding.

How has your family maintained relationships with schools across generations, and what's been key to that longevity?

Our relationships with schools are built on trust, reliability, and a commitment to exceeding expectations. We don't just see ourselves as photographers—we are partners in helping schools create lasting memories. Personalized service, a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and our ability to adapt to schools' changing needs have been key factors in maintaining long-term partnerships.

What photography techniques or business practices have remained unchanged since your father's era?

While technology has evolved dramatically, core photography principles have remained unchanged. Proper lighting, professional posing, and attention to detail were as important in my father's time as today. The emphasis on customer service, reliability, and delivering a quality product has been constant throughout the decades. My father always believed in making sure every student left picture day feeling good about their experience—that philosophy still drives us today.